1.1 Introduction
Organising meetings effectively and efficiently is an important component of the decision making process within an organisation.The waste of significant time and money can be prevented by running effective and well recorded meetings. In fact, a badly organised and poorly managed meeting can be worse than holding no meeting at all. The first tenet in organising effective business meetings is planning and preparing, in order to take good minutes. Without adequate preparation and planning a disorganised meeting will produce notes which are unable to convey what transpired in the meeting. Unclear and disjointed minutes fall short of the basic principle of minute writing - to effectively document and communicate the proceedings of a past meeting.
1.2 What are Minutes?
Minutes are the official recorded or written documentation of a meeting.They are used to inform the attendees and non-attendees of what was discussed and decided in a meeting. As a bare minimum, minutes usually have the names of those who attended and the groups they represent; the agenda items discussed; follow-up actions that were agreed and any noteworthy discussions or decisions that arose. A good minute writer focuses on the decisions arrived at in the meeting and the commitments made by the attendees. Commitments should be accompanied by due dates and other details that promote a common and shared understanding by all the participants.
Minutes are also powerful historical documents. They can provide invaluable information into why a certain decision was arrived at. Minutes can help answer the question “Why would management think this was the best way to go, even though there was an easier alternative?” Well written minutes should therefore reflect the possible alternatives discussed and the reasons why the others were dropped in favour of the one that was picked. Minutes do not need to record everything that was discussed - just the important things. From a legal perspective, minutes give your business protection: recording why decisions were made.
Conveying the decision-making process is more important than the actual decision. Minutes provide evidence that a company adhered to its own internal procedures and showed due diligence in its actions.
1.3 Types of Minutes
Meeting proceedings are documented in many different ways across various organisations. The formats of the documents also vary depending on the unique preferences of a given organisation. You can even find different formats used in different departments of the same organisation. Some organisations opt to use a predefined template that must be adhered to when documenting all meetings. Others allow the minute taker to use their own discretion. The first step in writing minutes for a meeting is finding out what format is acceptable for the meeting and for the organisation. Let us look at the broad categories of meeting minutes:
Agenda based minutes
This is the most commonly used format in structured organisations.
These minutes are taken in scheduled meetings that have an agenda. Ideally, the agenda is pre- distributed to the attendees, but in the event that the agenda was not given to the attendees in advance, the Chair may read through agenda items before commencing the meeting. The minutes for this type of meeting follow the framework of the agenda. The use of a structured agenda makes meetings run much more smoothly and effectively, and has the same impact on the minutes.
Informal meeting minutes
Some meetings are informal in nature and therefore only require a basic output of information. These types of minutes concentrate on summarising decisions and highlighting the action steps identified. These minutes are usually circulated to attendees and anyone else that might have a stake in the meeting or in the decisions arrived at. These minutes can be written using simple templates or be produced ad hoc. The simplest minutes are just actions that are sent in an email after the meeting.
Meeting notes
More formal or in-depth meetings require a richer output of the notes of what happened during the meeting; not just the decisions and outcomes. The meeting notes must, on a bare minimum, have the date of the meeting, the list of the attendees, the points that were discussed in the meeting, and the actions that were agreed on. Each agreed upon action is outlined clearly using bullets or numbers to create the notes.
Narrative minutes
These types of minutes take the narrative approach by giving a lot of detail about the meeting. Narrative minutes describe the decision making process and even document the names of the proposers and seconders. They can even note down the exact words used by the proposers and narrate the views for and against the proposition. They also give a summary of the information shared during the meeting and would typically contain links to these external documents.
Resolution minutes
As opposed to narrative minutes, resolution minutes just record the decisions made. Resolution minutes pay no attention to how the decision was arrived or who the contributors were. Resolution minutes are often relied upon when documenting meetings aimed at resolving conflict or when negotiating a common ground in business.
Action minutes
These pay a lot of attention to who will implement a decision and exactly when the action is expected. Action minutes are typically written in two or three columns. Action minutes are sent to all concerned parties and often used as a follow-up mechanism to confirm the required actions have been taken.
Activity 1: Minute Templates
Estimated time: 15 minutes
The first step in writing minutes for a meeting is finding out what format is acceptable for the meeting and for the organisation. Find some minutes of past meetings at your organisation and examine them (or find some from organisations online).
Does your organisation use a predefined template for writing minutes?
Is the format used the same across all departments?
From your analysis of previous minutes, would you say a template works well for your organisation?
Or would it be better to use an ad-hoc approach?
Reviewing what is currently in use may in fact highlight that the current process is not working and a more regulated approach is needed.
1.4 What is a Minute Taker?
A minute taker is a must-have component in the meeting process. They are the meeting participant who documents the proceedings in writing. The minute taker could be a professional note taker, who has only been hired to take minutes, secretarial support staff or a meeting participant who has been picked to do the job.
For example:
The sports commentator is a great analogy for minute takers - they give an overall description of the event without necessarily mentioning every single player or describing every single move. The sports commentator will however ensure they tell you of all the points scored and the near misses as well.
When any meeting is held, different participants will have different opinions of what was discussed and agreed upon. It is the role of the minute taker to provide the only official account of the meeting in order to avoid disputes about what was agreed. A meeting should therefore have only one minute taker. However, the minute taker must get approval of the minutes by the Chair and at least one or two other participants before circulating them to the attendees.
Circulation of the minutes should be done as soon as possible after the meeting. This gives the attendees ample time to interrogate the minutes and prepare well for the next meeting. A minute taker must listen attentively to the proceedings to avoid losing anything important. It is also their responsibility to give an impartial record of the meeting. For larger meetings with lots of attendees it is advisable to record a seating plan before the meeting starts. This is to ensure that they can easily keep track of all attendees through the meeting.Whether or not a minute taker should participate in the discussions depends on whether they are professional note takers, secretarial support or an actual attendee. Professional note takers and support staff are not expected to participate in the discussions and they only speak when seeking clarification of a point for purposes of documentation. However, if the minute taker is chosen from the regular attendees of the meeting, they are expected to also contribute to the discussion.
1.5 The Role of the Minute Taker
Every meeting requires multiple roles and responsibilities:
Chair, participants and minute taker.
The minute taker plays a very important role in the meeting cycle. They often begin by preparing the meeting room and seating arrangements, preparing and arranging the equipment and paper, andmore importantly, they liaise with the Chair and participants. The role of a minute taker at meetings is therefore administrative. They put in place preparations aimed at making the meeting a success and then record the proceedings to be shared with the attendees later on.
As an administrator, it is the role of the minute taker to accurately record what happens, what was discussed, what decision was arrived at, and what action steps are expected. Both the Chair and the attendees rely on the minute taker for the success of a meeting. The meeting
administration role, which is frequently merged with the minute taking role, helps relieve critical tasks from the Chair, such as summarising agenda items prior to the meeting and then discussions after each item has been deliberated on. They can also help in keeping time and maintaining order in certain types of meetings.
Even though the roles of the minute taker should be clear, they often take on other duties from organisation to organisation - this means the minute taker needs a close working relationship with the Chair. Typically the minute taker does not meet with the Chair outside the meeting room, which negatively impacts on the quality of the meeting. If that is where you are, you may want to forge a better working relationship with the Chair - albeit one step at a time. Most Chairs will be happy when you offer to help them as long as your help is notdeemed to threaten their competence. If establishing this kind of relationship is out of question, you can try initiating a “pre-meeting” session to clarify a couple of things.
Suggestions for discussion and clarification:
Why the meeting is being held
Who will be attending?
The agenda items
Background information that might help in minute taking
Fact
60% to 70% of a minute-taker's most effective time will likely be spent in the pre-meeting stage.
Source: Business Management Daily.
1.6 Anticipating and Understanding the Meeting
A good minute taker needs to anticipate and understand the meeting.
The best way to do this is by answering questions:
Why?
This question seeks to clarify why the meeting is being held. Foreknowledge of what is being discussed can help you keep track of what is being discussed as you take notes. In addition, understanding the goal also helps you to know if the discussions have met the goal or not.
Understanding the goals of a meeting also helps make the meeting more interesting.
Who?
The 'who' question helps you know who will be participating in the meeting for purposes of liaison.This is an important question because as a minute taker, you will most likely be in charge of distributing the agenda items as well as the duly signed minutes after the meeting. In many cases it is important to know who is talking so knowledge of the attendees, and identification of their voice for telephone meetings, is critical.
When?
This question seeks to establish the time factors of the meeting. It can be the role of the administrative support to work with the Chair to plan the meeting and its agenda, including bringing other people in for specific presentations.
Where?
Venues can be critical to the success of a meeting.
You may want to answer questions like:
How convenient is the location?
How accessible is the venue for attendees with disabilities?
Does the meeting room create an air of ease for all participants?
Is the room big or small enough?
The venue should be such that all the participants have eye contact and they should be approximately an arm's length from each other.
What?
Are any materials needed for the meeting? This could be printouts, papers, presentations, and various forms of meeting technology. Knowing what is required and getting familiarised with it helps save time when the meeting begins.
For instance:
If a projector fails to connect to a laptop, you should be able to provide assistance.
How?
This question will help you plan how the meeting will proceed. Knowing what type of meeting it is will influence the procedure. There might be some legal requirements that determine the procedural flow of certain meetings.
1.7 Qualities of a Good Minute Taker
Not everyone is naturally good at taking minutes.
However, everyone can acquire the skill through training, personal development and practice. There are however some basic skills that every good minute taker must have, as detailed below:
Listening
The ability to listen, absorb and record what is being said is critical. Attentive listening requires a great deal of concentration and focus and is critical for recording accurate notes.
Assertiveness
You must have the confidence to speak up where and when appropriate. This skill comes in handy when seeking clarification of a point.
Organisation
You must be well organised. Read the agenda beforehand, potentially hold a pre-meeting meeting with the Chair, go through previous minutes and background papers, and arrange for the provision of any tools and materials that will be needed in the meeting.
Knowledgeable
It is easier to document the discussions if you know what the attendees are talking about it. You must therefore have some knowledge on the subject being discussed either through formal training or by doing some research prior to the meeting.
Good written English
The real work is not in the documenting of the proceedings clearly, but effectively communicating the outcomes and highlights after the meeting is over. You must be able to produce a document that is of the appropriate quality for the meeting attendees.
Critical thinker
Critical thinking helps you sift through the data to know what is noteworthy and what should be left out. Long wordy notes which do not highlight the salient points are of little value unless you wanted a transcription of the entire meeting. Even with the qualities described above, minute taking is still a challenging task to many. It gets even more complicated if you are expected to be an active participant at the meeting. Not only are you required to keep track of what everyone is saying, but you are also required to record the discussions and decisions accurately...Minute takers need to focus on three specific elements - decisions made, action steps and lessons learnt. This approach saves you from the pain of trying to document everything that is said in the meeting: only the important things are relevant.
Decisions made
Often decisions are not clear, or not entirely made and it is the role of the minute taker to confirm what was decided by asking “what have we finally agreed?” It is important for decisions to be verbalised before they are minuted to ensure accuracy and prevent any misunderstanding - it also solidifies the decision. In addition, it provides a context for the decision for the sake of anyone thatmight have lost concentration at some point in the meeting.
Action steps
As a minute taker, you should try to include action steps in the minutes. Action steps should not be ambiguous; they should explicitly define what is to be done and by whom.
For instance:
Do not write “we agreed to spend more time on marketing”. That is an example of a poorly written action point. A better way of putting it would be: “The committee agreed that Jack will oversee his marketing team to spend an extra 10 hours a week in direct marketing.”
Lessons learnt
Lessons learnt are also important because they serve as future reference points. It may not be possible to have lessons from every meeting, but whenever they occur it is important to note them down.
For instance:
If you realised that customers of the same age bracket had the same problem with your product, you may want to record it down for reference. These reflective learnings are often of crucial significance and value so need to be captured - it is a painful waste of time to be learning the same lessons over and over again because nobody wrote them down!
1.8 The Importance of Taking Minutes
Taking minutes is arguably the most important part of a meeting.
The following are some of the main reasons why it is important to take minutes:
Minutes provide accurate documentation
Minutes provide an accurate documentation of the proceedings of the meetings. This comes in handy at a later date if attendees have differing opinions on what was agreed. Meeting minutes serve as the only official version of what transpired in the meeting.
Minutes drive action
Minutes help to drive action in an organisation. When well documented, minutes spell out the who, the what, the why, the how and the when of decisions arrived at during the meeting. Management and team members can rely on meeting minutes to know the action steps that are required following a meeting.
Minutes are powerful decision making tools
Minutes are powerful decision making tools in an organisation. They clearly outline what was agreed upon in a meeting and then outline what is required.
Minutes offer legal protection
Minutes can be helpful in keeping in step with the laws and regulations that govern organisations. They represent the actions taken by the board and this is why auditors take minutes of meetings as official documents. From a legal point of view, lawyers can argue that if something is not recorded, then it did not happen.
Minutes provide structure
Even if there is no standardised method of documenting meetings, auditors appreciate the fact that some documentation took place. With this in mind, the minute taker should clearly outline how the meeting participants arrived at a given conclusion. The name of the organisation, the names of those in attendance, the date and venue of the meeting should also be carefully recorded.
Minutes provide a continuum
This helps ensure the committee does not keep moving in circles over a period of time. Reviewing old minutes can bring new team members up to date or bridge the gap between meetings over a long period of time; such as in monthly meetings.
Activity 2: What Works for You?
Estimated time: 15 minutes
Now that you have understood the importance of taking minutes in meetings, describe what minutes you have experienced which have worked for you and which have not:
Describe some examples of poor quality minutes
Why were they poor quality or low value?
What could have been done to improve them or the process?
Now describe some high quality minutes you have worked with
What made them so effective?
What concepts or qualities would you like to take from them?
Reflecting on what works for you and what you have found to be ineffective will set the tone for your own work - producing the most effective minutes possible for your organisation.
1.9 Meeting Facilitation
Companies should take every necessary step to make meetings as productive as possible. One way of achieving this is through pre-meetings. A pre-meeting is a brief meeting that is typically organised by the minute taker with the Chair to discuss the agenda and other important things before the real meeting kicks off.This helps the minute taker to know what will be discussed in the meeting and it saves a lot of time that would have been wasted seeking clarification. It also ensures that the minute taker only documents the accurate notes of what is being discussed in the meeting.
For many organisations, the minute taker also takes on the role of meeting facilitation either from an administrative perspective or as an attendee working with the Chair. The facilitator with the Chair is required to pre-plan the meeting and also come up with a way of ensuring cohesion in the meeting. The goal of any meeting should be to encourage maximum participation and engagement without unhealthy conflict. The minute taker can drive the agenda in a meeting to ensure the participants are on track.
Fact
UK workers spend a year of their lives in 'useless' meetings, about four hours per week.
Source: Management Today
Objectives and rules
Meeting objectives must be clearly defined during the pre-planning stage. It is easier to enforce meeting objectives when they are clearly set from the very onset. Letting participants know the purpose of the meeting ensures better participation because they will have time to mentally prepare for the discussion.
For instance:
The objective of a finance committee meeting might be to discuss an audit report. Objectives should be documented and circulated before the meeting. This is another way of encouraging the concerned parties to attend the meeting. Communication of the objectives can be enhanced by drafting agenda items. An agenda document should be circulated several days before the meeting. An agenda not only specifies the objectives but goes a step further by outlining the topics and even discussions needed and questions to be resolved.
A good meeting agenda should start with the date, time and venue of the meeting. It then proceeds to outline the objectives and sub-topics under each objective, outlining how that objective will be accomplished. In some instances, deadlines and reminders of approaching events may also be included. Setting ground rules is another important pre-planning process. Some convenors prefer setting these rules prior to the meeting, but it is more effective to set them in the meeting as the very first item. This is to ensure all the attendees participate in the making of the ground rules, which makes it easier for them to comply. Ground rules should focus on some guidelines for behaviour in the meeting and if the meeting is sensitive, a confidentiality clause mightm also be important. It will also be beneficial to have a list of things that will not be accepted like lateness, personal attacks or verbal abuse.
Activity 3: Meeting Facilitation
Estimated time: 15 minutes
Describe what you would need to plan for a meeting in which you have been designated as the minute taker.
The following pointers will help you think this through:
How would you go about organising a pre-meeting?
What would you be seeking to achieve with the pre-meeting?
What would you do to ensure you have a good agenda for the meeting?
Which process would you use to come up with ground rules for the meeting?
What practical considerations are there for the venue and attendees?
Working through the imaginary steps needed is a gentle way to start getting practice in preparing for effective meetings.
Module Summary
In this module, we introduced the basics of meeting minutes.We started by defining what minutes are, then looked at the different types of minutes that are used frequently in business. These are agenda based minutes, informal meeting minutes, notes of the meeting, narrative minutes, resolution minutes, and action minutes.We then looked at the definition of a minute taker and went deeper into understanding the roles of a good minute taker as well as the must-have qualities.
We also looked at the importance of anticipating a meeting by answering various questions (why, who, when, where, what and how). We also discussed the importance of taking minutes. We conveyed that even though minutes might not be mandatory in some organisations, it is a good practice to take them anyway. Finally, we looked at meeting facilitation and the role the minute taker plays in this. We realised that the minute taker is actually the administrator of the meeting and may well be charged with other administrative functions. These include booking the meeting venue, inviting people to the meeting, printing and distributing the agenda items, making sure the meeting sticks to the agenda, etc. We also touched upon the critical importance of setting the agenda well before the commencement of the meeting.
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