I don’t know where I got this number in my head but when it comes to leader meetings, if I can get 80% attendance, to me this is a successful meeting. But trust me, when I first got in this position, that percentage was nowhere near our meetings. That number was not even in the same atmosphere.
This weekend we had our Leader Hang & Train and after two years I can say that a majority of them are what I would call “successful” based off attendance and the culture in which is catered at the meetings. Looking back I can see the things we have done to make the meetings go the way they do and would be “successful” in my eyes as a leader.
So I thought I would write down some thoughts on what we have done to cultivate this “successful” (and I keep putting “” around successful because I realize my version of success might be different from others) leader meeting has:
Communicate the WHY of why everyone needs to make this a priority. Who wants to have a meeting just to have a meeting. What is the reason behind you meeting? Is it just to fill in your calendar? What is the WHY? For us, our team meetings are to build community together, because a team that enjoys each other is way more effective, and to learn together. In order to be more effective for the kingdom of God, we need to learn and become better together. So we don’t have meetings just to have them, they are really intentional and our leaders know this.
Food. I mean, this one should be easy right? Food brings people together. Look at Jesus, he spent lots of time around a table together with people. If you can afford it, pay for your leaders. We got to go to a build your own pizza place and had leaders partner up and split a pizza. If you don’t have the budget, do a pot-luck. Have everyone bring food. There is something magical that happens around food and brings a true sense of community among leaders. This is also a sure-fire way to make sure a majority of leaders will attend (especially if they are in college, HA!)
Stories of life change. We try to open up with stories from our leaders. Most of the time on our Wednesday nights leaders are all over the place with students. So we don’t get to hear about how God is moving through people. So we try to capture stories of life change in every meeting we can to help people realize they are a part of something pretty great and they get a front row seat to life change.
Fun. This is one is self-explanatory. Who said meetings ever need to be boring. Get people up and moving, play a DYM game, laugh together. A team that has fun together, stays together.
An agenda. Don’t walk into a meeting unprepared. Leaders know. Always have an agenda so you know if you were successful or not. If you can, try to let the leaders know the agenda as well so they are not walking in blind. This is a quick snapshot of our meeting agenda this weekend:
- Arrive
- Partner up for pizzas/Eat/Hang/Chat (45 minutes)
- Intro/Stories (10 min)
- Emma – Walk through new Leader Hang & Trains times and dates and WHY we are changing them. Walk through upcoming dates on the calendar. (10 min)
- Chris – Our new and improved volunteer process and shadowing of new leaders joining the team. Challenge leaders that in order for us to continue to grow like we are, we need to double our leadership team. Everyone should recruit one leader each by Christmas. (15 min)
- Justin – Talk about practical ways to have legitimate conversations about our topic this Wednesday night because we know we have students going through some things and will have questions. (15 min)
- Q & A
- Close in Prayer
Be on time. Nothing is worse than a long meeting. Leaders are taking their own time to come and be a part of this so be on time. If you didn’t get through everything, oh well, end on time. Knowing that you honor their time goes a long way.
What else do you do to make leader meetings great and “successful”?
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