idea for more efficient meeting structure

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Meetings are a puzzling paradox.

On one hand, they are critical. Meetings are the activity at the center of every organization.

On the other hand, they are painful. Frustratingly long and seemingly pointless.

-Patrick Lencioni Death by Meeting

Our Current Meeting Model

•All-Staff Meetings Monthly

•Leadership Team Meetings Bi-Weekly

•Pastor Team Meetings Bi-Weekly

•Leadership Team Off-Site Meetings Semi-Quarterly


Do you know the different purposes for each meeting?


Do you know the difference in function between the different teams?


Are you certain about what will happen at the next meeting you attend?

Meetings are ineffective because they lack contextual structure. Too many organizations have only one kind of meeting, often called a staff meeting. Either once a week or twice a month, people get together for two or three hours of randomly focused discussion about everything from strategy to tactics, from administrivia to culture.


•To better utilize everyone’s time. Shorter, more efficient meetings will allow everyone to spend more time doing ministry.

•To promote more congregational involvement in the leadership of the church, by developing leadership potential within the congregation.

Why Restructure our Meetings?


•To better utilize our strengths and more effectively minimize our weaknesses.

•To operate as a more efficient organization. More efficient meetings will allow us to make better use of our resources.


•To effectively pursue completion of many projects currently “in process”.

•To spread leadership responsibilities and accountability to a wider group of people.

THE PROPOSED NEW MODEL:

•Separate Meetings.

•Distinct Teams.

•Sharper Focus.

To make our meetings more effective, we need to have multiple types of meetings, and clearly distinguish between the various purposes, formats, and timing of those meetings.


(please read the chapter from Lencioni’s book which is in your box)

Three Proposed Teams/Meetings:

•Calvary Ministry Team Meeting

•Calvary Strategy Team Meeting

•Calvary Pastoral Team Meeting

(Each of these are nothing more than variations of our current leadership team. Creating new names for each team allows us to easily distinguish between different meetings.)

Five Meeting Details for Consideration

•Purpose for the Meeting

•Frequency of the Meeting

•Categories of Participants for the Meeting

•Who chooses the Meeting Participants

•Who leads the Meetings

(Because this is still in the “forming” process, these categories can help to provide a template for our discussions.)

Calvary Ministry Team Meeting


•Facilitate communication regarding day-to-day and week-to-week issues to ensure organizational efficiency.



•Weekly 30-45 minutes maximum.

•Participants in the Meeting

•Representatives from each area of ministry, a representative from the office staff, and a representative from the facilities department.


•Participants Appointed By:

•Ministry Heads

•Meetings Led By:

•To Be Assigned by PBR


•Potential Issues to be addressed•Short reports from each department detailing coming events, goals, wins, and volunteer recruiting

•Weekly, monthly, and quarterly calendar reports

•An overview of the coming Sunday

•Office policy and procedure issues which have arisen

•Problem solving (proactive and reactive) for organizational issues which arise

•Etc.

Calvary Strategy Team Meeting


•Utilize congregational involvement while pursuing completion of identifiable projects which impact the ministry as a whole.



•Monthly.


•Selected pastors and lay leaders. No fewer than three pastors and no more than five, and no fewer than five lay people and no more than eight lay people.



•PBR and Current Leadership Team. Future installments TBD.

•Meetings Led By:

•To Be Assigned by PBR


•Potential Issues to be addressed•Clarify and package long and short-term vision (eg. five year, one year, six month focus)

•Constitution Rewrite

•Children’s Building

•Develop a Budget Process

•Foyer/Info Center; People Services

•Succession Plan

•Etc.

Calvary Pastoral Team Meeting


•Provide spiritual leadership to the church.



•TBD.


•Congregationally elected pastors.



•Congregational Vote.

•Meetings Led By:

•PBR


•Potential Issues to be addressed•Evaluate the church’s direction using a formative, caring, and missional dashboard

•Prayer Items

•Sermon Series

•All-Church spiritual formation campaigns

•Etc.

Now What?

•Questions for Consideration

•Does sufficient warrant exist to necessitate change?

•Do the proposed changes effectively address the desired changes? How might the proposed changes be altered to more effectively address the desired changes?

Now What?


•Can the proposed or modified changes be successfully implemented? What barriers might prevent successful implementation? How can these possible barriers be addressed? Are they sufficient to halt the process?

Now What?


•What specific action steps can we identify right now to move us toward the proposed or modified changes?

•What is a reasonable time frame within which we can accomplish the identified action steps?

Now What?


•Who will be responsible for accomplishing each action step?

•What accountability method will be used to measure progress toward completion of the action steps?

•How will the current leadership team be kept abreast of progress?

Now What?


•What are we going to do today?

•What are we going to do this week?

•What are we going to do this month?

•What are we going to do this year?

idea for more efficient meeting structure

Spiritual

patrick lencioni

current leadership

current meeting

effectively

lay people

efficient

meetings led

meeting