Death by Meeting

Dear Pastors

Death by Meeting¹

I have attended a lot of meetings in my life and so have you and there will no doubt be a lot more to come. Meetings are work and meetings are important...........but not all meetings are equally important......not by any stretch of the imagination.

Today I thought I would write what drives me crazy in meetings and next week some simple and constructive ideas as to how to increase meeting effectiveness. Here we go:

1. Lack of clarity as to why we are meeting.
2. Poorly designed agenda's.
3. Agenda's sent out to late. This is especially annoying if there are papers to read and BIG issues to consider. In other words some homework needs to be done.
4. Poorly chaired meetings.
5. Repeating at length what has already been written in the agenda papers. Oh boy!
6. Too many people at the table and sometimes not the right people.
7. Too many problems are talked about and not enough solutions are presented.

I'm reminded by the African proverb that simply says,

"If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together".

And in Proverbs 15:22

"Without counsel, plans go awry, but in the multitude of counsellors they are established".

Without a doubt meetings help us get good counsel (wisdom) and certainly help us to go together but they are not the only way. Occasions like lunch or dinner on purpose, carefully planned phone/video calls, strategic roundtables, think tanks, briefings and even a golf game are all ways that good work can be done and team members 'buy in' established. So, my encouragement to you is to do a 'meeting audit' of the meetings that go in in your church and ask yourself a few questions around the quantity and the quality of all those meetings.

On a completely different matter, can I draw your attention to our 'Faith and Adolescence' Tour with Dr Crystal Kirgiss coming up in FIVE weeks. All itinerary details are here. In hosting Crystal to NZ I am passionate about 'catching the kids', because we are loosing far too many from Christian faith.

And finally. Can it get any more beautiful? Simple and soulful. An incredible rendition of 'How Great Thou Art' by Hollie Smith and Teeks at the National Memorial Service last week Friday. I didn't expect this while watching the service and ended up incredibly moved. You can see it here.

Blessings

Alan

¹ Patrick Lencioni made this title famous back in 2004. You can buy his book here.

Alan Vink is currently the Executive Director for LeadershipWorx. Prior to this role he has been the Executive Director of Willow Creek Association NZ (WillowNZ), a Baptist pastor (23 years), Bible College teacher, and church consultant.