The motion is carried
Chairman of the Board. While the title sounds important, the job itself is even more so.
Consider the hundreds of agricultural organizations across Canada. Without a board of directors, these groups would have no policy, strategy, structure or direction. Without a good chairman, action-oriented organizations might quickly become debating societies.
For an inside view on the role and responsibilities of a chairman, ask an agricultural leader who’s wielded many a gavel over the years: Gordon Stephenson, Calgary-based General Manager of the Canadian Hereford Association and a past or present chairman of many prominent organizations.
“Early on in my career, I attended lots of meetings where nothing seemed to get done,” says Stephenson. “People were getting totally off-topic from the agenda, and I found that very unproductive and frustrating.”
Seeking structure and process as a chairman himself, Stephenson embraced the ancient formulas for parliamentary decision-making: motion, seconder, all in favour, carried or not carried. This is not formality for its own sake. When it comes to providing structure for discussion and decision-making, in Stephenson’s view, the parliamentary style of meeting is flat-out better at getting things done.
He notes that many of the best meeting chairmen in the agriculture industry learned their craft through 4-H, which has long stressed the fundamentals of parliamentary procedure with its youth members.
Stephenson’s rules of order
From the day a meeting is scheduled to the days following the meeting, a chairman has certain duties to perform. Here, Stephenson guides you through the basics. These tips can be deployed at formal board meetings, of course, but the techniques he recommends could apply to a farm partners’ meeting or virtually any agricultural gathering where there’s business to be done.
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Have a written agenda. |
The purpose of the meeting, and the items to be discussed, should be shared with all attendees at least several days ahead of time. This gives people an opportunity to prepare their viewpoints, which helps make the discussions more efficient.
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Outline the rules of the road. |
At the start of a meeting, Stephenson often takes a few minutes to share the procedure he’ll be following. In the parliamentary fashion, he says, “I always attempt to ensure that everyone who speaks addresses the chair. This prevents people talking back and forth to each other.” This technique can also help manage conflict by making the discussions less personal.
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Keep it moving. |
The meeting is scheduled for three hours, and the agenda has 10 items. If it takes three hours just to debate item #1, no one’s going to be happy. “The main part that I work hard at is to keep the meeting focused on the topics,” says Stephenson. “You have to be a bit assertive in terms of gauging where the discussion is going and how long it’s taking. You need to recognize when a discussion has stopped progressing. You can say, ‘We’ve passed over this three or four times, we need to move on, so would someone like to make a motion?’”
The parliamentary process is an efficient way to bring matters to a head. If there’s no motion, Stephenson might propose that the issue be tabled for future discussion.
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How fair is fair? |
Is it the chairman’s responsibility to ensure that everyone provides their opinion in equal measure? Stephenson thinks not. He’s seen that while some people love to talk, others will have a quieter style of participation.
“It’s up to board members to contribute their own view, and it’s not really the chairman’s job to seek it out,” says Stephenson. “But if I’m chairing a meeting and it is being dominated by three or four people, I will ask those who haven’t been heard from to provide their comments on the issue. That’s part of being a responsible chairman.”
A further issue is how or whether the chairman expresses his or her own opinion. Should they be independent and impartial, like the Speaker of the House of Commons, or are they allowed to have a point of view? “If you have information as the chairman that will benefit the group, absolutely you should share that,” says Stephenson, “but it’s also important to make sure the chairman doesn’t do all the talking.”
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Record the meeting, and the actions. |
At the beginning of the meeting, the chairman should appoint someone as secretary. While it’s not necessary to have a word-for-word transcript, the secretary should record the motions, who made and seconded them, and the result of the motion. In addition to this formal record-keeping, Stephenson wants to make sure that action items, complete with names and timelines, are also captured.
“These action items aren’t necessarily motions, but items where someone has been tasked with doing something, and as such it’s important to the organization,” he says.
When the meeting is finished, the action register is attached to the meeting minutes. To keep the issues fresh and the board members engaged, Stephenson wants the meeting minutes circulated within five working days.
In many agricultural organizations, each board member is normally accustomed to being the key decision maker in their own farming operation. How easy is it to get these entrepreneurial, get-it-done kind of people to play nice and be open to compromise? In Stephenson’s experience, a good chairman should expect and will almost always receive the co-operation of board members.
“If you’ve done a good job of setting up and running the meeting, and you’re asking for appropriate input,” he says, “you’ll have the support of most people.”
RBC Royal Bank has produced a series of Definitive Guides, covering a wide range of business management issues. One, called Improving your company’s productivity through sound business practices, features a section on meeting management tips. To order your copy call 1-800-769-2520 or visit www.rbcroyalbank.com/business/definitiveguide
In the next edition of Agriculture Business Review, we’ll explore how the principles of meeting management can be adapted to the farm family’s kitchen table.
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