As an administrative meeting is going on, you can usually observe the company’s secretary or the designated notetaker typing something on a laptop or tablet. Sometimes the secretary simply brings along a pen and booklet. What that person is doing is taking down the minutes of that administrative meeting in order to document the meeting’s most important points, the action plans subsequently taken and agreed by the administration in dealing with internal problems whether minor or major. Having minutes taken down also helps the admin members who were not present during that particular meeting because it reminds them of what was discussed. In this article, the details of writing an administrative meeting are to be explained, along with some examples provided below.
Let’s define an Administrative Meeting first. It is a meeting where the members of the board where everyone or a quorum are present to discuss matters that concern or relate to the board policy or the administration. The minutes that are taken, and approved during the subsequent meeting are what is known as the administrative meeting minutes. Not everything is recorded here word by word, only the actions taken by the admin during this meeting. Having minutes taken is also necessary because it can serve a legal purpose so it should be important that only the essential matters are recorded here to keep it from being too drawn out.
No matter how short or long the administrative meeting takes, the common mission is that minutes should be taken and done so properly. If it is not the secretary or the designated notetaker, make sure that the person assigned taking the minutes knows what he/she is doing and just does not resort to recording everything that was being discussed and said, converting the minutes into a full-blown meeting transcript. With that being said, administrative meeting minutes are important because it keeps everyone informed about what went on during the meeting. Minutes are also taken because relying on one’s memory alone is very unreliable.
Calling a meeting, especially an administrative one, should be done in advance to have time to plan and finalize the meeting agenda, and should not be done on impulse.
Here are the common items that the secretary or designated notetaker includes in taking the minutes of an Administrative Meeting:
As the designated notetaker of a meeting, it is important to know the process of writing the minutes of a meeting, as it is not just a matter of simply scribbling down or encoding what was said, word for word.
Different companies have different ways of taking down minutes at an administrative meeting. So it is important for the secretary to know what to write and what not to write. Focus should be directed to what the participants of the meeting are discussing, and the secretary should be able to differentiate on what to take down (ex. names of the attendees, venue of the meeting, decisions made, additions to the agenda, etc.) and what not to take down (ex. confidential company matters, different office design than normal, etc.)
It is also important to know when should the secretary simply listen to the presenting speaker. Once he/she is confident to know what to write down in the minutes, the best option is to simply listen and concentrate on what topic the speaker is discussing. The best minute takes are usually really good listeners, too.
As one begins to take down meeting notes for the minutes, it is important to know that this should be done in an objective manner. Personal takes or opinions regarding the topic being presented should be completely left out of the notes, or if possible, written on a completely different page, away from the main notes for personal purposes. The final document being produced should be written empty of bias. Since boards have legal liability, it is also important to keep the information as basic as possible to avoid placing the administration into unnecessary legal trouble.
Once the note-taking process is finished and the meeting is adjourned, then the next step is getting the notes transferred or encoded into a formal, essential document while everything is still fresh in the mind. After, the secretary should verify that everything that is encoded in the final minutes document is factual and matches with what was discussed during the administrative meeting proper. When everything is finalized, the minutes document should also be distributed to the board or administration, and to anyone with approval to receive the minutes of the meeting.
Due to the ongoing pandemic, many companies have resorted to working from home. If a meeting is about to start and you have other people around you inside, please notify them to avoid getting disturbed during the meeting proper. Having less background noise is ideal, so you can properly listen to the meeting call while you are taking down notes for the minutes. Proper communication is also important here, so do not hesitate to let someone repeat their point especially if their connection is getting intermittent and causes you to miss what they are saying.
By definition, a quorum refers to a minimum acceptable number of individuals who need to be present at a meeting (in this case, an administrative meeting) in order to properly conduct the business of the meeting, especially if it involves decision making via a number of votes. For the board members, a quorum is defined as the majority of the members of the board. It can be as simple as reaching a 51% majority of individuals who were invited to a meeting or discussion.
Since minutes taking can be a difficult job, mistakes are unavoidable. These can include: failing to document the number of attendees in the meeting, overlooking mistakes in the past minutes of the meeting, thus resulting in delays in approving the new one, erratic writing, including details that are too sensitive and can result in damaging the administration’s reputation, and even failing to get the formal minutes document signed. It is important that the notetaker is well prepared and attentive during the meeting to ensure that the minutes that are written are factual.
Writing administrative meeting minutes is no easy task, and should be taken very seriously. Therefore, one should have very sharp listening skills and should also be well-practiced. But one should not worry about finding minutes writing too difficult for the first time, because as time goes on, and experience builds up, it only gets easier. Just remember that the minutes consist of what was done during the meeting, not what was said by the members. An effective minutes document reflects the truest intentions of the administration or the board, and it could be made into an official and legally binding record. Examples of templates are easily available above, should you need a reference in creating one yourself.
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