Meeting Chair

Embedding digital practice: The role of the meeting chair

Successful digital practice is inclusive and considered: this section explores the use of digital in decision-making meetings.
Contents
Introduction
1. The ethical use of power
‍2. Engaging in digital places and spaces
3. Being prepared
4. Balancing voices
5. Managing the tone
6. Making participation matter
7. Next steps‍

Introduction

Effective digital practice in decision-making meetings relies on the meeting chair considering the young person’s preferences while maximising participation and engagement from everyone. At the same time, the meeting chair needs to manage ethical decision-making, recognising the impact of power imbalances and discrimination, (these are more visible in digital practice).

Virtual/hybrid practice works best when the meeting chair is prepared, understands the conditions for effective digital engagement and uses the digital environment well. Virtual/hybrid meetings will be least effective when decisions about using digital are made without considering the potential consequences.

In this section we will explore some of the issues you may want to consider before chairing a decision-making meeting.
Before you begin, please visit our Digital Toolkit and How to Meet Tool pages for more general advice on developing your digital practice and working with young people and their families, before coming back here to look in more detail at the role of the meeting chair.
Digital ToolkitHow to Meet ToolRole of the Practitioner
The ethical use of power
Your role as Meeting Chair makes you the most powerful person in the (virtual, hybrid or physical) room. The way you lead conversations, record discussions and frame recommendations has a profound impact on the lives of young people and their families. Critically thinking about the balance of power in decision-making meetings, and deciding when and how to shift the power-balance, is key to developing ethical practice.

Encourage and support your organisation to radically review their approach to, and use of, power in engaging with young people, families, and other professionals. This is a new and evolving area of practice.  If you would like to share examples of your learning with us, please contact us at choosingdigital@researchinpractice.org.uk
Remain aware of your power in the decision-making meeting.
Virtual or hybrid meetings increase and expand the responsibilities associated with that power.
Effective digital practice in decision-making meetings is an evolving area, one which you, as a meeting chair, can influence in your organisation.
Do you...
need to improve your digital literacy?
know how to respond to digital problems during meetings?
understand the complexities of hybrid meetings and how they impact on participation?
Digital literacy is a new professional requirement with required skills, knowledge and competences for social care workers.
BASW Digital Capabilities Framework
Engaging in digital places and spaces
Decision-making meetings in digital and hybrid places and spaces can be extremely effective, but they can also fail spectacularly. During the pandemic we made emergency decisions about how and when we used digital spaces. Now we are making evidence-informed, longer term decisions about when and where to use digital practice for decision-making meetings.
  • Virtual meetings involve everyone meeting in a shared digital space from individual devices.
  • Hybrid meetings involve a combination of physical space and digital space, e.g. the meeting chair, social care worker, young person and their parents/carers may join the virtual meeting from the same physical space, whilst the other participants join from their individual devices.
Many organisations are exploring hybrid meetings as an effective way of managing choice, risk and participation.
Engaging in digital places and spaces
Decision-making meetings in digital and hybrid places and spaces can be extremely effective, but they can also fail spectacularly.  During the pandemic we made emergency decisions about how and when we used digital spaces. Now we are making evidence-informed, longer term decisions about when and where to use of digital practice for decision-making meetings.
Many organisations are exploring hybrid meetings as an effective way of managing choice, risk and participation.
Do you...
need to improve your digital literacy?
know how to respond to digital problems during meetings?
understand the complexities of hybrid meetings and how they impact on participation?
Digital literacy is a new professional requirement with required skills, knowledge and competences for social care workers.
BASW Digital Capabilities Framework
Being prepared
Being prepared
The Role of the Practitioner and Digital Toolkit sections will support your digital practice with young people and their families, highlighting areas for consideration, including knowing the young person and their family's/carer’s preferences for meeting, extra support needs (including provisions for digital poverty), safety, culture and identity, alongside tips for implementation.

Other things to consider as the Meeting Chair:
  • What other support will you need to manage the technical elements of the meeting and ensure everyone can participate?
  • Do young people/parents/carers need support to become familiar with the technology before the meeting?
  • Have you sent participants your digital meeting policy so everyone knows what to expect and how the meeting will be run?
  • Do you know how to set up and use a digital whiteboard to summarise key points?
Think about...
how excluded the parent/carer or young person may feel if they are the only person joining digitally.
the face-to-face support young people and their families/carers may need when important decisions are being made.
Netiquette: How to indicate that you want to speak?
What happens if you get cut off? How to re-enter a meeting?
Think about...
Are some people speaking more than others and trying to influence the decision?
Do you need to give some people more space to speak? And others less?
Balancing voices
Young people, parents and carers often feel powerless in meetings with professionals, and can feel unable to participate – you may need to make extra effort before the meeting to find ways to participate that work for them.

A meeting which thinks first about the experience of the young person and their parent/carers and then the needs of professionals might look and feel very different to everyone participating.
Balancing voices
Young people, parents and carers often feel powerless in meetings with professionals, and can feel unable to participate  - you may need to make extra effort before the meeting to find ways to participate that work for them.

A meeting which thinks first about the experience of the young person and their parent/carers and then the needs of professionals might look and feel very different to everyone participating.
Think about...
Are some people speaking more than others and trying to influence the decision?
Do you need to give some people more space to speak? And others less?
Managing the tone
The Meeting Chair have to manage the tone of decision-making meetings, which can be challenging when everyone is in the same room. Virtual and hybrid meetings make this more complicated:
  • People sound different virtually, impacting on how we hear ourselves and each other.
  • Having limited body language and reduced micro-expressions make it harder to interpret what people mean and how they are experiencing the meeting.
  • The reduction in sensory input can ‘amplify’ the impact of words, and language (positive and negative) and tone of voice can be perceived as stronger than intended.
  • There is no ‘physical space’ to act as a memory marker, often making it harder to remember specific details. This applies to all types of meetings and can impact on professionals, young people, parents/carers and meeting chairs over time (see Role of the Organisation). You may have to remind participants of previous conversations and decisions more frequently.
Think about...
being clear about expectations and structure at the beginning of the meeting.
asking people to use chat and reaction emojis to show how information is being interpreted.
emojis being more accessible for younger children or people with different language or writing skills.

Making participation matter

As the Meeting Chair, you control how and when people participate. You admit entry, control who speaks and when, and you can end the meeting. In a virtual or hybrid environment, the Meeting Chair has even more control. Your approach to participation has a significant impact on the extent to which young people and their families and other professionals feel heard.
Think about...
increasing engagement by inviting everyone to speak.
asking participants to reflect on their usual input in meetings and consider doing the opposite, i.e. listen rather than talk.
recording decisions on a whiteboard for everyone to see.
speaking to people in advance to highlight how they can participate.
reminding participants that you’re working together to make the best decision for the young person.
increasing participation by offering choice to young people and their parents/carers.
Next steps
Next steps
The Choosing Digital Toolkit is designed to maximise the potential of digital practice to:
  • rebalance the power dynamics between young people and families, and the systems they engage with.
  • support the positive development of the relationships we have with each other using virtual/hybrid practices.
  • improve engagement with young people by providing virtual opportunities to close the distance between us.
The Meeting Chair has a pivotal role in embedding the ethical use of digital practices in social care, supporting the social care profession to create and embed change.

A systems approach is required to embed successful digital practice across Children’s Services and the work of local government; successful blended practice starts at an organisational level. The Role of the Organisation section identifies systems, structures and processes which support and encourage the conditions for effective digital practice.

Explore

Digital ToolkitHow to Meet ToolRole of the Practitioner
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This website was developed by Research in Practice in collaboration with young people, parents, social care workers and managers, from the London Region and the North-West Region and with the support of LIIA, ALDCS and NWADCS.
Our collaboration with Professor Harry Ferguson, Dr Laura Kelly (both University of Birmingham) and Professor Sarah Pink (Monash University) on their ESRC-funded Child protection and social distancing research over 2021-22 informed and contributed to this resource.
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