Federally Employed Women DFC Chapter Tips on Running Effective Meetings What “Robert’s Rules” Can Do for Your Meetings September 13, 2006.

Federally Employed WomenDFC Chapter

Tips on Running Effective Meetings What “Robert’s Rules” Can Do for Your Meetings

September 13, 2006

Meeting? What Meeting? Do We Need to Meet?Agenda, What’s That?

When was the last time you participated in a meeting where there was no organization, no facilitator, or an agenda?

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Tips for Running Effective Meetings

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Why Meetings Are Important When three or more people work together face to face this

is called this a meeting

Governments, businesses, schools, clubs, families ---are all built up from groups of men, women, and children

We are a meeting society—a world made of small groups that come together to share information, plan, solve problems, criticize or praise, make new decisions or find out what went wrong with old ones

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Why Meetings Are Important

The more successful you become in your organization, the more time you spend in meetings

Middle management spends 35 percent of their time in meetings; top management increases to 50 percent; bottom line you spend over half of your organizational life in meetings

Most organizations spend 7 to 15 percent of their personnel budgets on meetings; this does not include time spent preparing for meetings

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Why Have Meetings At All Your time is your most valuable resource so you want to

spend it wisely Most organizations can’t function without meetings

because they must communicate in groups to get things done

A meeting is a tool and is often the best way to communicate information to others in a group when face-to-face interaction is necessary

Meetings are a way of involving others in solving problems and making decisions to ensure support and buy-in

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Types of Meetings

There are four types of meetings: Problem Solving Decision-Making Planning Reporting and Presenting Evaluating

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When to Have a Meeting

Calling a meeting may be good when: You want information or advice from your group; You want to involve your group in solving a problem or making a

decision; There is an issue that needs to be clarified; You have concerns you want to share with your group as a whole; The group itself wants a meeting; There is problem that involves people from different groups; or There is a problem and it’s not clear what it is or who is

responsible for dealing with it

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When Not to Have a Meeting

A meeting is generally not a good idea when: You have to deal personnel issues like hiring, firing and

negotiating salaries; There is inadequate data or poor preparation; Something could be communicated better by telephone, memo, or a

one-to-one discussion; The subject matter is so confidential or secret that it can’t be shared

with some group members; or The subject is trivial; or there is anger and hostility in the group

and people need time to calm down before they begin to work collaboratively

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When Does a Meeting Work How do you know if a meeting works? What’s an effective

meeting?

There are two ways of judging the success of a meeting. What are they?

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Do You Have an Agenda?

Always prepare an agenda

An agenda is a pre-determined sequence of items of business to be covered at a specific meeting

Get members involved in agenda preparation and you will soon find that members are taking ownership of the agenda and the meeting

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More on Agendas Prepare the agenda in advance

Parliamentary Pearls

E-mail can be a very effective tool in agenda preparation. For example, if you are going to prepare the agenda next weekend,

e-mail members during the early part of the week and ask them to e-mail agenda items to you by Friday

Follow the agenda conscientiously. If you don’t follow it, you can’t expect members to follow it. And, if the group decides not to follow the agenda, do it in an orderly fashion – suspend the rules

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More on Agendas

Create a “Template” that can be used and revised accordingly

Include on the agenda Name of the Group Title and/or Topic of the Meeting Date, Place and Time Agenda Items Designate a time when an agenda item will be

discussed (optional)

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Why Do You Need a Facilitator Brings organization, structure, and order to a

meeting Helps develop ground rules (unless using Roberts

Rules) for the group to follow Gets consensus on ground rules and enforces them Keeps time so the meeting begins and ends on time Record actions and gets clarity of what, who, when

on actions Must stay neutral

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Do You Have a Minute(s)? Minutes not hours – make

them short, sweet and to the point

The Secretary prepares the minutes immediately after the meeting and sends them out to the members – either by e-mail or regular mail – before the next meeting.

When the minutes are printed and distributed in advance of the meeting, there is no need to have the minutes read during the meeting and the members can quickly move to approve them

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Do You Have a Minute(s)? Approval of the minutes can

be simple: The presiding officer says “You have received the minutes of the last meeting. Are there any corrections to the minutes? [Pause]. Hearing none, if there are no objections, the minutes are approved as printed

Gavel Gaffs

You might have heard presiding officers ask “Are there any additions or corrections to the minutes as printed?” It is not necessary to ask for addition as well as corrections because an addition is a correction.

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Parliamentary Procedure Organizations using parliamentary procedure usually follow a fixed

order of business, such as: Call to Order Roll call of members present to determine quorum Reading of last meeting minutes Officers Reports Committee Reports Special Orders—important business previously designated

for consideration at this meeting Unfinished business New business Announcements Adjournment

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Roberts Rules 101

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History of Robert’s Rules

Henry M. Robert (1837-1923) was a general in the U.S. Army and began researching the subject of parliamentary procedure after he was elected to chair a group but found limited technical books available.

“Robert’s Rules” refer to a lot of different books

First edition released in 1876, titled, “Pocket Manual of Rules of Order for Deliberative Assemblies”

Nine subsequent editions followed, many with substantial revisions. The Tenth Edition was released in 2000.

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Robert’s Rules 101

Parliamentary Procedure is a

system of conducting

business… Allows a group of people to

come together and make a decision

Comprised of basic principles & rules that determine how the group will proceed through the decision-making process

Parliamentary Pearls

You can find the parliamentary authority for your organization in your by-laws. If the by-laws are written following the format prescribed in “Robert’s” you will find an article titled “Parliamentary Authority” That article should be one of the last articles in the by-laws. (See page 11 of the DFC FEW Chapter By-laws)

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Robert’s Rules 101

Helps the group stay focused on a single issue until the members resolve it

Manages your meeting by giving it structure

Shortens meeting when tools are used properly

Gavel Gaffs

Just saying you are following parliamentary procedure doesn’t shorten the meeting. It is the discipline of following the procedures that makes the meetings shorter.

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Robert’s Rules 101 Robert’s is all about protecting the rights of the minority,

ensuring legality, and expediting business

Various meetings serve different parliamentary purposes, all of them, however, should follow parliamentary procedure

It is essential to establish a quorum before any meaningful business is conducted

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Robert’s Rules 101 A quorum, as defined in the DFC-FEW bylaws, is the

majority of the Executive Committee

The level of formality that you use at your meeting depends on how many people are involved, the purpose of the meeting, and how much time and money is available

Robert’s provides for less stringent rules for meetings with 12 or fewer members

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Robert’s Rules 101

Points to Ponder… One of the reasons that

some people don’t like parliamentary procedure is that they think it must be all or nothing --- they believe that you have to use all of it or you should ignore it completely.

Robert’s Rules can be adapted to meet the needs of the group

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Making Motions Members express themselves in the form of motions.

A motion is a proposal that the entire membership take action or take a stand on an issue. Individual members can:

Make a motion Second a motion(s) Debate motions Vote on motions Call a point of order

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Four Basic Types of Motions

1. Main Motions: The purpose of a main motion is to introduce items to the membership for their consideration. They cannot be made when any other motion is on the floor, and yield to privileged, subsidiary, and incidental motions.

2. Subsidiary Motions: Their purpose is to either amend a main motion or affect how a main motion is handled. They are voted on before a main motion.

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Four Basic Types of Motions

3. Privileged Motions: Their purpose is to bring up items that are urgent about special or important matters unrelated to pending business.

4. Incidental Motions: Their purpose is to provide a means of questioning procedure concerning other motions. They must be considered before the other motion(s).

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How to Present a Motion Obtain the floor by

waiting until the current speaker has finished

Rise or raise your hand to address the Chair, and wait to be recognized

Speak clearly and concisely

Always state a motion affirmatively. Say “I move that we….” rather than, “I move that we do not…”

Wait for someone to second your motion

Another member will second your motion or the Chair will call for a second.

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How to Present a Motion - Continued If there is no second to your

motion, it is lost.

If your motion is seconded, the Chair will say, “it has been moved and seconded that we…”, thus placing your motion before the membership for consideration and action

The membership either debates your motion or may move directly to a vote

Once your motion is presented to the membership by the Chair, it becomes assembly property and it cannot be changed by you without the consent of the members

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Expanding Motions

The time for you to speak in favor of your motion is during the debate of the motion, rather than when you present it

The mover is always allowed to speak first

All comments and debate must be directed to the Chair

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More on Motions

Putting the question to the Membership… Keep to the pre-determined time limit for speaking, if a

limit as been set

The mover may speak again only after other speakers are finished, unless called upon by the Chair

The Chair asks the membership, “Are you ready to vote on the question?” If there is no more discussion, a vote is taken

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Voting Five voting methods used by organizations are:

By Voice: The chair asked those in favor to say “aye”, those opposed to say “no”. Any member may move for an exact count.

By Roll Call: Each member answers “yes” or “no” as her name is called. This method is used when its required to record each person’s vote.

By General Consent: When a motion is not likely to be opposed, the Chair says, “if there is no objection…” The membership shows their agreement by their silence, however if one member says,, “I object,” the items must be put to a vote.

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Voting Continued

By Division: This is a slight variation of a voice vote. It does not require a count unless the Chair so desires. Members raise their hands or stand.

By Ballot: Members write their vote on a slip of paper. This method is used when secrecy is desired.

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Use Rules ProperlyParliamentary Procedure is the best way to get things done at

meetings. But, it will only work if used properly. Allow motions that are in order Have members obtain the floor properly Speak clearly and concisely Obey the rules of debate BE COURTEOUS!!

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Sources

“The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Robert’s

Rules” by Nancy Sylvester

“The New Interaction Method – How To

Make Meetings Work” by Michael Doyle

and David Straus

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Next Meeting

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

League of Women Voters

Understanding the Upcoming Ballot Issues