One of our new members called me yesterday to ask some questions about how to handle the role of chair. He was scheduled to chair his first meeting (a dinner meeting at that) and he was concerned about how to run the business meeting.
At First Oakville Toastmasters, the business meeting is a blood sport. We’ve actually – regrettably – had a chair person quit after chairing our business meeting.
So why are our business meetings so scary?
Good question. And here’s what I told our new member:
The chairman’s role in a Toastmaster meeting is much the same as the role of the Speaker of the House in Parliament. The Speaker is charged with maintaining order, proper decorum and assisting the assembly to move through the agenda which they’ve adopted for the day.
It’s not up to the chairperson to lead or direct. Many a chairperson has not learned this lesson. It’s the chair’s role to determine the will of the majority and act accordingly.
Therefore, a chair who tries to push their own agenda (even if it’s done for the good of the assembly) will find themselves in deep doo-doo very quickly.
One way out of deep doo-doo is for the chair to turn to their parliamentarian and ask for their suggestion on what to do. It is expected and proper that while the assembly may revolt against a chair who has too firm a grip on the reins of the meeting, all must sit down and come to order when the parliamentarian rises to speak.
As I suggested to our new chairperson, the calling up the parliamentarian is an old trick to restore some order and to give the chair some brief moments to find a way that serves the major of the assembly and thus save their own head.
This folks is called democracy in action which seems like a new concept for some chairs who (my story) have bullied (for that’s what it is) their way through life (and business meetings) and when they chair a Toastmaster meeting at First Oakville quickly find that bullying doesn’t work with this crowd.
