As a renegade pastor, you can learn to conduct meetings that are positive experiences. They still may not be particularly fun and exciting; that’s just the nature of meetings. But they can be organized, productive, and beneficial to everyone involved. Here are five keys to making meetings better:
- Decide whether the meeting is even necessary. Too many meetings don’t need to happen. If a matter can be handled via a conference call or a couple of emails, it is better to spare everyone the time and trouble of getting together. Make sure to schedule meetings only when they are necessary and make certain to limit the discussion to items that affect everyone in attendance.
- Set a clear agenda. Don’t start a meeting without knowing exactly what you need to discuss and decide. Provide a written agenda to make the purpose of the meeting clear to those in attendance. This will help everyone stay on topic. When someone goes off on a tangent, having a clear agenda will allow you to steer the conversation back to the issues at hand.
- Let people know in advance what they need to prepare. If there is some necessary reading to be done or if you will need a certain report during the meeting, be sure to make this clear beforehand. When people arrive at meetings prepared, everything goes more smoothly. Avoid surprising people with requests after the meeting has started.
- Get input from everyone. Quiet people often get overlooked at meetings. Be careful to ensure that the stronger personalities aren’t permitted to dominate.
- Provide clear next steps. By the end of the meeting, some action steps should be in place. Make sure that everyone knows what they need to do, and then hold them accountable.
Meetings are a great way to get the best minds in your church together to discuss issues that will make a difference in your ministry. Make sure you don’t squander these opportunities by running bad meetings. When you take the necessary steps to make them pleasant and productive, meetings can go a long way toward advancing the vision and goals of your church.
[bctt tweet=”Meetings are a great way to get the best minds in your church together.” username=”nelsonsearcy”]– Nelson Searcy and Richard Jarman
The above excerpt is from pgs. 116-118 of The Renegade Pastor’s Guide to Time Management.
Time is your most important God-given resource no matter how hard you work, you can’t make a day last longer than twenty-four hours. By mastering a set of proven time-management principles, you can regain control of your life. It is possible to manage your time so that you can stay on top of the never-ending demands of being a pastor, nurture your congregation, spend quality time with your family, and take care of your physical and emotional needs. Become the pastor God has called you to be.
P.S. – Click here to grab your copy from Amazon today!
Your partner in ministry,
Nelson
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