Pre School Administration and Management Course: Module 2

On successful completion of this section you will be able to:

PART ONE

Introduction

School heads and/or managers should see themselves as managers and should use their resources (people, money, property and time) effectively and efficiently to ensure that the school is and stays productive and profitable from an educational perspective.

Meetings are an essential practical aspect of running a school. Used as management tools they can be very beneficial but all too often they do not achieve the results intended. Holding effective meetings does not depend on intuition and good fortune but on effective management skills.

Meetings are an important part of the smooth running of an organisation.

Meetings can often be a waste of time and there are many problems associated with meetings.

In order to conduct a productive meeting you need to know how to construct a formal meeting.

This chapter looks at how to prepare for a meeting.

Before any physical arrangements for a meeting can be made, it is necessary to determine the purpose of the meeting.

1. Purpose of the meeting

There are six general purposes of a meeting.

These include:

A. Informative meeting

The purpose of an Informative meeting is to give or receive information about a specific matter.

This can be seen as a time waster if expectations are not set in advance. This type of meeting requires preparation.

B.    Presentation meeting

This is similar to an informative meeting.

The purpose of a presentation meeting is to deliver a message about products, updates and other ‘public’ matters.

The (AGM) Annual General Meeting of an organisation is a typical example of a presentation meeting.

C.   Brainstorming meeting

The purpose of a brain storming is to produce new ideas about a specific topic.

Generally the atmosphere in these meetings is casual and informal.

It is important to have a facilitator to lead and a scribe to get the ideas down in writing.

D.    Problem solving meeting.

These meetings are conducted to decide how to solve a problem.

There are two recommended sequences of events from problem solving or problem management during a meeting.

SEQUENCE A	SEQUENCE B
1. Identify the problem; 2. Determine the causes; 3. Generate the possible solutions; 4. Evaluate the proposed solutions; 5. Choose the best solution	1. Specify the problem; 2. Generate options; 3. Reduce the number options; 4. Implement; 5. Evaluate and return to the next issue.

E. Conflict meeting

The purpose of a conflict meeting is to settle a conflict with a positive outcome. After a specific conflict, a meeting should determine how to deal with the present conflict issues and prevent future conflicts.

Conflict – is defined as a disagreement or misunderstanding between two or more forces, each trying to assert their ideas and opinion.

F. Training meeting

A training meeting is held to continue the education of employees, customers or other stakeholders.

Give your perception on the following issues:

Which of the meetings have you attended?

Have you found that some meetings to be time wasters?

Explain your answer in a short paragraph.

Which meetings have you found to be the most productive?

Once you have established the purpose of the meeting you need to decide where the meeting will take place and who should be present.

2. Physical arrangements and attendees required for a
meeting are identified and a checklist is prepared and
auctioned in terms of the Standard Operating
procedures.

2.1 Physical Arrangements.

Physical arrangements play an important role in conducting effective meetings :

It must be accessible to all the attendees.

There must be enough space.

The room should be at a comfortable temperature.

The space should be quiet so that all the attendees can be heard clearly.

If it is big meeting there might need a microphone and amplification.

Make sure all the supplies needed for the meeting are available e.g. flipcharts; markers;
notebooks; pens etc.

Refreshments:

Make sure you arrange suitable refreshments e.g. water and tea/coffee.

If it is important that if the meeting runs over a meal time - that more substantial refreshments
are provided.

Take into account the attendees dietary restrictions.

Breaks:

Give attendees a break approximately every 90 minutes.

A typical break is 15 minutes.

As the meeting breaks, inform everyone of the time that the meeting resumes.

Interruptions:

Make sure the meeting will not be interrupted.

Post a sign on the door saying a meeting is in session.

Let the support staff know what types of interruptions are permitted.

Scheduling time for a presentation:

You are responsible for a physical arrangement for a training meeting.

The facilitator has informed you that the presentation is 4 hours and that she has to leave at 14h00 to fetch her children.

You are required to set up a timetable for the meeting.

Discuss how you will manage the following aspects:

Sound
Refreshments
Breaks
Atmosphere
Amenities and equipment

2.2 Prepare a checklist for the physical arrangements.

When preparing for a meeting, it is a good idea to make use of a checklist to ensure that you have seen to all the physical requirements of the meeting.

This checklist can take any form.

Below please find an example, which can be changed to suite your needs.

3. The purpose of an agenda, the expected outcomes of the meeting, the process of placing items on the agenda and the roles of participants are explained according to standard operating procedures.

Creating an effective agenda is one of the most important elements for a productive meeting.

Here are some reasons why the meeting agenda is so important.

3.1 The Agenda:

Communicates important information such as:

1. Topics for discussion

2. Presenter or discussion leader for each topic

5. Time allocation for each topic

6. Provide an outline for the meeting (how long to spend on which topics). Can be used as
    a checklist to ensure that all information is covered.

7. Let participants know what will be discussed if it's distributed before the meeting. This
    gives them an opportunity to come to the meeting prepared for the upcoming
    discussions and decisions

8. Provides a focus for the meeting (the objective of the meeting must be clearly stated in
    the agenda

3.2 How to Create an Effective Agenda

You're responsible for planning your project meeting this month. Arrggh!!

What to do?

Now you understand how important an agenda is to the effectiveness of the meeting, but don't know how to create one.

Breathe easy!

All you have to do is follow the steps outlined below:

Send an e-mail stating there will be a meeting, the goal of the meeting as well as the administrative details such as when and where it will be. Ask those invited to accept or decline the meeting. Make it clear that once they have accepted the meeting, they are expected to attend.
Ask participants requesting an agenda item to contact you no less than two days before the meeting with their request and the amount of time they will need to present it.
Once all of the agenda requests have been submitted to you summarize them in a table format with the headings Agenda Item, Presenter and Time. It's your responsibility to ensure that each agenda item is directly related to the goals of this particular meeting. If an inappropriate request is made, suggest that person send an e-mail or memo instead or recommend that this agenda item be discussed in another meeting. Also, you must be realistic in the amount of time you allocate to each presenter. Don't cram an unrealistic number of agenda items into an hour meeting. When people accept an hour meeting, they expect to be finished in an hour. When meetings go over time, people generally tend to get uneasy. It's better to schedule 50 minutes of discussion into an hour time slot. This way you have 10 minutes to spare and if you get done a little early, people will be pleased.
Send the agenda to all the meeting participants the day before the meeting with a reminder of the meeting goals, location, time and duration. At this time, ask the presenters if they are happy with the order in which they will be speaking and the amount of time they have been allocated.
Of course, the most important part of creating an effective agenda is to follow it during the meeting!

3.3 The role of the participants

3.3.1 The Role of the Chairperson

The Chairperson is a part of a team made up of a Chairperson (or, at times, another discussion leader), the Secretary, the Treasurer, all the committee members. The Chairperson's aim should be to utilise the interests, release the potential energies of all the members, and to see that the committee develops a common view of its purposes and shared responsibility for leadership. They should play the role of a stimulator, not a dictator.

Points in Selecting a Chairperson

It might prove helpful in selecting a chairperson to ask this question:

What do we expect of a Chairperson?

· To get things done - has a personal record of being a consistent worker who completed a job, is hardworking

· To make decisions - is fair and even handed to all members of the group, persuasive To stimulate and inspire others, enthusiastic, good-humored

· To know the right answers - has background knowledge of the group's aims.

The Ideal Chairperson-:

· Work with people

· Stimulate people rather than browbeat them

· Help the group use all the abilities and experiences its members possess

· Encourage them to use the new abilities they develop as they work together.

How can a Chairperson fill these expectations?

1 By putting everyone at ease and making sure that all members have a say.

2 By being sensitive to members, encouraging quieter people to express an opinion, and by controlling the over-talkative or aggressive personalities in a friendly and firm way.

3 By discouraging over-emotional language, personal abuse or accusation, while trying to maintain a reasonable, calm and friendly atmosphere.

Four of the most important qualities of a good Chairperson are impartiality, firmness, tack and common sense. Other useful qualities are courtesy, patience and tolerance.

3.3.2 The Role of the Secretary

A Secretary needs to be a practical person who will pay attention to detail and likes to get things done. The Secretary will need to work closely with the Chairperson, and also with a group's coordinator or paid staff, if there are any. The Secretary is an official member of the Committee and has the right to vote.

The Secretary usually has a number of responsibilities:

· Organising and following up meetings of the group

· Looking after the overall administration of the group

· Dealing

· Looking after the overall administration of the group

· Dealing with correspondence of the Chairperson's signature

· Contacting other members to follow-up tasks needing to be done

· Seeing that employees are paid and official returns are attended to.

Duties of the Secretary

Before the meeting:

· Make sure a place is available for the meeting,

· Make sure that the Minutes of the previous meeting are written up and a copy circulated to all Committee members with notice of the next meeting (date, place, time) and a draft Agenda for the coming meeting,

· Settle the items of the agenda with the Chairperson and prepare copies for all members,

· Keep all the papers that may be needed at the meeting in a folder - they should be arranged in the order that will be needed, have any reports or information ready which may have been asked for at the previous meeting.

At the meeting:

· You should be at the meeting ahead of time with the books, correspondence and other necessary papers, including the Constitution, a membership list and the Minute book, to check past decisions,

· Make a note of those present and also of all apologies,

· Read the minutes of the previous meeting and obtain the Chair's signature

· Take notes of the business of the meeting for the minutes, unless there is a Minute Secretary available.

After the meeting:

· Draft or check the Minutes as soon as possible and submit them to the Chair for approval,

· Write any letters, secure any information or take any action on matters decided by the committee,

· Write up the Minutes for circulation

· Have the Minutes typed, copied and sent out to all the members of the Committee,

· If action is to be taken by anyone else, check that they know they are meant to do that job, and when the Committee needs to have a result.

Hints for Minutes Takers:

· Listen for key words or phrases

· Try to capture basic ideas and the essence of what people say

· Don't write down every word

· Write as clearly as possible

· Abbreviate words, use initials to save time circle key ideas, statements or decisions

· Underline highlights and differentiate important ideas

· Use stars, arrows, numbers

· Number all sheets

· Note ‘Action’ beside motions or decisions requiring specific tasks

· Note who is responsible for the action

· Speak up when the action is too fast!

3.3.3. The Role of the Treasurer

The Treasurer has the responsibility of reporting the state of financial affairs to the members. They need to have an understanding of the organisations finances. This is usually done by way of recommendations to a Committee Meeting, based on the written reports and financial statements presented to the Committee.

The honesty and integrity of the treasurer must be beyond question.

4. Documents required for a meeting are checked for accuracy and completeness and distributed according to Standard Operating procedures.

It is important that the meeting documentation namely the notice and the agenda sent to the attendees of the meeting are checked for accuracy and completeness before they are distributed. They include the following:

The Notice

· Ensure that the name of the organisation appears on the notice

· Ensure that the date of the meeting, the venue and the time is correct.

· Ensure that the purpose of the meeting is stated clearly.

The Agenda

· Ensure that the minutes of the previous meeting are attached for scrutiny

· Ensure that all the reports and documentation is included

· Appear on the agenda are present

· Ensure that all new business is stated

· Check the spelling and the other relevant details such as names of persons for accuracy.

· Ensure that the documents are signed by the appropriate persons.

Once the documentation has been checked for accuracy and completeness, it is distributed according to organisational requirement. This can include:

· The meeting documentation can distribute one or two weeks prior to the meeting.

· It can be distributed by e-mail which is common practice nowadays

· It can also be distributed in hard copy –some organisations have a mail box for staff members.

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ACTIVITY THREE:

Write down the procedure for checking the accuracy and completeness of the meeting documentation in your organisation.

Or, If there is no procedure how will you apply this to your current organisation?

PART 2: CONDUCT A MEETING

“A meeting is a mechanism for gathering resources”.

1. Who attends a meeting?

When a list of who is to attend a meeting is compiled it is important to consider who needs to be at the meeting and can add value to the meeting.

Do not include people for the sake of including them. Only those who will advance the agenda should attend the meeting.

Think about the following points:

· Who can provide the necessary expert advice?

· Who has experience with this issue?

· Who will support your cause?

· Whose commitment do you need?

Consider your attendees when inviting them to the meeting. When will be the best time to suite your staff?

ACTIVITY FOUR:

Think about the pre-school setting (perhaps the one you are currently working in) and give two meeting times for the staff why you think those times are suitable.

2. Sending meeting notification

It is a good plan to call each person and tell them about the meeting, its purpose and why their attendance is important. Follow –up c your calls with a meeting notice, including the purpose of the meeting, where it will be held and when.

Send out a copy of the prosed agenda along with the meeting notice, outstanding action items prioritised in an order that supports meeting these objectives.

ACTIVITY FIVE:

Meetings are an everyday occurrence at schools. List the reasons why you think some people regard meetings as a waste of time. Once you have made the list compare it with the list at the end of the module.

3. Conduct a meeting according to a pre-planned agenda and based on standing committee procedures or agreed guidelines

3.1 General Rules for conducting a meeting

· Start on time - Start the meeting on time and do not run past the communicated stop time as this indicates a lack of respect for other's time. All attendees should be punctual. It is ok for you to arrive early, but never to be late. Keeping people waiting is rude and it should not be expected that they will wait to begin once everyone arrives.

· Arrange to attend the entire meeting time. Going in and out during meetings is disruptive and can throw off the flow of the meeting for others. If you are leaving early or going to arrive late, ask the meeting leaders permission to do so before the meeting begins so they can rearrange the agenda if necessary.

· Make everyone aware of the meeting purpose and agenda at the beginning of the meeting. Put this on meeting reminders and go over it with everyone at the meeting to insure all agree. Once everyone is in agreement, it is easier to follow the agenda and stick to time limits.

· Assign a one person to document decisions and actions. Having a minute taker will not only insure completion of actions outside the meeting, their visible records in the meeting can help to keep group focused. You should consider having the recorder role rotated among membership if there are to be a series of meetings.

· Regarding electronic devices, everyone should agree to turn off phones and pagers. Some people will find this impossible. For those people, you should ask they at least set it to vibrate in their pockets. Ask anyone who keeps them on vibrate to leave the room if they feel they must respond to a call so the meeting is not interrupted by their conversation.

· Break the ice

· Review the agenda

· Review results of last meeting

· State purpose and objectives

· Seek contributions and focused discussion

· Clarify is issues especially if there is disagreement

· Keep to the agenda

· Summarise, assign action items, close on schedule.

Remember to allow time between meetings. If one meeting runs longer than scheduled you do not have people waiting. If the same people are in the meetings they will need a break between meetings.

3.2 Location

· Choose a location that suites the occasion and the size of the meeting. You must not crowd people into a room.

· If a table id required, there should be enough space for people to place their notes.

· The room should have the good ventilation and light for an effective meeting.

· Any technology required should be handy.

3.3 Seating

Seating along with related physical arrangements creates the foundation for meetings, programs and training. Often called room setups, they encompass comfort, access and safety for the attendees.

At most meetings the chairperson, secretary and treasurer sit next to each other so as to manage the process of the meeting.

Here are some suggestions:

Problem Solving

With the high-level of interaction required for group problem solving, seating must reflect equality. Equal contribution of ideas is easier when people are seated in a circular pattern. Avoid positioning someone at the head of the table or the top of the room – an indirect placement of power. Round table arrangements foster a feeling of contribution for all meeting participants.

Training

Like presenters, the trainer needs to be visually accessible to the training participants.

Because most trainers today desire participation from class members, openness is important here too.

Set up a U-shaped arrangement to promote equality and interaction. Place visuals at the opening of the U. This configuration allows the trainer to move freely throughout the group members and work one-on-one with individuals.

Decision Making

Arriving at a specific outcome or decision is a common meeting objective. Identifying a leader who can facilitate, direct and moderate discussions will help keep the meeting focused. Choose a rectangular table or classroom-style setup with the chairs arranged in rows.

Know the personalities of the meeting participants and position them accordingly. Avoid placing two individuals with aggressive personalities next to each other. Instead, anticipate possible conflict among individuals and evenly position those individuals throughout the room.

ACTIVITY SIX:

Seating arrangements. You are responsible for the physical arrangements of the parent committee meeting. A sales representative from a toy company is coming to present new products. The room has seating capacity for 10 people. There are only 7 people attending the meeting. Indicate where you will place the chairperson (c), the secretary (s), treasurer and the representative (r). Draw the table and chairs.

4. ORDER OF BUSINESS

Meetings with an official tone tend to have a specific order. These are conducted according to a set of rules know as Roberts Rules of Order. These rules are summarised below. Any meeting could be based on these rules and would contribute to the effectiveness of meeting

1.	Chairman	The Chairperson calls the meeting to order
2.	Secretary	a. The secretary will read the minutes of the last meeting and ask if there are any corrections to be made. Corrections are suggested without motion or vote. If there is no further correction the minutes are read (as corrected) 2. Report (s): a. Various reports can be delivered. b. Motions* are made to adopt audited financial report; no action is taken on non-audited report. c. Motions* d. If a committee report contains a recommendation, the reporting member (unusually chairman of committee) moves that the recommendation be adopted. Otherwise, report is filed without action. 3. Unfinished Business a. Is there any unfinished business? b. Action is completed on any business not settled when last meeting was adorned. 4. New Business a. Is there any new business? b. Each new motion is discussed and settled before another main motion can be proposed. 5. Announcements a. Are there any announcements 6. If there is no further business. a. The meeting will stand adjourned. 7. Should the meeting wish to adjourn before business is completed, it must be adjourned by motion.

5. Creating opportunities to allow for effective participation by people attending the meeting

The success of a meeting will often depend upon the confidence with which the individuals feel that they can participate.

1.1 Why people do not participate in meetings.

People do not participate in meetings for several reasons. The reasons mentioned most often are shyness, lack of self-confidence and embarrassment about speaking in public. The chairperson needs to encourage and create opportunities for these people to get involved and contribute to the meeting.

1.2 Techniques for encouraging participation in meetings

1. For the first meeting of a new group or team, you may want to ask each person what they hope to gain from the meeting or the team. If the team will continue to meet, you should take time in the first meeting to develop ground rules. In later meetings consider helping the members understand each other more by doing icebreakers or short team-building exercise.

Another option is for you to ask different people to give short presentations on new tools or their jobs/departments at each meeting until everyone has shared something.

2. You should explain the purpose of the meeting and tell members and how it affects them or their job. When possible, get the group's input on agenda topics prior to the meeting. This can be done outside the meeting by your sending the proposed agenda in an email asking for comments. However, the best way is for you to get their inputs by planning the next meeting agenda together at the end of each meeting. The purpose and agenda answers member's WIIFM (what's in it for me) and encourages their help to accomplish the best results in the meeting.

3. For any meeting topics that warrant discussion, you need to plan extra time to allow everyone 2-3 minutes of talk time each. Be sure to encourage everyone to share thoughts, opinions, pros and cons during the discussion time. In doing this, you need to be sure to create a safe respectful environment for open exchange of ideas and opinions.

In order to do this, you must never allow belittling of a person's questions or input - everyone can add value even the devil's advocate.

4. When you are doing idea generation in the meeting, always use the round robin brainstorming technique. Also you should use structured activities or processes when problem solving to focus everyone on equally participating. This includes making notes of what is said during the meetings because seeing their thoughts captured let members know their contributions are valued and encourages others to build upon things they see and hear in the meeting. Using these methods insures everyone takes a turn contributing until most people have begun to run out of ideas.

5. If you have run out of ideas for team-building, ask the group for ideas they may have to make your meetings more interactive. You may find that some members have particular exercise they want to try or know a technique they have used before that your group may benefit from. Be sure to try some of the different ideas in your following meetings so they see you are listening to them.

6. If the group has been meeting for a while and tend to always sit in the same place or certain people sit together, then you might want to mix up the seating by either assigning seats prior to meeting start with name tents. Another method is to have people number off and moving everyone with an even number to the right side of the room and those with an odd number to the left side. Sometimes something as simple as a location change can get people interacting in new ways.

You may also want to consider changing meeting times to wake up the group. If you always meet after lunch, perhaps people are too tired to focus and participate. If you typically meet prior to lunch, people may be too hungry to think and interact appropriately. Try different times until you find something that works for everyone.

REMEMBER TO HAND IN YOUR ICEBREAKER AND EVALUATIONS WITH YOU ACTIVITIES

ASSIGNMENT:

ICE BREAKERS

Ice breakers are a good way to get people comfortable within a group. As a manger you will need to have a few of these in your tool box of skills.

You will need to also be confident at organising and running these ice breakers.

1. Collect at least 10 ice breakers that you think will be suitable for your situation.

a. Give the details of the actual game and explain how you would use the game.

b. Make a list of equipment you would need to play your games.

c. Give a bibliography of were the games have come from.

2. Use two of the games with a group. ( if you are not currently in a job that allows you this activity, gather a group of friends together)

a. Play the ice breaker with the group

b. Get at least 3 people in the group to complete the ice breaker evaluation form and return to you.

c. (For the assignment – just give samples)