Meeting Management: Strategies for Academic Leaders

For directors, chairs, deans, provosts, and even presidents, much of their visible leadership occurs through meetings. Whether face to face, virtual, or hybrid, meetings are where information is shared, decisions made, and direction created and reinforced. Effective meeting management is a tangible indicator of successful leadership. Conversely, leaders who do not give careful attention of managing meetings risk losing support and impact. The following six strategies have proved effective in managing and focusing the import of meetings. Our experience suggests that their use will reinforce a culture of collaborative participation, transparency, and focused attention so necessary for the successful conduct of the unit’s performance and achievement of its goals—a key responsibility of the leader.