meetings effectiveness

Maximizing the Effectiveness of Meetings

I spend much of my life in meetings. In fact when my role changed a few years back, my girls decided that my new title should be Meeting Pastor. Not sure how that works on a business card, but it certainly describes my activities! And when you spend that much of your life in any activity, you hope to make them as effective as possible.

meetings effectiveness

A few practical tips can give you healthy disciplines for meetings and maximize their effectiveness.

Here’s a few tips I have found to maximize the meetings I participate in, whether I’m leading them or not:

  • PURPOSE: When someone schedules a meeting, usually they have a purpose for coming together. Many don’t communicate that purpose. If someone asks you to attend a meeting but doesn’t make the meeting’s purpose clear, just ask. Knowing the purpose will help you be better prepared. It will also help you measure afterward whether the meeting was effective or not.
  • PARTICIPANTS: You should also understand your reason for being in the meeting. Here are some great reasons to be in a meeting: to give or receive information, to offer input to a decision or decisions, to build relationships among a team.)

Special note regarding recurring meetings (monthly, weekly, etc.): If a meeting is scheduled on a recurring basis because it seemed like a regular discussion was necessary at the time, that purpose can sometimes be forgotten a few months or years later. If there’s a leadership transition, a new leader may “inherit” a meeting rhythm and not even realize why specific meetings initially took place. Bottom line: If a recurring meeting doesn’t have a clear and understood purpose, it will often feel like a waste of time, and may actually be one. If you’re expected to be in a recurring meeting, ask (in a respectable way) the leader of the meeting to help you understand the purpose of the meeting. Also, if that doesn’t immediately give you an understanding of your purpose IN the meeting, ask that next.

  • Having an understood purpose for a meeting will help establish an AGENDA: the list of items for discussion that are to be covered in a meeting. Ideally, the agenda will be communicated in advance OR at the top of the meeting. That way everyone knows where we’re going in our time together. If you know that something that is important to you is item 5 on the agenda, you will be better able to participate in the discussion of items 1-4.
  • NOTES: I personally choose to take notes in meetings where I am participating. These help me for future reference if I want to know what was covered at the meeting several weeks ago. My memory is no longer sufficient to keep all details in my head. Good note-taking skills prevent this from being necessary.pen-writing-notes-studying-large
  • ACTION ITEMS: Most meetings that I participate in produce one or more action items that will need to be done by individuals in the meeting after its conclusion. Ideally these should be written down by individuals who will be responsible to increase the chance that they will be completed. Some facilitators allocate a few minutes at the end of each meeting to quickly review action items that have come up to make sure everyone is clear on who will be responsible for their completion and by when.

I developed a simple tool that I use in meetings whether I’m leading or not. It helps reinforce good meeting disciplines. Feel free to download and use or modify for your own benefit. Download here. Leave me a comment below if this is helpful to you.

 

Power of Journaling: 2 of 2

I started yesterday a quick introduction to what journaling has done for me. I talked about What and Why I journal. Today I’m turning to more practical thoughts on how.
How I journal –

  1. I have found that it helps me to focus on communicating with the Lord to write my thoughts even as though I would speak them. My journal entry this morning began with “Lord, thank You for last night and really for everything You carried me through yesterday.” Sometimes the prayers are requests, sometimes other words of appreciation, but I try to write these out, word for word. I know it perhaps seems silly, but this helps me stay focused versus the distractions of the world. It’s almost like writing an email to the Lord, but I don’t have to press send.
  2. As mentioned yesterday, generally the first thing I record in my journal each day is a quick recap of the prior day. I literally do a quick list of bullet points: good family time in the morning, productive time in my day’s meetings (I need that productivity, so when God enables it, I want to thank Him!), good pastoral connects with X person, etc. Especially if there was anything significant during the day, I make a note of it here. A side benefit of this is those moments when I get discouraged about how things are going, I literally can go to my journal and review some of what God has done over the last season in the world around me. It breaks discouragement every time.
  3. I use a daily reading plan from YouVersion because it appeals to my sense of “checking boxes”. When I begin my Bible reading for the day, I record the Scripture references for that day. Then, as I’m reading, if God pricks my heart related to a particular Scripture, I will write that full verse out in my journal. Writing it increases my potential for memorization, which is a powerful tool for applying God’s Word to your life and situations.
  4. Whether it’s insights related to a particular Scripture or other things I believe God has illuminated for me, I also record those.
As I mentioned yesterday, journaling has been helpful to me as a leader and as a follower of Christ. If you don’t currently have a journal, go somewhere, buy a notebook, and start writing. I pray you find it as helpful as I did.
Recommendation: A great resource for me in this area has been Wayne Cordeiro’s book, The Divine Mentor.

Power of Journaling: 1 of 2

I have found myself on a common theme lately of singing the praises of journaling. While it has been the go-to recommendation in a number of counseling contexts, I realize it’s just plain been helpful to me, as a leader, and as a follower of Christ. I thought that information might be useful to share with you, so here goes!

What I journal –

  1. Reflections on the happenings of the prior day. I use this time to thank God for what He did around me, giving honor to Him, and to pray over future actions I might need to take, based on those.
  2. Principles and nuggets of wisdom I gain through my day’s experience and revelation from God.
  3. While reading my Bible, I record additional insights I gain from my daily Scripture readings.

Why I journal –

  1. Over the course of my life, I have found that regularly journaling about these three things has increased the amount I recall. Thanking God for the good things that happened the prior day increases the likelihood of my remembering them. The same is true with wisdom and insights gained in experience and Scripture.
  2. I have also found that journaling increases the amount of revelation I receive, or at least the amount which I acknowledge receiving. A pastor one time counseled that if I wanted God to speak during my times of prayer and in His word, why would I not have paper to take note of things He said? Coming with no journal was like not coming prepared to listen. I have found in life that having a journal, on the other hand, increases my ability to focus on Him and tune out the distractions of the world.
  3. I am not certain of it, but I believe there may come a day when I decide that my life experiences warrant the writing of a book. If (or when) that day comes, I believe it will be useful to have notebooks full of wisdom and life experience which can provide content for that.
Tomorrow, I’ll be back with some practical tips on how I journal.