When I saw you last, you mentioned the “making meetings POP” idea that you were using to have Purpose, Outcomes, Process of meetings clear.  Could you send me any links or materials you have on that? Thanks for any resources you can pass on!

That’s what my friend Erik wrote me yesterday. I thought “That’s easy. I’ll send him a link to the blog post I wrote.” But the post wasn’t on this site. I found it in the drafts section, never published. So, I’ve finished it and here it is.

I run a lot of meetings. I sit in many more. Most of my days are spent in meetings.

A successful businessman once confided to me that he would no longer attend a meeting of our organization until we moved the focus of our meetings from discussion to decision. Fortunately, they were not my meetings, but his words continue to echo through my mind frequently when I’m in meetings.

Now, there are several types of meetings. We can assemble for discussion, for fellowship, for worship, for prayer, for parties… But it’s important to be clear about the purpose of the meeting, especially a business meeting.

Meetings are not leadership. But a good meeting can be an effective tool of leadership.

So, what makes “good meeting”?

Some online definitions of good. Some of my favorites in this context are:

• effective. exerting force or influence
• most suitable or right for a particular purpose

Some online definitions of meeting:

• a formally arranged gathering
• the social act of assembling for some common purpose

I’ve found a few resources that help me assemble colleagues together so that we exert force or influence in a way that is suitable for the particular purpose.

I’ve been greatly influenced by the article Make Your Meetings POP. When I prepare for a meeting, I think POP (Purpose, Outcome(s), Process). When I send a meeting invitation to others, the invitation is organized as Purpose, Outcome(s) and sometimes Process.

When we start the meeting, we review the purpose, outcome(s), and process. For a recent meeting, this went something like “The purpose of this time together is to be updated on the partnership plans and to address our questions so that we can make a decision. Outcomes will be a go/no-go decision to move ahead with the partnership and a better understanding of the staffing and funding needs that will require. The process we’ll follow is to hear from Doug and Mike on the latest developments, to hear from Mark (our potential partner organization) about why they see this partnership as beneficial to their organization, and to decide whether to pursue putting the partnership together.”

I’ve found that going through this process personally before the meeting sharpens my focus to execute the meeting well. Going through this at the beginning of the meeting sets the tone and focus of the meeting that significantly increases the productivity of our time together.

I still have much to learn. Another article with great ideas is How to Run a Meeting Like Google. Imagine being a part of 70 meetings a week! Some yet-to-be-learned skills outlined in this article are use data to avoid politics and stick to the clock.

Another good article is Why Most Meetings still Suck by Michael Hyatt.

I’m on the journey to better meetings. What ideas, tools, and resources have you found helpful?

I read a good article today. 11 Things to Consider Before You Send the Next Email.

Recently a friend sent an email that had some hard things that needed to be communicated. Email is typically not a good place for hard things, but my friend used a very creative idea.

He started his email with: Sorry for the robust nature of this email. I’d much rather have this discussion face-to-face, but given the timely nature of this issue, I felt it couldn’t wait. Here comes the truth. I’ll stop by your desks later to give you hugs of grace.

I don’t know how others received this, but for me, it worked!

Here is a leadership idea I’ve found helpful. I facilitate a meeting twice each year for our leaders in technology from around the globe. One of the main focuses of these meetings is developing as leaders.

Our organization has adopted a leadership development framework. One of the roles of a leader is the spokesperson role.

At the conclusion of each GTL meeting, we develop talking points of our time together, developed in the language of leadership. Then each GTL member is to have a briefing meeting with their Director to talk through our GTL meeting using the talking points.

I normally write an email reminding them to meet with their Director. I include my report to my director as an example, and to show that I do what I encourage them to do.

I have found a webpage doing a very similar thing for an industry conference. I thought the conference webpage was a brilliant example of coaching conference attendees in their spokesperson role as they seek their boss’ permission. Of course, it is capitalism at work. The conference organizers aren’t really seeking to develop spokespersons as much as to get people to pay the $2300 to attend their conference! But they realize that by helping potential attendees to articulate smart outcomes from the conference, they increase the attendance, and increase their profits!

We should be doing a similar thing as we focus on the spokesperson role of those attending our meetings. Help attendees develop specific outcomes they are looking for, to communicate those with their leadership as they request permission and funding to attend.

Begin BEFORE the meeting by coaching people into developing and articulating their outcomes for the meeting, using the S.M.A.R.T. metaphor.

What do you think? What have you done to help others grow as spokespersons?

Kay and I wish you a very blessed and merry Christmas. We are in Mesquite, Texas (Dallas area). We woke up this morning to a white Christmas. We were sure surprised. Click here to see some photos…

So, have a great day celebrating Emmanuel: God with us.

I’m going in to eat breakfast with the family!

Does social media work? How can social media be harnessed for the Great Commission?

I just read an amazing story from two weeks ago.

November 9th: Jon Acuff, a copy writer in an IT department in Atlanta, explains how it began here in this original blogpost. God led him to start a project to raise $30,000 by 31 December for a kindergarten in Vietnam.

November 9th: Abraham Piper interviewed Jon as the project started here in this blog post.

November 9th (15 hours later): Jon Acuff blogs how the project has reached $24,000 on the first day.

November 10th: Jon Acuff explains how $30,000 for a kindergarten school in Vietnam was fully funded in 18 hours.

Why do so many settle for commonness?

I was reading in 1 Samuel 8 this morning and came across this thought:

“We want a king over us. Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.”

We want to be like everyone else. We want someone else to fight our battles. We want to be led.

I dug out an old poster given to me by Larry Poland in 1976. It has marked my life for many years.

I Do Not Choose to be a “Common” Christian

I cannot separate my faith in Jesus of Nazareth from my everyday life, conduct and speech.

I cannot justify loving only those who love me, aiding only my friends, and praying only for fellow Christians.

I have no desire to carry the name of the Son of God to the level of my own base intentions.

I aspire to be like Him, to live on unseen resources by faith, to tap the unlimited supply of His love through the life of His indwelling Holy Spirit, to emerge from my moral conflicts “more than a conqueror” through His power, and to rise above all earthly standards to the completeness of His perfection.

I acknowledge that this is an impossible quest but accept the challenge of its impossibility in the knowledge that its pursuit will force me to rest on Him.

I desire no little challenges, expect no unrippled seas, and abandon all personal “rights.”

My present failure to fulfill these intentions merely proves that God isn’t finished reshaping my raw materials.

What about you? Will you join me today in choosing to be uncommon?

Another MinistryNet video which focuses on some specific strategies.

Ministry Net Student Ministry Ideas from Dennis Strellman on Vimeo.

Ralph Wilson is a pioneer. We learned together, separated by 1500 miles. I was getting started in this thing we now call eMinistry or online ministry. I was launching Leadership University, Origins, stonewallrevisited.com (since discontinued), World Religions Index, Leadership University in Spanish and other sites. I was helping other organizations like Probe Ministries, Reasons to Believe, First Things Journal launch their internet presence which we hosted in exchange for sharing articles.

Ralph launched Web Marketing Today. And his ideas gave tremendous lift to my leadership growth.

My first contact was an email newsletter. I understood the technology of the internet, which my engineering background. I understood the ministry skills of online ministry, having spent 15 years in field and media ministry. Ralph helped me understand the marketing of the internet. His practical marketing insights drip with integrity and purpose. I have helped many others build strategic plans for their internet ministry presence through the Marketing + Delivery + Response = Effective Internet Presence paradigm. (Thanks to friend Rob Williams who developed the diagram above.)

I wrote Ralph earlier today:

Congratulations, Ralph, on 15 years of excellent service. You and I started together in our internet foray. We both started in the 1994/1995 timeframe. Your marketing ideas shaped my application of internet media to our gospel-based mission expressed through our websites. I’ve recommended Web Marketing Today to hundreds of others. You’ve been a good and faithful servant to so many. Well done.

Here is a composite overview of the MinistryNet conference, told by several who attended.

Ministry Net and VLM Integration from Dennis Strellman on Vimeo.

I watched the 166 MinistryNet participants leave on Saturday. 37 countries on 5 continents received back some highly motivated people with written strategic plans to implement specific steps to leverage internet communication tools in our win-build-send mission.

In an interview Friday, I was asked about this MinistryNet compared to previous ones in 2005 and 2007. I shared that each has seemed better and better. The tide of understanding the value and role of internet communication is definitely rising and lifting all the win-build-send boats. One difference this year is there is more organizational momentum in the Virtually-Led Movements area.

Another difference this year is the program team decided to intentionally “go after” organizational leaders to bring teams of people. We wanted organizational leaders who control budget and staff to engage with their teams. This approach probably would not have worked in previous years, but the tide has lifted us to another place in 2009. As one National Director told me this morning, his leadership suggested that he send 2 people to MinistryNet. But he understood that would not bring about the deep changes he knows he needs in his leadership team. The “delegate approach” doesn’t allow organizational leaders to understand the deep changes the internet is bringing in our world today. So he recruited his top leaders to come with him to MinistryNet. 8 people came with him. He said it was extremely valuable. They are returning home with specific, written plans. But more importantly, they are returning home with a team of people who understand together and committed together to the plan.

My prayer is that the world will never be the same. That the kingdom will be impacted for eternity because of our days together.