This is one of a series of blogs on FOA – frequently offered advice – based on common themes from my coaching work over the last 20 years. 

How often have you thought to yourself, “Why are we having this meeting?” Or “this meeting is a waste of time.” A significant amount of time in church and ministry leadership is spent in meetings. And yet, complaints about unproductive meetings are common. 

When this frustration is expressed, my response is to ask, “What is the purpose for this meeting?” If you can’t give a 1-sentence answer, there’s a good chance that the meeting will not be productive. Having a well-defined purpose should drive what is discussed in the meeting and who participates. 

For example, there is a big difference between a meeting to work out the details for next week’s worship service and one to brainstorm about sermon themes for the next 12 months. The people that should be in the room to give input in the selection of long-term mission partners are not the same people that need to plan the details for each of those partnerships. 

Patrick Lencioni has a helpful term – “meeting stew” – to describe the tendency to dump all sorts of different items into one meeting. He points out the difficult of jumping from a short-term tactical discussion to a long-term strategic one. (His book, Death by Meeting, is a helpful and enjoyable resource. He also addresses the subject in one section of The Advantage.) 

I know the counter-argument: “There are a variety of things to discuss, so let’s do it while we’re all together.” If that’s working well for you, and you’re not frustrating with your meetings, then keep doing it. But you probably wouldn’t have read this far if that were the case.

One important implication of more purposeful meetings is that someone needs to “own” each meeting. That doesn’t have to be the most senior person in the room. But someone needs to be clear about the purpose, shape the agenda beforehand, and keep the discussion from veering far off track.

Please don’t hear this as a recommendation that every meeting should be tightly scripted. Some breathing room – for sharing personal concerns or just light moments together – is a valuable part of being together. But even that can be purposeful. 

You’ll never reach a point where everyone in your church or ministry looks forward to every meeting. But as a first step, make a list of all your regular meetings, and rate the effectiveness of each. If your assessment reveals a pattern of lackluster meetings, you may need to be more purposeful.

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