“Meetings are indispensable when you don’t want to do anything.”
John Kenneth Galbraith
Meetings are often form a large portion of the directed time budget, so they are “expensive” things to run in terms of the Directed Time Budget. Therefore they need to be planned meticulously to avoid using up time that will be needed elsewhere in the 1265 hours.
Meetings must be on the calendar in advance of the academic year.
TNC 2024/2 states: “An annual schedule of meetings will be provided in advance of the academic year. Meetings for all staff, including those with teaching allowances will be accommodated within Directed Time budgets.”
This could not be more clear. All meetings should be planned in advance of the academic year starting, and should be included on the calendar and in the DTB for everyone involved in the meetings.
This is a complex bit of work to do, but it is right there in the agreements and needs to be done. Note, Principals are able to delegate some of these tasks to their VP if they want to, so it’s not a case of the actual work always falling on their shoulders. The responsibility for that work – yes; but doing the actual sums can be a group effort between the Principal and their team.
Consultation with Trade Unions and staff is a good way of avoiding problems with meetings.
Meeting agenda
During ASOSA we refused to attend meetings where an agenda hadn’t been produced at least 48 hours before, but this is not a formal requirement. However, from a practical point of view it is good practice to have an agenda in advance so that everyone can come prepared.
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