Taking minutes while on conference calls is a skillful task as the minute taker must listen carefully, understand what is being said, summarize the discussions and articulate them accurately, and quickly. What makes running a minute taking training course a sound idea? Meetings are most effective and efficient when they have well recorded minutes because:
First, meetings tend to drag on for long durations. When there are no room to move and no clear agenda, minutes can only be taken continuously for the duration of the meeting. Since people do not pay attention to minutes, it will be very hard for any one to summarise. Minute taking skills for the speaker require him or her to be able to listen attentively, comprehend and articulate the information accurately and quickly.
Second, in-house training materials can be ineffective. Recorded materials are usually prepared by the speaker after the presentation. If they are prepared well, chances are they will be of high quality. However, if the minute taking training course is conducted by someone who does not know how to deliver an effective presentation, it is likely the same quality will be shown in the recorded material.
Third, recorded presentations may not be appropriate for certain audiences. For example, a facilitated group review cannot be effectively presented in a classroom setting because of the informal nature of classroom discussion. If the facilitator does not know how to present the same in an informal setting, he or she may end up providing poor examples or ineffective insights.
Fourth, facilitators will not get good feedback on their own listening skills. Since the facilitator has not been formally trained to become a good listener, he or she may fail to pick up nuances of what the audience is saying. This means that the facilitators may not understand what the minute takers are trying to say or they may misunderstand the content of the training course materials. The result - poor training course materials.
Fifth, facilitators might not practice the concept of action planning when training facilitators. If the facilitators do not learn to plan effectively, he or she will not have any idea how to conduct himself or herself so that he or she can deliver effective minute taking practice sessions. Effective minute taking practice involves planning activities ahead of time, preparing documents, gathering resources, doing research and engaging in meaningful activities. If the facilitator has not learned how to do all these, it is unlikely he or she will have an effective coaching practice. Therefore, he or she will not learn how to coach others properly.
Sixth, facilitators and/or trainers often fail to develop effective minute taking skills. They usually do not have any idea how to encourage others to take their notes, how to practice good listening skills, how to make presentations, etc. Effective coaching requires first developing the ability to effectively coach oneself. Then, the person needs to be able to effectively coach others. You cannot just coach someone and expect them to perform at the same level as you did. Therefore, no amount of effective training will bring about excellent outcome if the participants do not know how to coach themselves.
Seventh, facilitators often conduct training courses without involving the participants. The coach may have come from another industry and the participant does not understand the concepts behind the presentation. The participant just takes notes. A good coaching session involves involving the participant in every step of the process: providing ideas, listening to the notes, understanding what the notes mean, planning what to say next, etc.
