Team Meetings

Meeting Clarity

A few of my favorite demotivators from Despair, Inc. are the ones describing the pointlessness of many meetings, committees and teams:

Meetings. None of us is as dumb as all of us.
Teamwork. A few harmless flakes working together can unleash an avalanche of destruction.
Committees. Just like teamwork. Only without the work.

The humor in those statements illustrates the discomfort we feel when meetings lack purpose and clarity or last longer than they should. You’ve probably been a part of meetings that obscured the solution and created more, not less, confusion.

Healthy Team Meetings

Make the right adjustments to become a good meeting leader. Make staff meetings as much about motivating and encouraging people as about the meeting’s agenda. Be prepared and efficient, maintaining forward momentum. Encourage the team with a summary of what your meeting accomplished.

Consider a few ideas for more effective team meetings:

1. Make it fun. Praying for personal needs, recognizing important life moments and celebrating team wins are all part of healthy staff culture. Make staff meetings as much about motivating and encouraging people as about the meeting’s agenda.
2. Be prepared. Set a clear agenda and focus the meeting. It can be frustrating to attempt to do too much in a meeting. Limit the scope of the discussion and save “rabbit holes” for sidebars or e-mail.
3. Be efficient. Everyone should know what’s expected of them before they set foot in the meeting. Communicate a meeting’s purpose in advance so the team can be prepared. And don’t be afraid to cancel a scheduled meeting when it isn’t needed or when the team just needs to take a break.
4. Keep it moving. Meetings should be brief, lasting only as long as needed to accomplish their purpose. Manage the length of meetings and consider ways to maintain forward momentum. Scott Dobroski, community expert at Glassdoor, advises: “If you’re going to meet in person, determine how much time you need and then challenge yourself to slice it by 50%.”
5. Detail the action plan. Making assignments to team members (and the team leader) reduces the length of meetings and provides accountability for next steps. Identify items and ideas that require follow up and clarify who’s responsible for making it happen.
6. Encourage your team. Did everyone leave with a sense of accomplishment? You may not have all the answers you were looking for, but you should have a takeaway. Summarize what was accomplished so everyone leaves the meeting encouraged, motivated and satisfied.

Meeting Hero (e-book)

9 Tactics For Effective Staff Meetings

Remedying Bad Meetings

Say No to Meetings

“Say No to Meetings” by Andrea Murad, Fox Business (April 29, 2015), http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/2015/04/29/say-no-to-meetings/.

Typical Meeting Formats

Purpose, organizational structure and team dynamics drive meeting frequency and content. Ministry meetings fall into several categories, depending on church size and context. Meeting frequency also depends on church context, with some meetings occurring weekly, while others, such as Global Meetings, usually taking place monthly.

Global Team Meetings

Full staff team meets for global vision and multisite coordination with an Information Purpose. Typical elements might include:

• Worship, Prayer and Devotional Time
• Life Change Check-In
• Celebrate the Win
• Team Updates
• Calendar Review

Campus Team Meetings

Campus staff teams meet in multisite churches for campus-specific needs with an Information and Operations Purpose. Typical elements might include:

• Global Items – Finance, Communications, Events, Loop-In Summary
• Operational Items – Vision and Strategy-Driven Initiatives, Operational Details
• Campus-Specific Items – Sunday and Calendar Coordination, Operational Details

Ministers’ Team Meetings

Ministry leads and directors meet with a Lower-Level Strategy Purpose. Typical Eisenhower Matrix elements might include:

• Evaluation – Celebrate the Win
• Strategic – Important, Not Urgent
• Operational – Important, Urgent
• Action Items – Assign, Delete

Senior Lead Meetings

Upper level leaders meet with a Higher-Level Strategy Purpose.

Departmental Meetings

Ministry staff meet by area, such as Children’s Ministry Team or Discipleship Team and have an Operations Purpose.

Project Meetings

Appropriate staff team leaders meet for event planning or to develop special projects and have a Lower-Level Strategy and Operations Purpose.

Global Team Meeting Agenda

Ministers’ Team Meeting Agenda

Campus Team Meeting Agenda

Campus Team Meeting Agenda