Guidance
"A meeting is one of the windows that local communities have into your council, it’s an opportunity for your council to look professional and show clear leadership. It can be one of the most difficult tasks you will ever undertake, remaining calm under sometimes difficult circumstance is a skill which needs to be honed. The LGA councillor workbook on chairing skills will equip new, and refresh more experienced chairs / chairmen, with all the tools and strategies necessary for a smooth running of a meeting; giving confidence to any councillor who is chairing a council or committee. It is highly recommended to all councillors and aspiring chairs / chairmen.
Executive Mayor Kate Allsop
Why effective chairing is important
Meetings are a traditional and essential component of local government. Whether these are in-person meetings. Or meetings over video conferencing software, which is increasingly used for conducting day to day business in many organisations. For both councillors and managers, meetings serve as a forum for discussion and agreement, planning and monitoring, communication and leadership. Used appropriately, meetings can challenge, inspire and inform. And while they are not the only meetings that councillors will be asked to attend, committee meetings, in particular, are a mainstay of the political management process.
Nobody wants to attend an unfocused and unproductive meeting. It’s a waste of everyone’s time. Formal group discussions need focus and direction to stop them becoming just social ‘chit chat’ or a rambling discourse on the state of world affairs.
And open debate needs a degree of stewardship, to enable all views to be heard and conclusions to be based on reasoned arguments, consensus or compromise. This is the essential role of the chair / chairman.
Effective chairing is important because it can:
- provide for clear leadership and direction – ensuring that discussions are held within some framework for debate, ie based on an agreed agenda and adhering to established ground rules, standing orders or protocols for how the business should be conducted
- ensure that debates are focused and balanced – involving discussion from all of those who wish to articulate a view, particularly where conflicting viewpoints are being expressed
- enable decisions to be reached – allowing participants to agree on the way forward and any further action that needs to be taken, for example, for the allocation of resources to meet agreed priorities
- contribute to group or team working – allowing people to build rapport and contribute to group / committee discussions. This can often help to inform, unite and inspire people
- ensure that resources are used to best effect – saving time and energy and allowing information, views and evidence to be gathered in an efficient and timely manner.
What is a chair / chairman?
Any chair / chairman has three main roles:
- to represent the council at formal and informal meetings and ensure that discussions are carried out in accordance with the council’s constitution and procedural rules
- to make sure that meetings are run effectively and inclusively, in line with any agreed agenda, to deal with the business at hand – this will include preparation and follow-up, as well as taking charge during the meeting itself
- to uphold the principles of the council’s constitution, codes of conduct and standards expected of councillors
- to be an effective advocate and representative of your council at meetings and events in your community. You may be required to act as an arbitrator, spokesperson or facilitator at these meetings.
Challenge 1
Your recent experience of chairing meetings
- Think about any recent meetings you have attended that were chaired by other people.
- Write down a list of some of the positive and negative ways that the chairs / chairmen in those meetings attempted to manage the discussions.
- Write down any positive aspects of chairmanship you observed.
- Write down any negative aspects of chairmanship you observed.
The remaining sections of this workbook will consider all aspects of the chairing role as well as some approaches and tactics you can consider in improving your effectiveness as a chair / chairman and tackling some of the positives and negatives you have outlined above.
The key roles of a chair / chairman
There are no hard and fast rules about how you chair a meeting. The approach you take and the style you adopt will depend largely on the nature of the meeting, the people involved and your own personality. That aside, there are some key roles that most chairs / chairmen adopt:
- spokesperson – summing up other people’s views and being comfortable to put these across to all kinds of people, including large groups
- organiser – making sure that everyone is prepared for meetings and knows when and where they are going to be and what is going to be discussed – for most formal committee meetings, the mechanics of this will be undertaken by the council officers
- communicator – making sure that everyone understands what is going on before, during and after the meeting
- action person – making sure that meetings are not just a ‘talking shop’ but have a purpose and result in action
- mediator – sometimes finding a compromise between two people or two conflicting ideas – being fair and not letting your own feelings get in the way.
Sometimes these roles can be delegated to others, although it is important to recognise that the chair / chairman will retain the overall responsibility. For example, if you are not the world’s most efficient organiser, you may prefer to work closely with your deputy or vice-chair or one of the council’s officers in ensuring that all of the practical arrangements for running meetings are covered effectively. With any council meeting, establishing a good rapport and working relationship with the officers of the council will help you to chair meetings more effectively.
The meetings you may be asked to chair
Chairing committee meetings
This involves working closely with officers in preparing for all meetings. In particular quasi-judicial meetings such as planning or licensing require specific attention. These will often need you to recognise the importance of report deadlines and meeting schedules and to ensure that the recommendations and actions from meetings are tracked and followed-up. Your role may also involve a degree of ‘succession planning’ where you will need to develop the skills of any vice-chairs and aspiring committee chairs.
Chairing public and informal meetings
These types of meetings involve a degree of planning for success. For example, thinking about the venue, timing, invitees, advertising etc. As well as a need for you to be able to maintain control, order and confidentiality (reputation management) and management of the process from start to finish. Council officers will be able to brief you on the full extent of your responsibilities in chairing these meetings.
Outside of this, however, you may also be asked to chair other group discussions, for example, community meetings, board meetings for voluntary or community groups, appointment panels, committees of enquiry etc. The nature of these meetings may require you to modify your approach:
- Set the tone and style: Some meetings may be better held in settings outside of council buildings to reduce the perceived ‘formality’ of the discussions. It may also be advisable to chair the meeting in a more relaxed style, eg allowing people to talk to, question and challenge others without going ‘through the chair/chairman’. This is also important when chairing meetings using remote meeting technology. The protocols for asking questions, seeking clarification or participating in the meeting need to be set out clearly at the beginning of the meeting.
- Encourage contributions: Discussing and deciding things ‘by committee’ may work well for much of the council’s business, but may hinder group discussions elsewhere. It may be useful to think about breaking a large gathering into smaller task groups to enable more people to contribute or to find other ways to maximise the inputs from those attending.
- Reach decisions: Not everyone will be comfortable to commit to decisions arrived at in a group meeting, eg some people will need time to think through the actions proposed or may need to seek approval from the people they represent before signing up. As chair/ chairman, you will need to manage people’s expectations about what is realistic and achievable.
- Act as a facilitator: At some meetings you will be required to act as a facilitator where there are one or more opposing views, in your role as a community leader or representative. This may require particular skills of tact, diplomacy and ‘neutrality’ where you are chairing the process as opposed to giving your opinions on the issues being discussed.
Guidance
“Make sure the agenda is interesting. Familiarise yourself with the topics including research if necessary. Think about officer input is it required or is the committee papers sufficient to over the topic? Plan your strategy in conducting the meeting. Have some idea of timing and keep it moving without being dictatorial. Relax and enjoy.”
Cllr Heather Goddard, South Gloucestershire Council
Hints and tips – top tips for effective chairs / chairmen
Know the issues and topics being discussed – read the background papers, chat to fellow councillors and get briefings from your officers.
Understand the other group councillors – get to know the personalities and who helps or hinders your role.
Know how things should be done – get to know the council’s standing orders – without having to look them up.
Understand the ‘rhythm’ of the council meeting cycle – know what meetings are held when and when preparation needs to be undertaken for them.
Challenge 2
Chairing different types of meetings
As a councillor you may be asked to chair different types of meetings in addition to the more traditional committee meetings you may be familiar with. Imagine you have been asked to chair the following. Write down how your approach might differ for each, in terms of:
- the setting, style and tone of the meeting
- how you could encourage useful contributions from those attending.
Write down how your approach might differ in these ways at:
- a public meeting to discuss the growing racial tensions in your ward
- a scrutiny meeting, with ‘expert witnesses’ from the health and community sectors, to discuss the action needed to address the local increase in rates of teenage pregnancy.
Look again at the ideas you have written down.
Are you sure that the setting and style would help to create the right atmosphere for discussion?
Would your approach encourage good contributions from a wide range of participants?
Is it likely that this style of meeting would produce some ideas for action, that is, some tangible things that could be done to address the concerns expressed by people. If not, why not?