1 Most Meetings will make wiser decisions and need less time if whoever submits a written motion also includes the reasons behind the motion.
2 This approach will:
(a) allow Members to consider the motion in more detail before the Meeting;
(b) save meeting time – since the Mover of the motion should not have to explain the ideas all over again; and
(c) allow Members to have a better understanding of the motion.
3 Example. The mover of a written motion sent it out to Meeting Members before the Meeting but did not include any reasons for and/or background to, the motion. At the Meeting, the explanation of the need for the motion and/or the discussion about the motion led one Member to make the comment: “Why didn’t you tell us the motion aimed to fix up that problem. Now I favour it; before I did not”.
4 The non-inclusion of a reason proves much more wasteful if a meeting Member represents another body or sub-section of the Meeting’s Organisation and has to say: “Our Group/Branch/Section instructed me to vote against the motion but I believe our Group would have supported it if they had received the reasons for the motion that you have just given us”.
5 The above does not suggest that meetings cannot, or should not, accept motions without reasons. It does suggest that all Members should encourage movers of motions to supply reasons.
6 People who follow this practice should reduce meeting man-hours quite significantly.
Two Assumptions
7 The above ideas assume that the Mover of the motion does not aim to try to:
(a) surprise people and/or
(b) “bulldoze” people into agreeing to something.
Filed under: Improving Meetings Tagged: a-both, Decision Making, encourage, include, Meeting, motion, motions, Movers, Reasons, submit, wrtten Image may be NSFW.
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