Responsibilities of Chairperson
The chairperson has a number of responsibilities during the meeting to make sure that the discussion is
helping to cover the issues or topics that have been noted on the agenda.
These include:
➢ Adding to the discussion
➢ Challenging negative or discriminatory comments
➢ Suggesting a short break is taken when participants
begin to lose focus
➢ Preventing a small number of people from
dominating discussions
➢ Asking people who have not had a chance to speak to
contribute their opinions
➢ Making sure that final decisions are made on
business actions and policies
➢ Summarising the meeting including the decisions that have been made and the actions
required by participants.
When a decision needs to be made within a meeting, such as how to resolve an issue or the direction a
business team will take, it will usually be the role of the chairperson to make a final decision or choose
the ideas that will be put forward to a vote. In order to do this, taking notes and listening to all positions
impartially should lead to the best decision being made.
You should weigh up all contributions impartially and assess whether they would be beneficial decisions
to take forward. If you are to have the ultimate say in something that is going to have an impact on
other meetings participants, ask for their thoughts. Do they agree with you that the direction being
taken or issue resolution is the correct one?
