Best practices for effective meetings
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It was our regular staff meeting; same time and same place every week. She strolled in late and took a seat at the corner of the long table. Her phone was open, though our boss had asked everyone to turn them off. That didn't stop her from answering texts and scrolling through her Apple watch.
I was blown away by the employee's behavior. I'd wish I could say this was the only time I've seen this, and that she was the only one.
I've witnessed high-level managers stroll into their own meetings late and entirely unprepared. An hour later, when we were dismissed, there wasn't one assignment anyone walked away with. People didn't take notes and later asked co-workers what they were supposed to do.
Workplaces might be more casual these days—jeans, remote working, and employee perks—but that doesn't mean we throw professionalism out the window. How we show up to a meeting speaks volumes about our respect for the workplace and people in it.
If you're running a meeting, consider these best practices:
- Come with an agenda.Even better, send it out ahead of time. There are few things worse than coming to a meeting without any idea of what will be discussed. When you provide an agenda to your team, you're allowing them to think ahead and prepare. They will come with ideas and solutions. Also, an agenda keeps you and others on task and identifies what you need to walk away with. This is perhaps the number one way to run a productive meeting.
- Be early. Please don't be the boss that strolls in late. There are few things more disrespectful to your team than showing up late because you were "busy." This might hurt but needs to be said: your time is no more valuable than anyone else's. It's incredibly disrespectful to come late, because what you're essentially saying is, "My time is more important than yours." Will it happen every once in a while? Likely. But make it the exception (for a genuinely good reason.)
- Send people out with clear action steps. Things simply don't get done if you always leave a conversation open-ended. When you talk about something, appoint someone to follow through on it.
Now, if you're attending a meeting, here's some etiquette to keep in mind:
- Be early.Yes, I'm repeating it. The first job I had in ministry was working at a mega-church and everything we did was done with excellence. I loved that about their culture. One thing our lead pastor would say, and it stuck with me, was: Five minutes early is on time, and on time is late. I would encourage you—be five minutes early. It shows you're prepared and ready to work.
- Put away your phone. Few things are more annoying and disrespectful to others than being on your phone during a meeting. Is it okay to check the occasional text message or look something up for work? If it fits the culture, sure. But to sit with your head locked onto your phone for a majority of the meeting is unprofessional.
- Take notes.You might be thinking that's the assistant's job. And maybe it is. But it will prove helpful to you and your job to take notes on projects that pertain to you. As your team brainstorms ideas for something you're working on, capture that and write down action steps. We deceive ourselves if we think our brains can remember every little detail.
I can't talk about meeting etiquette without addressing our new normal: virtual meetings. They were something we hopped on sporadically, but they've become quite common. Here are a few things to keep in mind when participating in a virtual meeting:
- Communicate the details clearly.Hosting a virtual meeting takes a bit more effort to prepare for. Be sure you've set up the correct portal to host the meeting, and that you're familiar with it. Then, create the meeting (in most cases) and send the link to your team. Sometimes a password is required (such as for Zoom).
- Be prepared. I've attended several meetings where the video or audio wasn't working because the host waited until the last minute to start the virtual meeting. If you're leading, get set up several minutes in advance so that when people start joining, you are ready to go!
- Consider your video options.This might depend on the culture or personality of the host, but I would encourage you to keep your video on during the meeting. I have a friend who now attends regular virtual team meetings and no one turns on their video. He hasn't seen some of his co-workers in months and team morale is down. There is something to showing up visually and allowing people to see your face. It helps to bond the team virtually and keep team dynamics positive.
- Mute yourself and the noises in the background.Please mute yourself if you're not talking. There are few things more frustrating than sharing something important and a dog starts barking in the background, or the trash truck is beeping outside. In addition, consider muting notifications on your computer and phone to create a distraction-free space.
Maybe this article nudged you a bit to strongly in some areas, but I encourage you to take to heart the need for excellence in every aspect of what we do in the church. Consider Paul's admonishment to the Colossians:
"Servants, do what you're told by your earthly masters. And don't just do the minimum that will get you by. Do your best. Work from the heart for your real Master, for God, confident that you'll get paid in full when you come into your inheritance. Keep in mind always that the ultimate Master you're serving is Christ. The sullen servant who does shoddy work will be held responsible. Being a follower of Jesus doesn't cover up bad work." —Col. 3:22-25
 | Brittany Rust has a passion to see people impacted by the power of God’s Word and the beauty of His grace through writing, speaking and podcasting. She is the founder of Truth and Grace Ministries, For the Mama Heart and Truth x Grace Women, and hosts the Truth x Grace Podcast. She is the author of two books, including Here I Am: Responding When God Calls Your Name (2019) and Untouchable: Unraveling the Myth That You’re Too Faithful to Fall (2018). Learn More » |
More on Meetings and Team Building
- How bad virtual habits can become powerful leadership tools (by Scott Cochrane)
- Leadership alignment: realign your team for success with simple adjustments (by Christian Muntean)
- How to unleash the power of the spinal tap leadership principle (by Scott Cochrane)
- How to build values by ringing the bell for what matters (by Scott Cochrane)
