Smart Pastor

You have defined what your meeting is to be about…you have communicated about your meeting…your ducks are in a row…now it is time for your meeting.

photo credit: Kamal H.

Having done your work ahead of time has been the hardest part, but there are still some things you can do to manage the meeting and thus make it more effective.

They include…

1. Keep the discussion moving. Meetings in churches are horrible at staying on topic. When the discussion wanders to tangents (both related and unrelated tangents) keep pushing them back to the issue that has already been clarified. When the tanget is related, you can do this in such a way that people feel valued. Say something like, “You bring up a good point and I think we should discuss it at a later meeting, but we need to decide on this issue today.” When the tangent is unrelated, so long as you get back to the topic at hand in a tactful way the participants will not be offended. They care about the church too.
2. Watch out for people who are not talking. People need to have a chance to speak their minds. In a smaller meeting it is wise to single out people who are not talking about the issue at hand and ask their thoughts. Frequently that person can sum up the issue well and allow for the group to move on or has some reservations that will come out later. The first one to speak is often not the one with the best insights, bring out the thoughts of introverts.

3. Keep pushing for clarity. Clarity is a key to effective leadership. When someone throws out an idea, make sure they keep fleshing that out. Vague generalities will kill follow up and throw the discussion all over the place.

4. Take accurate notes. By pushing for clarity, this will happen more easily. One idea to help you in this, you could create a larger agenda for yourself with extra space for notes. If you Google “ideas for taking notes at meetings” you will get a good number of helpful tips for doing so. Taking accurate notes will help you with the steps that follow the actual meeting, too.

5. End on time. No one wants to go until midnight talking about silly issues. When it is the time you have pledged to end has come about, end the meeting. (Of course, if something critical is happening you might make an exception.) If by a hour or two you have not accomplished what you set out to, chances are you are not going to at this in one sitting. You can have the meeting later. If you think you can come to a conclusion, a good stragegy for coming to a final decision by is to ask people, “we have 10 more minutes left in this meeting and we still need to __________ for a few mintes, are we ready to make a decision on this issue?” Chances are if people have had a good discussion they will be.

Don’t let the hard work you have done on your meeting go to waste, manage it well. Next up, in meeting mastery, assignments.