Who's Running the Meeting?

Choosing a leader is an important decision for a group. While the group is in the early stages of building and reshaping, you will need some kind of informal leader for the first several meetings. If a group is forced to elect a leader before they are ready to make this decision, they may elect a clearly unsuitable leader. The time to formalize the group leadership is after members have had a chance to know each other and when they begin to feel like a team.

The person who is chosen to run the meeting should be a good facilitator. A good facilitator assists rather than controls the group by encouraging effective functioning of the group itself and stimulating group activity.

A good facilitator will:

  • Keep members on topic
  • Summarize what members have said
  • State the problem in a constructive way so people can work on it
  • Suggest ways to solve the problems
  • Every now and then summarize what has happened/been decided
  • Recognize the talents of members and enlist their help

The facilitator should not:

  • Criticize the ideas or values of others
  • Force ideas on the group
  • Make decisions for the other members without asking them for agreement

Getting to know each other:

From the beginning, it is important for members to share experiences, affiliations, reservation, and expectations. Help members get to know each other by having them discuss these questions

  • Why am I here?
  • What do I expect from this meeting/group?
  • What do I bring to this group?
  • What do I want from this group?

Building a Team Main Page

Community Health Promotion Main Page



See also > Center for Health Promotion > Health Promotion and Chronic Disease