Chairing meetings
Chairing meetings is easy. Chairing meetings well is much harder!
Microsoft estimated a few years ago that people spend an average of 5.6 hours per week in meetings and 69% of attendees regarded this time as wasted. That's a serious waste of an organisation's money as well as everyone's time. Imagine the effect on morale if that time could be used productively.
Why is chairing hard?
Many of us lack the confidence to chair a meeting confidently and assertively. Perhaps we feel we don't have the right to assert ourselves; perhaps we don't have the self-confidence; maybe we feel we've got a room full of big personalities that no one could control...
But it's not personal. You're not there as a person - you're a function, a role. And meetings are 'about' something, they're to 'decide' (or create!) something. Once you've got those two ideas fixed, it's a lot easier to chair meetings effectively without undue stress.
Training in chairing skills
Our chairing training looks at the different functions you need for chairing meetings and shows you a series of step-by-step guides for developing those chairing skills. We'll even help you practise on some chairing skills exercises! Don't worry, it's not as scary as it sounds! If you want to know more ask about chairing meetings.
A PS about chairing...
Would it surprise you to know we think less than half the time you spend chairing meetings should be spent actually in those meetings? No? Good!