What Leaders Should Know Before Scheduling Their Next Meeting

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Brian Dodd on November 25, 2015 in Performance

Whenever a leader walks into a room, the attitude of each person in the room should go up.  Your team should know caring, knowledge, resources and solutions have just arrived.  Leaders worth following should be upbeat and optimistic in nature.  Think about it, why else would they be worth following?

I hope I am a leader worth following but I do know I have an Achilles’ heel.  I just struggle with meetings.  I would rather be about anywhere else than in a meeting.  However, if you are going to talk about work rather than doing it, what is the most effective way to do so?
Recently, Ivy Sprague of MAG Bookkeeping had some interesting things to say about the cost of meetings and how to maximize the opportunity.  Ivy is an expert in this area.  MAG saves church, business and non-profit leaders tremendous time, resources and stress when they outsource their bookkeeping.  Click HERE to connect with this great organization.
Now as promised, the following are Ivy’s thoughts: 
Take a moment to look at your calendar, and count the number of meetings represented in your typical week. Now look at how many of your staff members are in each of those gatherings. Multiply that number by all your employees’ salaries and benefits, then by the number of meetings you have each year. Then add to that amount any money you’re spending on food and beverage for the meetings, plus any costs for renting space if you’re having an off-site gathering. And don’t forget the amount of time your staff is spending these meetings (for which they’re being paid) and not on their core areas of responsibility.
When you look at that number, is it worth it? Is that a number you’ve even thought about before?
We’re not saying don’t meet with your staff—not at all. But be aware of what those meetings are costing you. Instead of practicing efficient communication, we see all too often church leaders dumping all kinds of information on all levels of staff—and those staff members often wander away not sure of what just happened. These meetings may have started out of a desire to be relational, and keep everyone on your staff informed, but have most likely grown into a mass gathering that isn’t as effective as it ought to be.
As a leader, you need to break out the levels of your staff who attend each meeting and be aware of when you’re lumping together strategic and tactical initiatives. Your strategic planning meetings will likely be very involved and have regular updates, whereas your staff meetings should be strictly for communication and relationship and tactical areas. It’s OK to have the same people in multiple meetings for different purposes. Some of your staff may end up being in lots of those meetings, but if those meetings are clear in their purpose and stick to an intentional agenda, they’ll be a good use of your team’s time.
Smaller, shorter meetings that are laser-focused, that keep to an agenda, and are intentional about reaching their goals are the best use of your staff time—and your staff dollars.