Category: Ideas For Churches

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Podcast

How to launch a new service in your weekend schedule

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https://youtu.be/MPxOEU5GtjE

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This week’s Social Media tool:

Put in your twitter account, and tweriod will tell you when when your followers are most likely to be online, so when the best times are to schedule or live tweet.  Because the live of a tweet is very short, tweriod helps your increase your chances of exposure.

 

Katy asked about how to promote a new service in her church’s weekend service schedule.  Here are a few ideas:

 

  • What is your goal: New visitors to your evening service or creating room for your visitors at your morning services?
  • What would motivate someone to come to a Sunday evening service?
  • How can you reach that person and let them know about Sunday evening service?

 

When you launch your new service:

  • Plan a launch service – What can you do at the first Sunday Night or Saturday Night service to get people to try it out? Something before service like a dinner, or something after like a movie or food trucks?
  • Plan to evaluate after 3 or 6 months and ask yourself the same questions above in the context of who is actually attending.

 

 

Have a church communications question you’d like answered? Ask it here.  We’ll reply to all of them and pick a few for our podcast!

 

 

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Build a Team Marketing

What Are You Really Asking? Guest Post on ThatCC.com

I don’t know yet what you’re really asking, but I know it’s not about a budget worksheet or about the content of your staff meeting each week. Before you make up what the other person is thinking and live like that’s the truth, ask them in a way that opens to door to hearing their genuine response.

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Branding Build a Team Guest Services Marketing

The 4 reasons people come to your church

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PS5oYPVcYow

There are 4 reasons why someone comes to your church – not just the first time, but every time.  This person may change their reason over time, but how you communicate with them will help determine why they come back.

First, I’ll outline the 4 reasons, then how to connect with those people based on their reason.

 

1. Compulsion

With Compulsion (or conviction) these people come because they believe it’s the right thing to do – not necessarily because they want to, but because of an obligation or guilt if they don’t.  This could be coming to Mothers’ Day service to make Mom happy, coming to their niece or nephew’s Christmas concert, or showing up because they’re scheduled for nursery and don’t want to let someone down.

Maybe church is part of their tradition at Easter or Christmas, even though they aren’t really sure (or not interested in) where they stand with God, or they feel obligated to be in church our of guilt to make amends with God.

2. Curiosity

This is when someone sees a friend who shares a Facebook post, or find your video on youtube or drives by and sees your sign, or gets invited by a friend.  Hopefully they have an idea of what to expect from your church, but until they experience it, they’re curious as to what that experience is like.  It could be hesitancy, or excitement.  They’ve come through the door not entirely sure what to expect.

This doesn’t necessarily mean it’s their first visit – maybe they’re curious about your new series, or new pastor or haven’t been in a while or just moved back to the area and want to know what church is like now.  It’s even possible that this person comes every week, and their curious about your bumper video or to find out what songs your worship team will pick.

Unfortunately, once the novelty wears off, so will this person’s curiosity, so you have to move them to another reason to come back.

 

3. Community

This person likes to be part of something. They love to see the same faces at the same time, shake hands, invite in new people and build friendships.  For these people, serving is a privilege: a chance to be part of the ‘family’, and the chance to get together for coffee or a meal after church.  This could also reflect that they like your style of worship or the way people respond to the speaker or a monthly social event your church hosts.

Sometimes a person who is focussed primarily on community will come weeks or months before getting saved or committing their life to Jesus, since it’s possible that’s secondary in their mind to the community.  They could eventually stop coming to your church and get involved in a weekly soup kitchen or other community organization or even take a job that requires them to work every weekend where they feel a stronger attachment to community.

 

4. Commitment

This is the bullseye on the target where you point people to.  If they’re coming to your church because of their commitment, this is vision and values centered, and starts to become part of who they are.  You’ll hear them say “I’m part of XYZ church” rather than “I go to XYZ church.”

Very little (if anything) could dissuade them from being part of your church, serving the assignment God has given you and connecting others to the vision.  When a new initiative is released, they figure out how to get behind it.

 

How to move people toward Commitment

Knowing that commitment is the bullseye, how do we communicate in a way that draws people there?

Generally (and loosely) speaking, if someone starts with Conviction / Compulsion, then the next step is curiosity moving to community, then commitment.  Some people skip the “Compulsion” stage and start with Curiosity > Community > Commitment.

 

Compulsion to Curiosity

Capitalize on the opportunities you know are going to be well-attended by the compulsion people.  When your kids sing at the Christmas Concert, invite those visitors back for Christmas Eve.  On Christmas Eve, promote your January series.  Host a Valentines dinner and send out an email to everyone who has visited your church only once in the past 12 months.  On Easter, talk about your Summer events. At your summer event, talk about your back to school service… try and create ways to spark some curiosity.

 

Curiosity to Community

Talk often about the community you’re creating.  This is a shotgun approach helping everyone who came because of any reason to find a way to get connected.  As people move through the different reasons, there will always be a need for community, even if it’s not the driving force.

Play on people’s curiosity to attract new people to your church – don’t try and attract them using compulsion.  Get them through the door based on their curiosity, then talk about your community as a way for them to come back.

If you haven’t already, read here about how Buckhead Church in Atlanta creates a “Come back” experience.  They’ve found ways to get people connected and building a community from the moment people come into their property.

 

Community to Commitment

First, let me remind you that even though you’re moving this person to come back because of commitment, never give up on piquing their curiosity or talking about community.

Move people from coming for community to coming because of commitment by modelling it for them – give them hope, give them a family to be part of, give them a goal and a vision and help them find their place there.

Show videos of families who are in the commitment realm and talk about that journey. Model commitment in those who are put in leadership and help leaders who slip into compulsion to restore their excitement for the vision.

Thank your committed people often, and let those in the compulsion, curiosity or community category see the fulfilment of bringing people to know Jesus by living out your church’s values and vision.

 

 

I would love to hear how you’ve seen these steps working for you.  What are some of the ways you’ve found to move people toward commitment? Leave a comment below!

 

 

Categories
Build a Team Marketing Tools

Ask More Questions

We all know it, but sometimes we shy away from doing it: Ask more questions.
DIY-GuyIt’s the solution to not knowing enough, having misinformation, being unsure, and being sure while being clear. It’s the way we know how many pieces to print, what style the design needs to be, what emotion the message needs to create and by when we need to have sign ups or registrations.

So, why is it that we sometimes shy away from asking enough questions? Here are the 3 of the most common reasons:

 

We’re not sure what questions to ask:

How many times do you get part-way through a project and realize you didn’t ask a necessary question, or how often do you get a proof back from a department, and they say “This is nothing like I was anticipating…”? – In that moment you may be frustrated, realize you’ve wasted time, or get frustrated at the feedback because that person doesn’t ‘get’ your design.  It’s ok. You didn’t know you needed to ask that question, but there are 2 things you need to do in that moment:

  1. Ask – once you realize you didn’t ask a question, ask it now – don’t wait!
  2. Write it down – when you realize you’ve forgotten to ask a question about a project, write it down and remember to ask it next time.
  3. Create a Project Scope Outline – when you’re going into the project, ask how many copies need to be printed, by when do we need it in hand, will it be outsourced, will it be used on Facebook… etc.  Develop your process of what questions to ask (See some ideas at the bottom of this blog post.)

ACTION STEP: Next time you sit down to start a new project: end the conversation with “Is there anything I didn’t ask that you wanted to add?” Sometimes the other person will say “oh yeah, I need to have it by Thursday…” or “Can I get it printed large enough to fit in this frame?” or “Could we have 200 on hand by…”

 

We’re afraid asking will look like we’re incompetent:

How many pieces do you want printed? What if that sounds like “I have no idea how many kids we have on a weekend.” or “Would you like a 4 x 6 postcard or an oversized 6 x 8?” could sound like “I’m not sure what size a standard postcard is.”

At the end of the day, you’ll look way more incompetent if you print 200 pieces of 6 x 8 then realize they don’t fit into the 200 4 x 6 envelopes that were already handwritten with addresses.

ACTION STEP: Ask the question in a different way: “There are a lot of options and I want to help you choose the best option for your needs. Are you thinking that you’ll mail these out or hand them out?”

Or, the next possibility…

 

I don’t want to bother someone who’s not detail oriented by asking for details:

I know the feeling… someone says ‘You’re the web guy, just build me a website.’ or ‘You know the style I like, just go for it’ and we all know this means ‘I’m going to reserve the right to veto anything, and if you don’t get it right, I’m going to question if you really get me.’  This is especially difficult if it comes from someone who’s in leadership – they’re busy and you don’t want to bother them, but you want to get it right.

ACTION STEP: Create a mockup. Cut out a piece of 4 x 6 then cut out a piece of 6 x 8.  Scribble on it with a pen with info, logo, a box that says “pic goes here”.  Even though you’re getting the info you would have asked for, this looks a lot more appealing to someone who’s not detail oriented.  If you cut out a 4×6 and they say “wow, that’s really small” then they’ve answered your question.

If they’re getting flustered with the details, or it’s taking longer than they anticipated, setup a time to discuss again and bring a mockup to that meeting.

 

lightbulbA solution that covers all 3 is to build a process that asks all of the necessary questions.  For some, this is a PDF, a printout or an online form that asks if it’s print or digital / quantity needed / timeline needed by / collects who, what where, when, why, how questions / target audience /  discovers if they have any specific designs or styles in mind.  A good starting point could be CMIForms.com – a FREE tool for incoming promotion requests.

Despite which of these categories you fall into, and to what degree, the solution is going to start with you.  No incoming request form is going to be 100% complete, and you’re always going to have to ask a question – learn to be confident in what you bring to the table, and be willing to consider what is the best way to relate to the other person to get the best input they have to offer based on their personality.

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Advertising Guest Services Marketing Tools

Our First Time Guest Follow Up Process

(This post contains affiliate links. I’ve used and love TextInChurch.com – If you follow one of my links, I get a commission for the referral, and you’ll get a bonus from using my link.)

A key step to building a relationship with people is not just getting them in the door the first time, but getting them to come back.  (see some tips from Jason Young of Northpoint Ministries about creating an experience that makes people want to come back)

The question still remains, how do you follow up with someone after they’ve visited for the first time?

One of the biggest mistakes I’ve seen with a follow-up process in churches is it expires too soon… it’s too quick or too short.  If someone has never been to church before and comes this Sunday, then they changed the schedule that they’ve adopted for their whole life by coming to church this Sunday.

clock

If you send one piece of correspondence (even if it’s really good and they come back next Sunday) then stop corresponding, you’re hoping that someone who has spent decades of their life not going to church is going to change that pattern in 2 weeks.

What we like to do is roll out some invites to come back to Sunday service, but also opportunities to connect in other ways like small groups, special events or an invitation to have coffee with a pastor.  We’re trying to reach a variety of different people in a variety of different ways.

11898905_773537979424276_8291610533327454103_nI’ll also say that this process is not been perfected.  We implemented it using TextInChurch.com within the last year (as of when this blog post is being written) and it has undergone 1 re-evaluation.  I expect it will take many more evaluations to get us where we want to be.

There are 2 ways to implement TextInChurch.com – one way is to invite first-time guests to text a keyword like “New” or “Guest” to your text number to begin the automated process. Another way is to collect those guests names, emails and phone numbers on paper (like a connection card) and then enter them into the system to follow up.  We offer our guests both options.

(Text in church also offers a pre-made follow-up setup – you can adjust it as you needed.  We decided to use portions of their template and customize other aspects)

In a snapshot, here was our process when I was working at Life Church. Envelope on the left is email, phone on the left is a text message:

Guest Follow Up Process

 

What this process above doesn’t show you is that the system automatically kicks back a reply that says “Thank you for joining us this weekend. Please click here to complete your information.” It asks for name, email and cell phone if that wasn’t manually put into the system)

 

• 1st Email – Immediately – this email comes from ou Care Pastor’s email address, and if someone hits reply, it goes straight to him.

Thanks for joining us this weekend at Life Church. I hope that you had the opportunity to Encounter God and Experience Life. If you have any questions, please just hit reply to this email and I’d be happy to answer them for you. You can find out what’s coming up by visiting our website: lifechurch.net

See you next Sunday, 9am or 11:15am!

Pastor Example

Team Pastor, Life Church

 

• Text that goes out Sunday – same day they visited:

Thanks for joining us this weekend at Life Church. Connect with us online: Like us on Facebook: http://on.fb.me/1I4IM8k or on twitter: http://bit.ly/1T54b82

 

• Text 5 days on Friday:

Our team is looking forward to Encountering God and Experiencing Life with you this Sunday at Life Church: 9am or 11:15am!

 

• Email in 4 days (Thursday) first week:

I’m really excited for this weekend coming up at Life Church and I’m looking forward to having you join us again as we Encounter God and Experience Life.

We have 2 Sunday services: 9am or 11:15am. If you’re not available to join us on campus, you can also watch online: LifeChurch.net

If you have any questions, feel free to let me know. Looking forward to seeing you again!

Pastor Example

Team Pastor, Life Church

 

• Email 8 days later (hopefully after they visited the 2nd time, but worded like they can catch up with us if they missed it).

God is speaking to us in incredible ways at Life Church as we partner together to Advance The Kingdom.

If you’d like to listen again to previous messages from Pastor Ryan and guest speakers, there are 2 ways:

1. Subscribe to our podcast here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/life-church-audio-podcast/id549571272?mt=2

2. Watch messages on demand from our website: http://www.lifechurch.net/video/ondemand/

If you have any questions, I’d love to go for coffee and meet with you. Let me know when would be the best time to connect.

Pastor Example

Team Pastor, Life Church

 

• 12 days text on Saturday:

Looking forward to Encountering God and Experiencing Life with you tomorrow at Life Church: 9 or 11:15, or if you’re not available, watch live at lifechurch.net

 

• 19 days text on Saturday:

Is there something you’d like us to pray for? Just reply and let us know. See you tomorrow 9 or 11:15 at Life Church.

 

• 20 days Email:

This is Jason from Life Church. I oversee our Life Groups.

Life Groups are small groups that meet at various locations throughout Lee County. Every group provides an environment for people to connect relationally, care for one another and grow together in their relationship with Christ, and I’d like to help you find a group that works for you.

Each group meets on a different frequency (some weekly, bi-weekly or monthly) and range from Bible study groups to groups that connect based on common interests.

You can see our full list of groups and sign up online here: http://www.lifechurch.net/lifegroups/ and after participating in a group to see what it’s like, let me know if you’re interested in hosting or leading a group yourself.

Also, for 6th-12th Graders, we have Elevate Youth every Wednesday (Free Dinner at 6pm, Service at 7pm) and Gen Y 18-29 year old singles Tuesdays at 7pm.

If you have any questions, just reply to this email and I’ll be happy to answer them for you.

 

• 30 days text on a Wednesday:

Most people make their weekend plans by Wednesday or Thursday. Today is a perfect day to invite someone to join you at Life Church this weekend! 9 or 11:15

 

Apart from these follow-up texts and emails, when they visit the first time, their email address is put on our weekly email newsletter list (using mailchimp.com) so they receive a weekly email showing a few upcoming events and a list of everything happening in the next 7 days.

tabletAbout twice a month, an email is sent out where we video our Lead Pastor talking for 3-4 minutes about what’s happening or coming up at church (we call it “Coffee With Pastor Ryan”)

We also include key events as text messages to everyone in our database – we haven’t utilized this to the fullest yet, but things like Christmas Eve Service reminders, Easter Service times, daylight savings or community events will have text reminders sent out to everyone in the database with a link to more information.

checkWe also are able to send a message to only those in the “new’ category – not our regular attendees – so we will send out a link to the first new members class that is on the calendar since they visited.

So depending on the season, within the first 30 days, a new visitor will probably get around 15 messages from us, then continue to receive the weekly email newsletter/updates after that initial 30 days.

Text in church is currently offering a 30-day trial, and 25% off of your subscription once you discover how simple and effective their process is for getting your guests to return. Learn more here:

 

Have a question about our process? Ask it here!  Have something that’s been working for you? I’d love to hear about it in the comments below:

 

 

Categories
Build a Team Guest Services Marketing

7 ways Northpoint Ministries creates a “Come Back” experience

I had the chance to connect with Jason Young (@JasonYoungLive) who oversees Guest Services for Northpoint Ministries. I toured the church as an extension of That Church Conference in Atlanta, and then Jason spoke with our whole group about how they approach guest services across multiple campuses.

Jason gave us 7 concepts to take away about how one of the fastest growing churches (and one of the largest) focusses on an experience that makes people want to come back.  With his permission, I’m sharing these 7 come back ideas with you.  I’m going to paraphrase the summary of the ideas in my own words.

 

When we create an experience, we’re actually creating 2 experiences

We’re creating an experience for the guest (That’s the obvious one) but we’re also creating an experience for the volunteers.  Of those 2 experiences, focus most on the volunteer experience.  If your volunteers feel welcome and part of what’s going on at your church, they’ll create an environment that welcomes guests to make them feel a part of what’s going on at your church.

 

Choose Hospitality over Service

Service is the act of what we’re doing (ie. opening a door for someone) but Hospitality is focussed around who we are – we welcome people when we open the door, ask how their week was when we hand them the pen, smile and thank them for coming as we show them the closest parking spot. Your guests won’t walk away saying “Wow, the way the door got opened was exactly the right speed.” or “Did you see how they handed me the pen with their left hand so they could shake my right hand?”

Hopefully they’ll walk away saying “I felt welcome,” or “They were really helpful.”

 

Elevate the Dignity of each guest

We don’t know what someone has been through in the last month, week, day or even few minutes.  Whether someone is having a bad day, or even if they’re having a good day, find a way to make it a great day.

 

It’s a WIN when guest services becomes a culture, not a department

If you hear someone saying “I don’t open doors, that’s a guest services thing.” or they walk past a piece of trash and leave it for the custodian to pick up, then those are indications that guest services is a department.  If you sound guy walks into the lobby and sees someone looking lost and points them in the right direction, or a parking lot attendant helps a mom with her bags so she can bring her child to class – that’s a win.  When everyone realizes that guest services is part of who you are, you’re on your way to creating that culture.

How we feel about a guest walking in will be directly reflected in how they feel walking out.

 

See a person, not a crowd. Hear a story, not noise.

Each person matters and has a story. If you choose to connect with that one person in that one moment and give them your full attention and be fully present, you’ll create a rare connection that is difficult to find in our busy world, and that rare connection with you will be connected to your church.

 

Small wins feel good and create momentum

Celebrate wins within your guest services team.  Someone asks for a pen and the conversation leads to the accepting Jesus – that’s a win.  Someone found your church on google and came for the first time – that’s a win.  A new family says their kids loved your church and want to come back – that’s a win!  Each time you celebrate a win, you are helping your team realize and recognize that they are making an impact on the come back decision.

 

Think Scene-by-scene

What are the major touch points (At the Bulkhead campus, those are Parking lot, entrance, finding your way in the lobby, information and auditorium.)  How will visitors experience these touch points, and how do they transition between them.  Analyze each “Scene” as a piece of the puzzle, but view each scene in the context of the full experience – not isolated from each other.

 

If you’re visiting the Atlanta area, check out Buckhead church.  Check out how they live out each of these steps, and in the mean time follow Jason on twitter: @JasonYoungLive

Categories
Build a Team Marketing Tools

1 Word that can Unleash Creativity: Guest Post on ThatCC.com

Our team has a lot of creative conversations. Some are organized, some are on-the-spot. We love to creatively propose solutions from building systems, following up with first-time guests, tracking the health of our volunteers. In my world, almost everything can become a creative discussion.

Since discussions are based on the ideas we think and the way we communicate those ideas, we choose to be specific with the words we use.

Categories
Build a Team Marketing

Decide or Discover

Some things are decided (like what time your service will start) and some things are discovered (like how many people are actually interested in coming to a potluck.)

Deciding is when the ball is in your court.  Discovering is when it’s in their court.

magnifyingglassDecide how many time you’re going to try posting on your church’s Facebook page.  Discover if that’s how many times people want to hear from you.  Then decide how you’ll adjust your Facebook frequency, and discover if that shows an improvement.

If you just decide and execute, you may never hit your sweet spot.

Decide when your service starts. It would be a poor choice to say “We’re having service on Sunday” and wait to discover what time people show up to start service.

Decide or Discover:

  • easelDecide what your values are.  Discover how you can live those out so people will be receptive to them.
  • Decide what time you will start service.  Discover what can be done to encourage people to be there on time.
  • Decide your office hours. Discover when you people are trying to connect with you.
  • Decide what events to promote. Discover what events people actually want to hear about.
  • Decide you’ll send out a regular email newsletter.  Discover the frequency people would like to be sent emails and what they would like to see included.
  • Decide how you’ll ask people to volunteer.  Discover which methods work best.

Have you ever been a situation where you got these backwards?  A time when you made a decision when you needed to make a discovery?  I’d like to hear what you learned in the comments:

 

 

Categories
Build a Team Tools

How to create a Church Communications Job Description

Every church has unique qualities, requirements, and assignments.  Even though some churches may share similarities (like location, attendance, budget or staff size) it’s clear that each is unique, which means your job description will probably be unique to your church.

I’ve been asked by a few people if they can see my job description and I intentionally decline because I don’t want to create an opportunity for them to think this is the “right way” to operate in a marketing and communications position. There’s no right or wrong, but a job description is important so everyone involved is clear on the expectations.

Whether you’re a Pastor wanting to create a Communications position at your church, or you’re considering taking a paid position and want to be sure you’ve got all of the bases covered or a volunteer who would like to start the conversation on how to help your church, here are some ideas of what a job description could include.

 

Will your responsibilities include Social Media?

documents_256px

If so, here are 10 questions to ask leadership specifically about launching your Social Media.

 

Who will you report to, how often will you report to them?

What kinds of questions will they ask, and what kind of information do you need to bring to the table when you connect with them.  What do you need from them?

 

Creative vs Execution Balance:

Is your position in place to be creative and think outside the box, or a matter of executing directives from leadership, or a combination of both?

 

Your Weekly Schedule:

Discuss your daily schedule (do you start the same time every day, how long is your lunch break, etc.) vacation time, sick days, how many hours per week is your position? Is that flexible on a daily or weekly basis? If you work extra hours this week, do you get compensation hours next week, or do you earn overtime?  Are weekend services part of your job requirement, and how does attending or missing those affect your allowed vacation time?

 

documents_256pxWhat is your pay?

Think this is an obvious question? Think again, and get it in writing… not because you don’t trust the person bringing you on staff, but it’s possible they’ve had a different conversation with the accounting department or meant to say “Around this and that”- and you get paid this, thinking you might be getting that. Is your pay hourly or salary, and how much flexibility exists?

 

What conversations do you get input on?

Do you get the final say in design work, outgoing newsletters, mail, email content, Public Relations releases, naming groups and events in the church, or does that fall to someone else? Is that each department’s decision and they can ask your input or do you approve what goes out to maintain consistency?

 

Do you need to build a volunteer team?

Are you expected to take the responsibilities yourself for all of your projects based on your schedule, or will you build a volunteer team and delegate? Is that a hope, or an expectation for leadership?

 

What are your key performance indicators (KPIs)?

This has to be quantifiable and measurable: a yes or no decision about if you’ve hit these requirements and in what time frame – yearly, quarterly, weekly, daily: This could include:

  • # of likes on Facebook in 12 months
  • # of podcast subscribers in the next quarter
  • # of email newsletter subscribers
  • # of people on your volunteer team
  • # of attendees at a certain yearly event
  • $ total given online
  • # of daily posts on Facebook / twitter / Instagram / snapchat / etc.

 

List your recurring tasks:

You task list may include social media posting and interaction, live announcements, video announcements, bulletin, graphic design, print material, video projects, event promotion, weekly email newsletter, logo design, ghostwriting blog posts, sitting in staff meeting, leading creative meetings, building and communicating with volunteer teams, one-on-one meetings with leadership, mentoring and coaching other departments, overseeing brand consistency, website modifications,and edits… etc.

 

Outline expectations for ongoing improvement:

Will you be expected to travel for a yearly conference, take online training, listen to podcasts to develop yourself, or none at all? Do you need to read a certain number of books for personal development, and do you choose those titles, or how are those titles approved?

 

documents_256pxWhat is the big picture?

What does leadership see for you and your position 1-year, 5 years and 10 years from now? How can you take steps each day to get from here to there?

 

Taking time to discuss these concepts is going to help you set clear expectations to give your best to the opportunity in front of you.  The conversations may not be easy to have while you’re excited about taking a new position, but they will be more difficult after you’ve crossed your start date.  Don’t wait until after you’ve started the race to find out if you’re running a 100m dash or a marathon.

 

Did I leave something out? Would love to hear what other high-level ideas are included in your job description:

 

 

Categories
Build a Team Marketing

9 rules for effective creative meetings

Remember when you were little and playing a game with the neighbour kids, then they change the rules and say “oh yeah, I forgot to tell about…” or if you’re learning a new game with some friends and they say “I’ll start with the basic rules so we can get the game going, and I’ll fill you in as we go on the details.”

Thumbs-Up-Guy-facing-leftI get frustrated in a situation when I can’t contribute my best because the parameters aren’t clear, and when it comes to our creative meetings, our team has found some really effective ways to maximize our productivity and effectiveness in a short amount of time – the reason: we’ve all agree to play by the rules.

These rules are not meant to limit participation (like saying you can’t touch the soccer ball with your hands) but are rather to give us a clear playing field so we can get to (in my opinion) the fun part of brainstorming and creating an execution strategy.

This list is not the 9 ways to have a perfect meeting, or 9 ways your team has to do it.  Each team is different, has different players and is playing a different game (if I may continue that analogy).  Take these ideas and figure out what they look like for your team, how they get applied and what your team needs to add to be most effective.

You may be asking “Adam, what does this have to do with marketing?” My answer would be that effective meetings will help you achieve results. Not sure what I mean? Try these on with your team…

I’d love to hear how you’ve implemented these or what you’ve added.  Comment in our Church Marketing Ideas Facebook group!

1. Invite only the relevant players

If you’re playing football, and it’s the offensive line on the field, don’t invite the defence to the party. If your conversation requires one person, have a one-on-one meeting.  If your conversation requires everyone on your team except one person, honor that persons time and let them know why you’re not bringing them in if necessary, but don’t bring them in to sit in an irrelevant meeting. If you have a set meeting where everyone on your team comes together, then only discuss issues relevant to everyone, and save the others for later.

 

2. Have an Agenda

Be clear about what you want to discuss and who needs to be in the discussion about those topics.  Be clear about the order. Decide that information before you call the meeting.  Sometimes you may want to share that agenda before the meeting, and sometimes it’s relevant to get everyones initial reactions at the same time.  Whether you share it ahead or not, have an agenda.

 

3. Start on Time and End on Time

Happy-with-Wordpress-Mainenance-ServiceI find it odd that we used to talk about when the meeting would start, but not have a clear plan about when the meeting would end.  Based on inviting the right people and having an agenda, take a guess at how long the meeting will be and set an end time… this way people can schedule their next appointment or goals and tasks for the day after that meeting.

When that time arrives, END ON TIME!  If there is more discussion to be had, book a follow up meeting with some or all of the relevant people.

 

4. Everybody contributes

If you’ve hand-picked who will be in the meeting, they’re here for a reason. Everybody contributes.  We have some people on our team who are louder and some quieter. Some who process out loud and some who sit and think.  Some people who want their opinion to be considered, and others who are happy to find a way to support whatever decision is made.  Regardless of those factors, everybody contributes.  After discussion and when a decision has to be made, go around the table and ask everyone what they’re suggestion is.

If you have a team member who likes to process, ask them last, once they’ve heard everyone else’s input.  “Whatever the team decides” is not contributing, because if that’s your answer, you didn’t need to be in the decision meeting.

You could help that person by asking “If the decision was yours, what would you choose?” or if they say “I pretty much agree with everyone” then ask “How do you see yourself participating in implementing.” or “What would it look like if we made a different decision?”  Learn to hear what’s not being said and draw the input out of that person.  They have a unique perspective that is valuable to the team.

 

5. Leave with an action plan

Your meeting has a purpose. It is probably meant to change something or cause an action.  Write down what your action is, who is responsible for completing what portions and by when they will have it completed.  Have everyone articulate back to you what their action is so that you’re clear.

 

6. Review the last meeting’s action plan

There’s no point in making an action plan in this meeting if we’re not going to be sure those actions got completed.  This isn’t an opportunity to come down on someone who hasn’t completed their task, but an opportunity to celebrate the completed tasks, help overcome hurdles that could have prevented previous tasks and be clear on what now needs to be achieved to move forward.

 

7. Nobody leaves confused

DIY-GuyIf you’re not sure of what the play is, don’t leave the huddle.  This is each team member’s opportunity to clarify the action, the responsibility and the “by when”.  If anyone is unsure on the motive, the big picture, the small details, the timeline, the key players or what’s expected of them, this is the time to ask.

Being sure doesn’t mean that everyone is on the same page… I could be 100% sure I heard something that you didn’t say, and you could be 100% sure I heard what you said.  Being sure isn’t being clear.

Ask you team to summarize their understanding of the action plan and listen for hints that someone isn’t entirely clear.

 

8. What happens in the room stays in the room

Sometimes conversations go beyond the topic and sometimes they become emotional.  We’ve agreed that we won’t hold someone’s actions or opinions for ammunition at a future time and we won’t undermine the public conversation with private conversations later.  This trust allows us to be honest, admit our flaws, come up with genuine raw ideas and create an opportunity to be ourselves.

 

9. Get clear with everyone before the meeting

If someone said or did something in the meeting, at the water cooler or in an email or text message that didn’t sit right with you, ask them to clarify, get on the same page with them and come to the meeting clear.  The last thing we need in our discussion about a website overhaul is to have a couple of people on about last Friday’s “Photocopier incident” or that they needed an elastic and someone had taken the last one in the drawer, or worse yet is having 2 people silently fuming toward each other and not able to draw them in to contribute to the conversation.  You don’t have to go look for problems and then create resolves, but if there’s an unmet expectation of someone else on the team, we get that cleared up with them privately so we can contribute our best to the group.

 

I would love to hear what else you have setup for your meeting, how you live by or reiterate your meeting rules, or by when you’ll choose to explore and implement meeting rules for your team!  Leave a comment below, or track me down on twitter @Adam_McLaughlin