3 things every meeting needs

If you are a leader at any level you will at some point be in charge of a meeting. Meetings can do much good but they can also do damage to the moral and function of your team. How you conduct your meetings matter.
In ministry and in many other contexts meetings happen often. Many people I have talked to feel that meetings are a necessary evil. I wouldn’t consider them a necessary evil but I do have a love hate relationship with them. I love when things are accomplished and relationships are forged. I at times hate that they seem to take so much time and leave you wondering what you just accomplished with the last 2 hours on the phone or in the boardroom.

So how do you conduct a good meeting. I believe every good meeting has three things in common.

1. Clarity – As the leader of the meeting you have to continue to fight for clarity. Every person in your meeting is asking every time you meet, Why is the meeting needed? A meeting agenda that you either share with others or reserve for yourself will help you keep your meeting purpose focused. In meetings rabbit trails are plentiful. Sometimes they are helpful most times they are not. As a leader of the meeting your team is screaming out to for clarity. As the leader you have to keep the meeting focused and results orientated.

2. Brevity – Long is the enemy of short. Profound right? Brevity doesn’t mean your meetings have to be short it means they need to be brief. Your meeting has to be sort of like a Scottish kilt. Long enough to cover the important parts and short enough to keep it interesting.

3. Transparency – If there is no transparency in a meeting you will end up doing multiple meetings with everyone in the meeting you just did because people don’t want to share what they are feeling or thinking with the team. Creating a culture of “The meeting after the meeting” is a great way to build a culture of distrust and suspicion. So get out there and hold a meeting that makes a difference.