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The note-taker captures and records the basics of the meeting for a permanent record. His or her key responsibilities are as follows:

• Keep the minutes of the meeting using the established format.
• Check with the group for accuracy whenever necessary.
• Finalize the minutes.
• Ensure that copies of the minutes are distributed.

What should the notetaker record? It’s usually enough just to document the essentials, not to provide the equivalent of a court stenographer’s transcript of every word said by anybody. The note-taker should focus on the following four types of information:

• Decisions
• Action items: things that people will do
• Open issues: things to be considered later
• Key discussion points

The note-taker must be accurate, objective, and able to write concisely and in a “reader-friendly” style. He or she is likely to rely on the running record kept by the scribe, but document only the main points. Also, the facilitator may indicate to the note-taker to record a certain idea, point, or comment. It could be suggested that any participant who wishes to make an idea, point, or comment part of the permanent record signal that request to the note-taker.

It usually takes very little time and effort for the note-taker to finalize the minutes after the meeting. (This is particularly true if you provide a laptop computer to whomever you designate for the role.) It’s essentially just a matter of transferring to a computer anything written by hand. Then, the agenda can be attached or you can e-mail the note-taker your computer file, which he or she can then insert into the record. If any participants have presented reports, they can e-mail the note-taker files of their reports. Then the note-taker has only to transfer any other information to the computer and print copies. You should keep a copy of the minutes for all meetings in a notebook, for easy reference. You should also get the computer files and archive them, for easier searching and retrieval as necessary
(and any later corrections).

Is it necessary to have a formal process for approving the minutes? No, not usually. However, the participants may decide at some point to adopt a rule calling for some approval process. Generally it should be enough to encourage participants to review the distributed copy of the minutes of a meeting and then bring any questions or concerns to the attention of the manager before the next meeting or raise them with the group at the beginning of the next meeting.

As noted above, the note-taker should keep the minutes of the meeting using the established format. This means you should specify the format as soon as possible, so that your meetings will be documented with consistency.

Your organization may have a set format for keeping minutes. On the other hand, you may be free to develop a format, on your own, or with your group. A good format allows anybody to know at a glance what’s most important—what was covered in a meeting, what was decided, what actions were planned, what’s expected and by when, and who is responsible for those actions.

What should the minutes include?

1. Date, time, and location of the meeting
2. List of participants
3. List of people invited but absent
4. Participants assigned as facilitator, scribe, timekeeper, and note-taker
5. Agenda
6. Main discussion points and outcomes (decisions and action items) for each agenda item, with the names of the participants responsible for the action items and the dates and times for completion
7. Items for consideration at later meetings
8. Meeting evaluation
9. Reports (attached)

Taken From : The Manager’s Guide to Effective Meetings

The timekeeper helps the group keep on track with the timing of the agenda during the meeting. His or her key responsibilities are as follows:

• Keep track of time during the meeting.
• Warn the group when the time allocated for an agenda item is almost up, by announcing the time remaining. At that point the facilitator can ask the group to decide whether to close the discussion or to continue it and change other items on the agenda.
• Signal when the time allocated for an agenda item is up.

The purpose of having a timekeeper is not to police time limits rigidly but rather to help the group keep to the timing of the agenda and use its meeting time most efficiently. It’s possible to run meetings without this role: the facilitator can keep track of the time or you can do so and use
gestures to signal the facilitator.

Also, since very few meetings run exactly by the clock, the timekeeper needs to adjust the stop
and start times if the group falls behind or goes ahead of the schedule.

Give the Facilitator a Hand

Lani Arredondo suggests that the timekeeper use simple hand signals (Commmunicating Effectively, pp. 152-153): 10 fingers up to show 10 minutes remaining, five fingers for five minutes, and the sports time-out signal when time is up.The timekeeper could also use the show business “slash throat” signal to suggest that the facilitator cut off the activity.

Taken From : The Manager’s Guide to Effective Meetings

The scribe posts key ideas, points, and comments during discussions on a flipchart, a whiteboard, or other means of display, so that all participants can refer to them. He or she is responsible for displaying a “living record” of the progress of the group. His or her key responsibilities are as follows:

• Write large and legibly enough so that all can read the notes.
• Check to make sure all ideas, points, and comments are recorded accurately.
• Get input on wording from other participants.
• Summarize all decisions in full sentences.

Keeping a “living record” on display is important because:

• It provides a physical means of keeping the focus on the topic being discussed, which helps prevent tangents.
• It assures participants that their contributions have been recorded, which encourages participation.
• It shows which ideas, points, and comments have been contributed, which reduces or eliminates repetition.
• It relieves the participants of the burden of taking notes, which allows them to follow the discussion better and contribute more easily.
• It provides a “group memory” so participants can return more easily to a point made earlier, which reduces the urge to jump in immediately, even interrupt, to comment on a point before it’s forgotten and left behind.
• It helps keep participants aware of the progress the group is making, which builds morale.

Scribe A person whose

meeting role is to post key ideas, points, and comments during discussions so that all participants
can refer to them. He or she is responsible for displaying a “living record” of the progress of the group.

The roles of the facilitator and the scribe usually require quick comprehension and an ability to
follow the pieces of a linear puzzle. For best results, the facilitator and the scribe should work together closely. The facilitator should check to make sure that the scribe is recording the contributions accurately. The scribe should ask for clarification of any ideas, points, or comments that seem unclear, which helps the facilitator guide the discussion.

Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff

What’s most important for a scribe is to capture all the contributions and record them accurately and
legibly.This means that he or she shouldn’t worry about spelling or always using the exact wording (summarize, if possible) or writing in full sentences or even using full words (abbreviate whenever possible).

Taken From : The Manager’s Guide to Effective Meetings

The facilitator should get all of the participants involved. Here are some situations and ways that the facilitator might deal with them:

• If some participants are quiet, he or she can call on them individually: “Jill, you have some experience in this area. Can you help us out?” or “Tom, you know something about this issue. Would you like to share your insights with us?” He or she can also move around the group for ideas, letting the natural circle invite quiet members to participate.
• If any participants are critical negatively (as opposed to constructively), he or she can try to help them be constructive, by asking questions such as “So, how would we be able to improve that situation?” or “Since we’re aware of the problems, could you suggest any solutions?”
• If any comments seem harsh, he or she should try rewording in ways that present the key points without inflammatory language.
• If any comments become personal, he or she should intervene: “Could we get back to the agenda item, please?” or “Could we please focus on the issue that we’re considering?”

When a discussion is going well, with contributions coming from around the group, the facilitator must make sure that the scribe and the note-taker are keeping up. If not, then he or she should slow the pace a little and/or help by repeating or summarizing contributions for the two writers.

Six Killers
The facilitator should be alert to the six “meeting killers” identified by Gregory M. Bounds and John A.Woods in Supervision (Cincinnati, OH: South-Western College Publishing, 1998, pp. 89-90):
1. Hogging: too much talking by one person.
2. Bogging: staying on one subject for too long.
3. Fogging: avoiding a topic or being vague or defensive.
4. Frogging: jumping from topic to topic without any closure.
5. Flogging: attacking a person rather than dealing with the person’s contribution.
6. Clogging: slowing down the group by failing to accomplish action items.

If a discussion isn’t going well, even when the facilitator is asking probing and challenging questions, calling on individuals, and offering suggestions, he or she might decide to change the dynamics by dividing the group into twos or threes (dyads or triads, if you prefer fancy terms). He or she should challenge the clusters with one or two questions to consider, allow them a few minutes to discuss the questions, and then bring them together to present the results of their discussions. (If the layout of the room doesn’t allow any spatial separation of participants into twos and threes, the facilitator can form pairs—participants seated side by side or across the table—or quartets—both side by side and across the table.)

Taken From : The Manager’s Guide to Effective Meetings

The role of the facilitator is to make the group’s work easier. His or her key responsibilities
are as follows:

• Coordinate with the scribe, the timekeeper, and the notetaker.
• Maintain an appropriate pace.

• Cover each of the agenda items, one at a time, in order:
– Introduce each agenda item.
– Conduct the discussion of the item.
– Keep discussions focused on the agenda item.
– Check for full understanding of any decisions on that item.
– Close the discussion of the item.
• Encourage full participation by all members.
• Help the participants evaluate the meeting.
• Close the meeting.

This role is generally considered to be the most difficult. It requires leadership, quick understanding,
tact, sensitivity, good communication skills, and a grasp of psychology. The facilitator needs to be able to anticipate problems and opportunities—and then avoid the problems and take advantage of the opportunities. Here are some general guidelines for facilitators. When a participant makes a contribution, the facilitator should:

• Acknowledge it, at least with a nod.
• Check to ensure understanding, if necessary. (“OK, so are you saying that…?”)

Two Heads May Be Better Than One

Some managers might not feel comfortable turning over the meeting to the facilitator. After all, it’s a big responsibility that requires skills and sensitivity that not everybody possesses. If you feel that the person you designated to facilitate may not be completely ready and able to handle the role, you may want to work out some way to share the responsibilities.The next time around, both of you may be confident that he or she can go it alone.

• Paraphrase, summarize concisely, if necessary. (“So, what you’re saying is that….”)
• React positively. (“Good point!” or “That’s an important consideration” or “Interesting perspective.”)
• Find the best. (“What I find most interesting in your comment is…” or “Your suggestion brings up a perspective that we haven’t considered.”)
• Question, even challenge. (“Your idea makes sense in a way, but how does it play out with…?” or “We could try the approach you’re suggesting, but are there ways to reduce resistance?”)
• Show connections. (“That point ties in with what X mentioned earlier, adding the perspective of…)
• Help others develop it. (“That’s a good point. Now, what would be related issues?” or “That takes us into new territory.
What other aspects should we consider along those lines?”)
• Watch for visual clues, such as body language and facial expressions that say, “I’ve got something to say” or “I like that idea” or “I’m concerned about something” or “I’m bored.”
• Remain neutral—or at least objective—and open, however he or she feels personally, and not allow his or her ideas or opinions to inhibit participation.

To bring closure to a discussion, the facilitator should summarize the main points and consolidate related points: “It would seem, then, that we’ve got four ways that we could go on this issue” and “Several comments show an interest in pursuing this line of investigation.”

Taken From : The Manager’s Guide to Effective Meetings

“Recognize the principles of shared responsibility,” says Eli Mina, author of The Complete Handbook of Business Meetings (“Help Make Meetings Productive,” by Michele Marrinan, Monster.com). “We need to establish a different kind of culture where it’s up to every person at the meeting to pull his or her
weight to make it work.”

One way to develop the sense of community that will inspire every group member to share in the responsibility for the meeting is through the warm-up. Another great way is to rotate roles for each meeting, so all members of the group share the task of running the meeting and develop their leadership, initiative, collaborative skills, and efficiency. That approach to running meetings may also make life easier for you—but don’t count on it, at least not yet.

It’s usually most practical to assign four roles, as mentioned briefly in Chapter 2:

• Facilitator

• Scribe
• Timekeeper
• Note-taker

Rotate the roles among the participants as much as possible. It may be easier to ask for volunteers or to assign roles according to the abilities and personalities of the participants. However, you shouldn’t assign roles only to the people who seem best qualified: if the spirit of collaboration is strong, every
member of the group should be allowed a chance at each role.

Also, it’s wiser in the long run to rotate roles, for at least four reasons:

• Rotation provides practical training for each participant in all roles.
• Rotation allows every participant an opportunity to be “just a participant” with no particular responsibilities to restrict his or her freedom to contribute.
• Rotation obviates the possibility that any participants will envy or resent any others for exercising special authority.

Rotation also encourages every participant to be responsible for a successful meeting; people are naturally more likely to behave appropriately when they know that each of them will have a turn at facilitating—and hoping that everybody behaves.

Taken From : The Manager’s Guide to Effective Meetings

Review the rules at the beginning of meetings, at least until it no longer seems necessary. It may be enough to display the rules at every meeting, so everyone can see them. It should be sufficient to post only the essentials, not the details. The essence of most rules can be summed up in just a few words. (If not, then that may indicate that the rule is too complicated.)

Displaying the rules will serve as a reminder. However, if participants start bending or breaking a rule, it’s easy for others to call out the rule as a warning. It’s generally most effective if participants correct each other, as peers. Just as they took responsibility for developing the rules to guide their community, they should take responsibility for helping each other abide by them.

What if reminders and peer correction aren’t effective? Then, it’s time to discuss why people are not following the rules.

It may be wise to spend some time occasionally discussing how well the ground rules are working for the group. Are any changes needed? How can the group adapt to issues that arise? You don’t want to play the role of police officer, enforcing rules. You want the members of the group to monitor themselves and decide what to do if any ground rules are broken repeatedly.

Taken From : The Manager’s Guide to Effective Meetings

As important as the rules themselves is the way in which the rules are developed. Sure, you could just post a list of rules that you personally consider essential to running meetings effectively and efficiently. Then you could just enforce them as you enforce your organization’s policies.

But it’s better if the participants develop the ground rules themselves, because the rules will be specific to their group, because they’ll feel a sense of ownership, and because they’ll be more likely to follow the ground rules if they all agree on them.
The facilitator can start the discussion by just asking a question such as “What guidelines should we adopt so that our meetings make the most of what all of us have to offer?” or “What are some principles that we should all keep in mind during our meetings?”

The discussion that generates the meeting rules also serves another important purpose: it reveals values and emotions that can divide the participants or unite them. The way in which participants
develop their ground rules shows a lot about how they’ll work together.
If participants have trouble starting this discussion, the facilitator can suggest one or two topics for them to consider. He or she might also want to suggest more topics as the discussion wanes.

Once participants start making and discussing suggestions for rules, the facilitator should help them word their proposals and guide them through the decision process. The scribe records the ground rules on a flipchart or whiteboard.
After the meeting, the scribe transfers the ground rules to regular sheets of paper and/or another convenient medium. Then, you can bring the rules to every meeting, to review them for the group and/or display them during the meeting.

Groups typically adopt or at least consider ground rules covering the following issues:

• Attendance
• Promptness: procedure for dealing with latecomers—bring them up to speed? sanction?
• Participation
• Meeting role assignments
• Interruptions: pagers and cell phones?
• Respect
• Discussion process

• Confidentiality: how is it determined what discussions are confidential? What information or comments are not to leave the room?
• Assignments
• Method for evaluating meetings
• Chronic violations of rules

Sometimes groups decide on a penalty for breaking ground rules. For example, the group might decide that any participant who causes an unnecessary interruption must buy coffee, tea, and soft drinks for all of the others during the next break or for the next meeting. Or the group might decide that participants who arrive late are responsible for providing refreshments for the next meeting.

next meeting.
To the extent possible, the group members should be responsible for enforcing their ground rules. The facilitator should be sensitive and as ready to help them with this process as with any other. If somebody breaks a rule and it seems like a serious matter, the facilitator may scan the faces of the other members for any negative reactions and, with a facial expression or gesture, encourage them to react, just as he or she might encourage reactions to a contribution. At times, it may be necessary for him or her to intervene, if a violation of a rule seems serious and the other members of the group aren’t reacting to it. And sometimes members of the group may just let violations pass, if they’re not serious, but mention them when they evaluate the meeting.

Finally, the simpler the rules, the easier they are to remember and follow—and for you to review at the start of meetings, as necessary. Also, a group that gets bogged down in legalistic wrangling over rules is setting a dangerous pattern for discussing other matters. In addition, the more involved the discussion becomes, the easier for participants to obsess over rules and neglect the principles behind them—such as respect, collaboration, and efficiency.

The group is responsible for developing and adopting ground rules. In this process, as in all others during a meeting, the members of the group are all equals. The facilitator and the scribe are serving, not governing; they should act as peers. You cannot use your rank as manager to influence anybody;
you should act as a peer. Just trust that the participants will decide to modify the rules as they gain a little experience applying them. The ground rules are for the benefit of the group and the members are more likely to adhere to rules that they have generated.

Taken From : The Manager’s Guide to Effective Meetings

If the participants have worked together in meetings, the group should already have established ground rules. You may want to review them briefly before getting to the agenda. Get some agreement— verbal or nonverbal—from everyone. It would be good to ask if anyone wants to propose any changes or additions. The ground rules should not be carved in stone: all participants should always feel like the ground rules belong to them and that they can modify them based on their experiences together.

If you haven’t established ground rules, then the next logical step would be to do so.

Ground rules are agreements about behaviors: they should promote respect, collaboration, and efficiency without hindering spontaneity and creativity. Most people come to a meeting with some expectations about how participants should act. Establishing a code of conduct is simply about expressing those expectations and reaching agreement on how to regulate behavior to meet them.

So, it’s important to set ground rules—and then just as important to make sure that they work.

Taken From : The Manager’s Guide to Effective Meetings

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