Meridian Magazine : : Leadership for Saints

Ingredients of a Great Meeting
by Rodger Dean Duncan and Ed J. Pinegar

Every great meeting begins with smart planning. Ask yourself a series of simple questions. For example:

· Why are we having this ward council or presidency meeting? Is it only because it’s 8:00 o’clock on Sunday morning and that’s just what we do on Sunday mornings?

· What is the core purpose of our meeting? If inviting people to come unto Christ is our purpose, specifically what are we trying to do that will help advance that cause?

· What are the desired outcomes of our meeting? As a direct result of the gathering, what do we want people to know, to feel and to do?

· What can we do to ensure that the Spirit is an active participant in our meeting?

· What can we do to generate sincere energy in what we’re doing? How can we breathe life into the “routine” and be reminded of its linkage to soul development?

· How can we ensure that this meeting provides spiritual enlightenment and causes participants to have a great desire to live their religion, to come unto Christ, and to want to be like Christ?

· What can we do to ensure that every person who attends the meeting is inspired, edified and strengthened? How can we manage the meeting so that all participants are glad they came and are eager to attend next time?

If great meetings result from great planning—and they do—it makes sense that the planning has structure. A good way to ensure structure is to use an agenda.

We suggest that every meeting should have an agenda. Where possible, the agenda should be given to each participant in advance, even if it’s only at the beginning of the meeting. An agenda doesn’t need to be an elaborate document. In fact, it should be relatively simple with the appropriate “guideposts” to keep the participants (and the leader) on track. The agenda can be typed and printed. It can be hand written on a chalkboard or flipchart. If there are only two or three items to be covered, it can be communicated orally.

As leader of a meeting, you need more agenda detail than the other participants. For instance, you should have a rough time allocation for each item. This helps you gauge the progress of the meeting and know when it’s time to come to closure on a particular item.

Regularly scheduled meetings seem to be the most common violator of the agenda requirement. One way to overcome this is to take five minutes at the beginning of the meeting to develop and post an agenda. If your agenda contains several items, prioritize them so you can deal with the most important ones in the time available.

It’s best, of course, to be so focused on purpose and desired outcomes that you can produce an appropriate agenda in advance. A good agenda helps participants funnel their thinking and energy. It emphasizes unity of purpose over division of labor. It underscores accountability for results. It helps us make the best use of that precious commodity called time.

A common challenge for our meetings is that the right subject is sometimes addressed in the wrong forum. For instance, the appropriate forum for planning the details of a ward social is the Ward Activities Committee, not the Ward Correlation Council. The Ward Council members may be asked to provide general guidance and assistance, but the nitty-gritty details of the planning and preparation should fall on the shoulders of the Activities Committee. Likewise, a discussion on helping Brother Wilson upgrade his employment is more appropriate for Welfare Meeting or a quorum presidency meeting or in an interview with Brother Wilson’s home teacher than it is for a meeting of the Activities Committee.

A well-conceived agenda helps us ensure that the right subject is addressed in the right forum to produce the right results and outcomes.

The following ideas will help you plan and lead great meetings.

Timing

Time is a precious, finite resource. We all have the same amount of it and we are rightfully protective about how it is used. In planning and leading our meetings, we must be constantly sensitive to the amount of time we ask people to invest.

In terms of time, your first decision is “when” the meeting should occur. Considerations in selecting a meeting time include your availability, the availability of other participants, the availability of an appropriate meeting place, and the preparation time required.

After the “when” decision has been made, you might consider using an odd time strategy to encourage promptness.

Here’s what we mean.

If you were driving along a highway and saw this sign, “Speed Limit, 24.5,” you would likely think something like “Hmmm ... that’s odd. The police must really mean business. That’s an awfully specific speed limit. They must mean ‘24.5.’ I think I’ll slow down.”

In the same way this sign catches attention and encourages compliance, announcing meetings that have unusual and very specific start—and finish—times can help tighten up your meetings and reduce time wasted.

Let’s say your regular meeting has been scheduled for 8:00 o’clock. It’s probably a safe guess that some of the participants have regarded that time as “8-ish” and have routinely straggled in at 8:05, 8:10 or even later. This is disruptive to the meeting as well as disrespectful of the underlying purpose (inviting people to come unto Christ).

If you have sometimes delayed the start of the meeting beyond the 8:00 o’clock announced time—so that the stragglers can be present for the beginning—your misplaced courtesy has actually penalized the people who arrived on time and reinforced the behavior of those who are tardy.

Try announcing the starting time of your meeting as, say, 7:58, and then absolutely start the meeting at that time even if several people are missing. They will eventually come, and they will quickly learn that the meeting starts promptly at 7:58 rather than at some imprecise “8-ish” time.

Also, be sure to end your meeting promptly at a pre-announced time. Meetings that drag on and on are usually lacking in good organization, preparation and management. This is another point in favor of having a well-conceived agenda. It helps keep meeting participants on track and on time.

Speaking of your agenda, be sure that it helps you maintain a good “pace” in the meeting. Avoid placing all the “administrative stuff” in one block of time on the agenda. Sprinkle throughout the agenda items requiring decisions or specific action assignments. Pre-assign a spiritual thought. Given at the beginning of the meeting, a spiritual thought lends context and perspective to all that follows. Given at the end of a meeting, a spiritual thought energizes people for action and sends them off on a definite high note

Beginning on time, managing on pace, and ending on time is a great way to demonstrate respect for your meeting participants and to produce great results for the people you serve.

Quotes Worth Remembering

It is only when we get beyond the administrative details of our callings and focus our attention on the principles of ministering to God's children and bringing the blessings of the gospel into their lives that our Church offices take on their full meaning, and we experience the fulfilling joy and satisfaction to be found in rendering significant service in the kingdom. – M. Russell Ballard

One of the most effective means by which any leadership accomplishment can be brought about is the habitual use of a good, well-planned agenda…. if those conducting an important meeting do not have a well worked-out agenda in writing, the meeting may not be nearly as productive. Those present may then have to guess at the pertinent facts and depend upon their memories, which may not be very dependable. – Sterling W. Sill

…you should see that the written agenda for each executive meeting, especially on the ward or quorum level, focuses mainly on people rather than programs—and then make sure that you follow your agenda. – M. Russell Ballard

When the secretary of President George Washington tried to excuse his lateness by saying his watch was slow, Washington replied, "Then you must get a new watch or I another secretary." Isn't it quite likely that God may feel the same way about us when we continously and habitually violate this first law of order, which is punctuality? – Sterling W. Sill

The question is not one of managing the clock, but one of managing ourselves with respect to the time we have. As Peter Drucker, the distinguished management consultant, has said, time is "man's most perishable resource," and unless it is managed, nothing else can be managed. (Peter F. Drucker, Management (New York: Harper and Row, 1974), p. 70.) Each minute is a little thing and yet, with respect to our personal productivity, to manage the minute is the secret of success. – Joseph B. Wirthlin

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