The Chairperson

Source: Woods (1994)

Roles of the Chairperson (See Graphic 26)

Groups that select their chairperson at random will outperform groups that do not have a chairperson at all.

• Facilitate the growth of the group.
• The chairperson is selected by the group.
• During the meeting, the chairperson monitors, reminds the group of time schedules and agreed upon norms of behavior and maintains decorum. The chairperson monitors to identify when things are slightly awry and must decide whether to be neutral and ‘let the group get on with the task’ or to intercede positively to bring it back onto track.
• Create agendas that are meaningful to your group.
• Address how decisions will be made (vote? consensus?).
• The role of the chairperson and how much influence the chair has on the decision making of the group.
• Resources required for each meeting and who supplies them.
• The method of recording decision and information and by whom.
• The meeting format.
• The process for dealing with conflict, policies, method of addressing one another.
• The process for asking a member to leave the group and the consequences.

Being an Effective Chairperson

• Anticipate the needs of the group – Details and arrangements should be made ahead of time by the chairperson. Inform your group in some detail of the purpose of the meeting, the background issues that they should consider, what each should do to prepare for the meeting and what they should bring to the meeting.
• Prepare the agenda – The agenda should be sent to all group members well ahead of the meeting. It must include: where, when, purpose, list of participants, pre-meeting preparation, please bring, agenda.
• Facilitate the meeting – Be there well ahead of time, bring extra copies of the agenda, start the meeting on time, end on time, adapt the mental attitude that you are there to help the group succeed (you are not there to get your ideas accepted.
• Seek feedback – Take time at the end of each meeting for the group to assess how well they did as a group and for all to give the chairperson feedback on the extent to which each member was positive in helping the struggling group soar (scale of 1-10), negative by preventing, interfering and impeding group process, positive neutral and allowed us to get on effectively with the job and negative neutral because the member allowed us to wallow in ineffective bickering when strong facilitation skills were needed.

(Original page by Mary Frangie)