Meetings aren’t always the most exciting thing in the world. Some of them are unnecessary, and some go on forever! However, meetings are important and oftentimes very helpful. The reality is, a church can only move forward if its people are moving forward. When you’re having a meeting, have the intention of moving people forward.

Here are a few thoughts that will help you when it comes to preparing for and running your next meeting.

1. Have A Goal.

What is the goal of having the meeting? Is it to communicate information? Is it to get stuff done, or to think of a strategy? Or is it to develop people? As leaders, our goal should always be to develop people, and that’s what our meetings need to be about.

Within our meetings, focus on:

Empowering people – people need to leave empowered to walk out and take action;

Equipping people – people need to know how they can do their job better;

Encourage people – people need to be helped by you coming alongside them.

2. Why, Who & When?

 Ask yourself these three questions:

i) Why would this meeting help?

The reality is, there are many meetings that happen that don’t really need to happen. When you do call a meeting, know the reason why you’re having a meeting in the first place rather than simply hosting it because it is set as a recurring event in your calendar.

ii) Who needs to be in this meeting?

Be careful not the get the wrong people in the room, and have left the right people out of the room. Even if you don’t expect someone to directly contribute, don’t underestimate the value of certain team members hearing the heart behind decisions so they can begin to reproduce your culture.

iii) When is the meeting most effective?

Take a look at your church’s calendar to see what’s coming up, and decide when it would be best to have a meeting. If you’re working with volunteers, be intentional about choosing a time that would fit their schedules as well not just the paid employees.

3. Failure To Prepare Is Preparing To Fail

Sometimes, meetings go on forever because the person leading the meeting has no idea what the meeting is going to be about! Have an agenda when you come into a meeting – perhaps even send it out in advance for attendees to come prepared and researched. Include aspects like a review of the past week, your main focuses in the upcoming week, and go through the roadblocks people are facing.

The pressure for a good meeting should not only be on the person in charge that chairs the meeting but on every attendee. Think about what does the leader need to know about what has been happening and what is coming up? What is important to them right now? What data and knowledge would be useful to them as they make important decisions? Have you had any good ideas lately?

Good meetings require a lot of preparation, and ultimately as we know good preparation prevents poor performance.

This thought was shared during a webinar entitled ‘Planning Meetings That Move Church Forward’ hosted by Freimut Haverkamp during Online Open Week in February 2017. Online Open Week is your opportunity to receive impartation and training direct from the Hillsong team through live webinars.

If you would like to watch the full recording or find out more about future events from the Hillsong Leadership Network, click below