Roles
Roles are central to the Formal Consensus model, but it is important to understand that each role is a function of the process of a meeting, and not a function of the content. Not all roles are needed at every meeting, and when appropriate, more than one role can be held by the same individual. Roles
Agenda Planners: Prior to any meeting, an agenda planning meeting should first be conducted by a small group of Agenda Planners. The tasks which Agenda Planners must carry out include collecting agenda items, arranging items into a comprehensive agenda, assigning presenters for each topic, determining the discussion techniques to be employed, assigning time limits to each topic, and finally drafting a written version of the finalized agenda. Decisions on each of these tasks should be achieved through consensus.
Facilitator: A Facilitator is an individual responsible for ensuring that a meeting flows smoothly, and that discussion is facile. The facilitator is responsible for moving through the agenda in the time determined by the Agenda Planners. In being responsible for this, the facilitator must guide the process of the discussion and suggest techniques for resolving conflicts which arise. However, the facilitator is only responsible for providing direction on the process of the meeting, and should not participate in the content of the discussions.
Time-Keeper: This is the individual responsible for assisting the facilitator in maintaining the pre-determined time limitations for each discussion.
Public Scribe: The Scribe also assists the Facilitator, by putting major discussion points or concerns immediately relevant to the topic at hand in writing for the entire group to see. This role is helpful in allowing the group to visually keep track of points that have been raised.
Note Taker: This individual is responsible for developing and distributing a detailed written record of any given meeting. These notes are useful in allowing absent members to maintain their participation in ongoing discussions, as well as for future reference.
Doorkeeper: The doorkeeper is responsible for informing all participants who enter a meeting of all pertinent information, distributing relevant literature (agenda, etc.), and briefly informing latecomers of what topics have been covered.
Read more about this topic: Formal Consensus
Famous quotes containing the word roles:
“A concern with parenting...must direct attention beyond behavior. This is because parenting is not simply a set of behaviors, but participation in an interpersonal, diffuse, affective relationship. Parenting is an eminently psychological role in a way that many other roles and activities are not.”
—Nancy Chodorow (20th century)
“It was always the work that was the gyroscope in my life. I don’t know who could have lived with me. As an architect you’re absolutely devoured. A woman’s cast in a lot of roles and a man isn’t. I couldn’t be an architect and be a wife and mother.”
—Eleanore Kendall Pettersen (b. 1916)
“Productive collaborations between family and school, therefore, will demand that parents and teachers recognize the critical importance of each other’s participation in the life of the child. This mutuality of knowledge, understanding, and empathy comes not only with a recognition of the child as the central purpose for the collaboration but also with a recognition of the need to maintain roles and relationships with children that are comprehensive, dynamic, and differentiated.”
—Sara Lawrence Lightfoot (20th century)