TO ALL CHM COMITTEES

 

The success of the meeting depends largely on the skills displayed by the meeting leader. To ensure the meeting is successful, the leader should:

• Issue an agenda
• Start the discussion and encourage active participation
• Work to keep the meeting at a comfortable pace – not moving too fast or too slow
• Summarize the discussion and the recommendations at the end of each logical section
• Ensure all participants receive minutes promptly

 

 

Choosing the right participants is key to the success of any meeting. Make sure all participants can contribute and choose good decision-makers and problem-solvers. Try to keep the number of participants to a maximum of 12, preferably fewer. Make sure the people with the necessary information for the items listed in the meeting agenda are the ones that are invited.

 

 

If you are the leader, work diligently to ensure everyone’s thoughts and ideas are heard by guiding the meeting so that there is a free flow of debate with no individual dominating and no extensive discussions between two people. As time dwindles for each item on the distributed agenda, you may find it useful to stop the discussion, then quickly summarize the debate on that agenda item and move on the next item on the agenda.

 

 

Minutes record the decisions of the meeting and the actions agreed. They provide a record of the meeting and, importantly, they provide a review document for use at the next meeting so that progress can be measured – this makes them a useful disciplining technique as individuals' performance and non-performance of agreed actions is given high visibility.