How to Ensure Your Meetings Run to Time

Governing body meetings are a often a marathon, rarely a sprint. But surely it’s about quality, not quantity and since we all have lives to lead I’ve brought together a few tips on how to make your meetings are swift and effective.

1) Start Promptly

Often the first 15 minutes are just spent waiting for everyone to arrive. Providing you’re quorate, start bang on time and people will soon get the message.

2) Prune Agendas

Often agendas take on a bit of a life of their own as different items get added year after year. What’s on there that you really need to discuss? Focussing on the big issues will help you be more strategic.

3) Be Prepared

Send round every paper in advance, don’t allow anything to be tabled at the meeting – except in truly exceptional circumstances. Nobody should be reading things for the first time at a meeting. This allows for better informed debate.

4) Make Your Goals Clear

Set SMART targets and measure your school’s progress against these in a regular report. Not only is this much quicker than simply asking a vague question like ‘How are things going?’, you’ll also get a much more transparent view of a school’s actual performance.

5) Be a Strong Chair

If you feel someone’s bringing up a topic that’s already been covered, politely say so and move on. Don’t be afraid to get people to take points up offline with people after the meeting if they’re not directly relevant.

Hopefully, with these you could half the time your meetings take AND make them more effective at the same time!