Meetings
Co-determination bodies have to meet internally somewhat regularly. At these meetings several things can come up, examples are discussing documents sent in, forming collective opinions, formulating strategy for files and discussing ideas for initiative-files. Much to discuss, usually in little time. To ensure that meetings run efficiently the following points are good to keep in mind.
Appoint a (technical) chair
The chair has several responsibilities:
- Prepare the agenda and ensure everyone know beforehand what the meeting is about.
- Ensure that the discussion stays on topic.
- Ensure that people don’t talk over each other and keeping the discussion orderly.
- Guarding the time. This might also mean ending a discussion early when time is running low.
These responsibilities make it important for the chair to be able to stay neutral while they’re chairing. With controversial subjects it can be valuable to appoint a councilmember who has little to do with the content as a technical chair. It is also possible to (in agreement) appoint an external person to chair the meeting.
It is also important to realise that the chair does not carry the responsibility for a good meeting alone. While they naturally play a large role, active and constructive participation from all those present is also very important.
Participants
Keep the amount of participants in mind during a meeting. With a large group formal meeting rules can make for a much smoother meeting, while the same rules might hinder a small group instead.
Appoint someone to take minutes
Make sure you appoint someone to take minutes for every meeting (usually the secretary). The minutes help to prevent misunderstandings and are important for keeping an archive. Additionally publishing minutes is mandatory for some meetings at some institutions. The minute taker has several responsibilities:
- Take minutes of what is said during the meeting. Not everything has to be minuted, but it should be clear what the opinions are and why.
- Keep record of the communal decisions made during the meeting
- Keep a list of action items (tasks).
Preparing meetings
Make agreements about delivering and reading documents before meetings. When should the chair know if you want to have something feature on the agenda? By when should the documents be ready and available and do we expect everyone to have read every document? Keep in mind that co-determination members are often very busy, make sure your agreements are realistic!
Efficient agenda items
Ensure that everyone knows well what is being discussed and with what goal at every agenda item. Is there a decision to be made, an opinion to be formulated, or should the meetings only be informed? By making this clear for everyone the meeting becomes clearer and more effective.
Agenda
As mentioned above, a strong agenda is very important for an efficient meeting. Below you’ll find an example of an agenda, with explanations of the varying elements that an agenda could contain. Be critical in applying this example; while longer, recurring meetings might have a use for every element, shorter meetings might be hindered by them.