Janie’s Insights on Meetings
Value of meetings:
- Good meetings are essential for progress, alignment, and collaboration.
- Meetings can either drain time or serve as the “heartbeat” of an organisation.
Organisation’s meeting rhythm (Christian charity example):
Whole organisation gatherings:
- Friday (15 min): End-of-week reflection, prayer, reminder of mission.
- Wednesday (45 min): All-staff meeting for fellowship, team updates, prayer, and “Testimony Time” (staff share personal stories of God’s work). → Strengthened culture of collaboration and transparency.
Leadership meetings:
- Executive team: 2x per week.
- Wider leadership team (~20 people): Weekly, 2.5 hrs, rotating topics.
Team-level rhythms:
- Some teams: daily 15-minute stand-ups.
- Others: longer weekly catch-ups.
- Line managers: 1:1s to address personal needs and issues.
Trustee meetings:
- Quarterly, driving significant organisational planning and decisions.
- Serve as key markers for preparing papers and aligning timelines.
What makes meetings effective:
- Clear purpose and intentional design of each meeting type.
- Agendas and papers shared in advance.
- Someone is assigned to capture minutes and action points.
- Clarity on which meetings are for decisions, updates, or discussion.
- Helps avoid confusion, improves transparency, efficiency, and equity.
Best meetings:
- Weekly all-staff gathering: uplifting, builds connection and joy.
- one-on-one's with direct reports: deep problem-solving and collaboration.
- Values the trust, openness, and ability to navigate disagreements well.
Why defining meeting types matters:
- Clarifies expectations and decision-making processes.
- Example: Budget/forecast approvals and headcount decisions are allocated to specific meetings with clear timelines and required documentation.
- Reduces confusion and ensures efficiency.