November 2, 2017
Chris Barrett, Deputy Dean and Dean of Academic Affairs, SC Johnson College of Business
Barbara Knuth, Senior Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School
Charles Van Loan, Dean of Faculty
Developing Your Skills
- Learn from experience; observe and note meetings you attend. Hone your skills by volunteering to chair committees in “low risk” situations, such as outside university.
- Remember we all make mistakes – forgive others, acknowledge your own.
- Use your research and teaching skills!
Pre-meeting
- What is the Committee supposed to do/accomplish? Understand the committee charge – purposes & outcomes, composition, time frame. Establish the mission, and purpose of each meeting.
- Ask: Is a Committee needed, or is there a better way to achieve that purpose?
- Do you have any influence on who the members are?
- Diversity of ideas is good.
- Members should have respect for each other and for process and be collegial.
- Identify certain people who are overcommitted and find others instead.
- Certain expertise/viewpoints can be engaged in ways other than being member of committee.
- Consider using a “pool” of people to fill a slot. Have double people for the slots to fill. Makes scheduling easier (just one from the pool). Makes keeping everyone up to speed and appropriately informed more difficult. Responsibility is on the “pool” to inform each other – doesn’t always happen.
- Agenda in Advance. As appropriate, solicit agenda items well in advance of the meeting. Or set agenda yourself, if you are driving the topics. Distribute agenda 2-3 days in advance of meeting to allow time to review.
- Background materials in advance Provide pre-reads, but don’t bury members with too many or too long documents. Try to limit “required” reading to 5 pages. Send reminders re: what was accomplished at prior meeting, if helpful to the coming agenda topics. Arrange for outside guests when appropriate.
- Prepare your members and prepare yourself to manage members Meet with people in advance as needed. Meet those new to the committee. Approach those with non-helpful behavior to discuss. In case of individual with history of being less engaged in/not particularly helpful, let them know why they are on the committee/what role you hope they will serve. Approach those who can help you strategize re: useful content, process, outcomes. Enlist other committee members in managing difficult members and in helping the committee stay on the agenda.
- Plan “desired outcomes” in advance, as chair, and plan a strategy to get to those outcomes What decision(s) need to be made? (Not what the answer will be.) Consider asking faculty members who are respected by their peers to chair meetings.
- Schedule series of meetings far in advance so all know timing needed for next steps. Cancel meetings if not needed for productive engagement.
At the meeting
- Lay ground rules. Monitor time.
- Pay attention to process.
- Begin on time otherwise people will expect lateness and will arrive late.
- Ask everyone what they think – call on people.
- Avoid letting small number of people dominate the conversation. Rein in long-winded or disruptive members.
- Raise hands, rise name cards, etc. Pause frequently and give opportunity for each member to engage.
- Ask whether you need a committee meeting for each decision; trust is key.Admit your mistakes.
- Keep on task, on topic. Avoid tangents: if the tangent is on a good topic, acknowledge but suggest that a different is setting a better venue for it. Don’t be dismissive, but redirect to another venue.
- Managing Difficult People/Situations. Get people who each or one another’s perspective together outside meeting, solicit their fears and try to get them to come to an understanding
- Manage Confidentiality. Oral agreement – build culture, give regular reminders about how to treat information heard in the room. Trust is key. Written agreement – realistically, hard to enforce
- End meeting with: Review of action items, and who is responsible. Review of next steps for next meeting
- Reflect on what went well. Sometimes worth creating a small group to discuss what worked at meeting/what didn’t. Or get individual feedback from those who attended. Always, as chair, consider what could have gone differently to be more productive & effective?
After the Meeting
- Send meeting notes to all, invite people to correct them.
- Send next steps. Notes of highlights, decisions, next steps from meeting.
- Set up reminders and to-do list for yourself re: deliverables.
- As needed, one-on-one reflections after to debug for next meeting and plan effective next meeting strategy.
- Touch base personally with “no-show” members, especially if they hold a critical role or critical perspectives.
- Depending on the topic or purpose of Committee, consider sharing public snapshots/drafts along the way for transparency, share draft thinking, and to solicit additional input.
- Publish minutes.