Idea 81: Becoming an effective chairperson
Guests sleep well in the Inn of Decision.
Arab proverb
Good chairmanship is vital for effective meetings. The chair’s task will sometimes pose problems, but a good chairperson can make sure that a meeting is punctual, covers the ground, keeps moving forward and makes the appropriate decisions. Beneath that process lies purposeful communication.
Your manner may do as much if not more than your words to encourage, or discourage, genuine communication. Humour, modesty and firmness have their own part to play.
As the leader’s own task encompasses the creation of a warm, friendly but businesslike atmosphere, it is vital that you should check whether or not your manner aids and abets the promotion of good communication. In the right time and place, ask for feedback on this score.
If someone is asked to take action as a result of discussion of an item, the chairperson should check that the participant understands and accepts that action. Steps or actions thus agreed should normally carry a completion time.
Case study: The effective chairman
The Prime Minister shouldn’t speak too much himself in Cabinet. He should start the show or ask somebody else to do so, and then intervene only to bring out the more modest chaps who, despite their seniority, might say nothing if not asked. And the Prime Minister must sum up … Particularly when a non-Cabinet minister is asked to attend, especially if it is his first time, the Prime Minister may have to be cruel. The visitor may want to show how good he is, and go on too long. A good thing is to take no chance and ask him to send the Cabinet a paper in advance … If somebody else looks like making a speech, it is sound to nip in with, ‘Are you objecting? You’re not? Right. Next business’. And the Cabinet can move on leaving in its wake a trail of clear, crisp uncompromising decisions. That is what government is about. And the challenge to democracy is to get it done quickly.
Clement Attlee, former UK Prime Minister