Mina’s Guide to Minute Taking

1 Mina s Guide toMinute TakingPrinciples, Standards & Practical ToolsEli MinaEli Mina ConsultingVancouver, BC, CanadaPage and Key minutes minutes are minutes are Should Take Key Principles for Minute versus Effective of Poorly Recorded Taking of for Recording Substantive for Recording Procedural for the Layout of for Filing and Electronic : Creating Concise and Objective 2 Chapter 1 Page 5 ContentsMinutes of Closed Closed Meetings are Takes minutes of Closed to Record in minutes of Closed minutes of Closed Agendas of Closed Approves the the Approval Errors in the Taker s Knowledge and Rapport with the for a At a : Meeting : Minute Taking : Minute Taker s the 7 Chapter 6 Chapter 5 Page 7 AcknowledgmentsI wish to thank my clients and workshop participants, who continually presentedme with so many diverse and challenging questions, and helped me develop myexpertise in this wish to give special thanks to the 11 individuals who so graciously offered toserve on my editorial board.

2 You provided valuable insights and feedback andhelped make the book meaningful and relevant. My sincere thanks go to: Syd Baxter, City Clerk, City of Vancouver, British Columbia Rollie Cox, Instructor, Madison Area Technical College, Wisconsin Wendy De Marsh, Executive Assistant, School District 57, Prince George Rosemary Ishkanian, Registrar, College of Dental Technicians of BC Josette A. Lory, Deputy City Clerk, City of Boyne City, Michigan Christine Mills, Board Relations Manager, BC s Children s Hospital Foundation Wendy Olafson, Executive Assistant, Envision Financial, Langley Rae Ratslef, President, Raincoast Ventures The Minute Taking Professionals Brenda Sims, Municipal Clerk, Resort Municipality of Whistler Shelley A. Westlake-Brown, Executive Assistant, Real Estate Council of Ontario Lorna Wolfe, Executive Assistant, Fraser River Port AuthorityI also wish to thank Shelley Harrison Rae for copyediting this 9 IntroductionMinute Taking can be complex, tricky and challenging.

3 Minute takers are oftenexpected to produce concise and coherent summaries out of chaotic and disor-ganized meetings. Many are directed to take minutes without documented Guide -lines on what to record and what to leave out, and without a prior explanation ofissues and technical terms used at a meeting. Sometimes they require a rarecombination of diplomacy and fortitude, to deal effectively with demands torecord inappropriate details in the of meetings are important documents, for recording consensus anddecision-making, and for tracking the evolution of issues and the history of anorganization. This book offers principles, standards and practical tools to helpreduce anxiety about Minute Taking and establish clarity on what to record. Italso explains how Minute takers can build rapport with their groups and gener-ate respect for their questions this book will address:8 How much of the discussion should be recorded, and how can argumentsabout minutes be avoided?

4 Learn to shift the focus of minutes from wordsto key concepts and ideas, and find out how to convert discussions intoconcise, coherent and objective much procedural detail should be recorded in minutes of formal meet-ings? Find out how motions, amendments and other formal proceduresshould be recorded. Learn which procedural details are significant and whichare much detail should be recorded in minutes of closed meetings? Learnto balance the need for transparency and access to information with theoccasional need for confidentiality. Find out how to organize agendas ofopen and closed meetings, to preserve should tell the Minute taker what to record? Learn to formalize apolicy on Minute Taking standards, so the Minute taker will take guidancefrom the group as a whole, and not from individual 11 Chapter 1: Definitions and Key PrinciplesDefinitions andKey PrinciplesIn this chapter: What minutes are Why minutes are important When minutes are required Who should take minutes Ten key principles for Minute Taking Ineffective versus effective practices Analysis of poorly recorded minutesWhat minutes areIn a formal sense, minutes are the historical record of an officially convenedmeeting of an organized decision-making body, such as a board of directors,municipal council, or executive committee.

5 Informally, the term minutes can ex-tend to mean a summary of a meeting of a group that is not formally organized,and may or may not have collective decision-making powers. minutes shouldgenerally focus on decisions and actions taken by the group, and may also cap-ture the thought process that led to minutes are Important8 minutes enable an organization to meet its obligation to conduct business ina transparent and accountable manner. They keep the organization s mem-bership, stakeholders, or the general public informed on the evolution ofdecisions that affect 13 Chapter 1: Definitions and Key PrinciplesMinutes should also be taken in the following settings (even if not specificallyrequired):8 Informal staff meetings. Here, minutes are summaries of discussions, con-sensus, and follow-up actions.

6 Such summaries enable the group to monitorand track progress of initiatives or , teambuilding and problem-solving sessions. Here, minutes aresummaries of discussions and consensus. Without concise and completesummaries, the benefits of such sessions and the opportunity for organizedfollow-up activities are or bargaining sessions. Here, agreements reached should berecorded, but it is not usually necessary to record discussion are not needed in settings where they are not required and would pro-vide no value. For example:8An informal gathering of colleagues8An ad-hoc staff meeting for the sole purpose of presenting an update (un-less there is a need to inform absent members of what was reported)Who Should Take MinutesThe Minute taker should be chosen with care.

7 The selected individual shouldhave the required skills, and at least a basic knowledge of the group s mandateand issues (see Chapter 7 for tips on boosting the Minute taker s knowledge andskills).Options for choosing the Minute taker:8 The organization may designate a secretary, recording secretary, executiveassistant, or administrative assistant to take minutes for a group on a individual holding the title of corporate secretary, executive secretary, orsecretary-treasurer may be responsible for the minutes , but usually delegatesthe Minute Taking task to a staff member or an outside closed meetings, where some or all outsiders are excluded, a board orcouncil may designate one of its members to take minutes , or it may del-egate the task to a confidential secretary (who may be required to sign anoath of confidentiality).

8 Page 15 Chapter 1: Definitions and Key : minutes should be free of offensive or inappropriate language,even if such language was used at a meeting. They should not includesubjective interpretations of the mood of the meeting or the tone in whichcomments were made. Phrases like There was a heated discussion, Thepresentation was very motivational, or Mr. Davenport was emphatic donot belong in minutes . The document should be clean and : minutes across the same organization should share the samegeneral look and style, and should comply with content and format standards should be approved as a policy of the organization (seeChapter 2). : minutes should be reviewed thoroughly, and be free oftypographical, grammatical or technical errors.

9 A knowledgeable personshould proofread technical terms for clarity, before draft minutes are circulatedto : minutes should be clearly laid out, visually appealing, and easyto read. Long paragraphs should be replaced by concise point-formsummaries. Word processing features (bolding, underlining, etc.) should beused to highlight key points and logical flow: minutes should be logically organized, even if the meetingitself was fragmented and confusing. If the group addresses an agenda itemsporadically throughout the meeting, all events that relate to the same itemshould be grouped in one Archivability: minutes should be easy to archive and retrieve names of computer files should be used across the word strings should be used, wherever possible, for ease ofelectronic searches.

10 The naming of electronic files should make it easy to linkminutes, agendas and reports. The coding of decisions and motions shouldmake it easy to track their history.