Even though today is the first day of school for a lot of moms and I would much rather blog about sending my daughter off for her last year of high school, I’m determined to follow my idea of writing on specific topics on specific days. With that in mind, let’s venture into today’s “Thursday Tasks” which will focus on developing your leadership skills as a woman.

If you’re like me, I spend a lot of time in meetings. Some meetings I’m asked to attend and some I’m asked to lead. More often than not, I come away with a sense of dissatisfaction and a feeling of wasted time. (just to clarify–I feel that way when I attend meetings, not lead meetings. You can insert a smile of saracasm.)

So, how can you plan meetings that don’t kill your leadership influence? Here are some practical tips I’ve learned through the years and I hope it will help you become a better meeting planner.

1. Take a hard look at past meetings and assess their effectiveness. Do people dread your meetings? Do people feel they can express their opinions and ideas? Are you talking “to” the attendees or “with” the attendees? Are people disengaged during your meetings i.e. playing on their phone or laptop? If the answer is “yes”, then you’re ready to make some changes.

2. Be prepared and purposeful. When I show up at a meeting and there’s no written agenda, I’m instantly disengaged. Why? Because the leader didn’t take the time to strategically think about the outcome of the meeting. I’ve attended several meetings this summer led by men who lead churches. I’ve been blown away by the lack of thought in their preparation. There was no agenda, no resources provided and no strategy. I can honestly say I’ve wasted hours hearing people chase rabbits and by the end of the meetings (which have been several hours), I’ve concluded that nothing was accomplished. If you’re planning a meeting, please have an agenda,  refreshments and let your attendees know that their time is valuable and appreciated.

3. Start on time and end on time. Really, people do have other things to do. If you set a pattern for starting late, you can be sure that people will catch on quickly and will never show up on time. But if you begin on time and they are late, they learn a quick lesson on the importance of timeliness. Same with ending the meeting. If people have more things to discuss, dismiss those who need to go and spend one-on-one time with those who have additional questions or things they need to say.

4. Allow for interaction, but keep the meeting focused. If you sense that people are “chasing rabbits”, gently re-direct the conversation to the agenda and keep them on task. Don’t ignore conflict. Address it and discuss it. If the conflict is personal, ask the individual to meet with you personally following the meeting.

5. Mix up the meetings. Are your meetings typically the same with just different agenda items? Is the environment always the same? Try something new next time. Instead of starting your meeting with prayer, find a creative way to pray during a different time. Insert a video to mix things up. Have the meeting in a different location or at least set the chairs in a different way. In a day where people are easily distracted, it’s not a bad idea to mix things up every 10 to 15 minutes.

6. Allow teamwork and collaboration to occur. Depending on the size of your meeting, divide the group into small teams and give them specific questions to address. Ask them to share their thoughts and findings with the entire group and allow for interaction. If you’re the only one talking in meetings, it’s not a meeting. It’s a lecture.

7. Allow time for fun and food. Sometimes we are just way too serious in our meetings. I’ve had women play games with balloons and play dough. I always have chocolate on the tables (a must for any women’s meeting) and I always provide some sort of meal if  the meeting lasts more than two hours.

8. Be honest and authentic with your attendees. My event teams and my leadership team will tell you that I’m brutally honest with them about the way I feel things are going. I often wonder if I share too much. But I’ve learned they often sympathize with my struggles and are willing to offer practical solutions to the problems we might be facing.

9. Prayer time. This is going to sound so unspiritual, but I must address this issue. No doubt, I believe prayer is foundational and can set the tone for your meeting. But unless prayer is the entire focus of your meeting, do not spend an enormous chunk of time in prayer. I have been in meetings where the first hour was spent praying. This would have been fine if I had known this was going to take half of the meeting time from the beginning or if it was directed with a specific plan or purpose. But if you’re spending 30 minutes sharing prayer requests and 30 minutes praying, you probably won’t spend enough time tackling the agenda. On the other hand, if you are going to allow for an extended time of prayer, create the time as an experience. Direct the prayer focus. Provide scriptures to pray. Add a prayer walk or visuals. Again, prayer is vital, but it can kill a meeting if done without purpose.

10. Finally, be the leader when you lead a meeting. Don’t let someone else lead for you. Monitor the pace of your meeting, the flow of the agenda and be mindful of how your attendees are engaged. Be mindful of how the Holy Spirit is moving and be sensitive in the way you respond.

Today is the final installment of our series on how to instill creativity into your women’s ministry. In this post, I’d like to give you some tips on being creative with a ministry idea–especially when planning an event or retreat with your women. So, without further hesitation, let’s look at six simple ways to be creative with a ministry idea.

1. Always keep your theme in mind when planning. First of all, do you have a theme? Is it based on a Bible Study or a verse? Last year, our state women’s retreat used the theme “Interrupted.” It was based on our keynote speaker’s Bible study by the same name. But, our team played off the theme in several ways. Our stage took the word and separated it in half–creating a visual interruption. Subtle, but, yes, it was well-thought out. We used a roving camera at the end of general sessions with one of our team as she “interrupted” the session. The program included thoughts from the planning team and how God had used interruptions to draw us closer to Him.

2. Think about the “look” and be consistent. Use the same artwork in several places. Incorporate the same colors in all areas, from the promotion pieces to the decorations. It should all “flow.”

3. Instill the theme verse in every area. At the retreat last year, we used Isaiah 52:7 which says, “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation.” In addition to playing off our speaker’s personal story of God instructing her to be the “bare-foot” church, we used feet in our prayer room. We brought in shoes from missionaries in East Asia to symbolize the beautiful feet of those carrying the Gospel in hard places. Wherever we could use “feet”, it worked.

4. Don’t forget to add the “fun” and the “beautiful.” This may not sound very spiritual, but sometimes we forget to have some fun with our themes. We had a blast re-creating Julia Childs in our promo video and in our rules video. Women love to laugh! And while sometimes women’s minsitry gets the reputation for being “fluff” (please don’t get me started on this), women do like beautiful things. They like details and they like to be pampered. And, honestly, it’s o.k. We’re girls and sometimes we just want to enjoy being feminine.

5. Shop with all of these things in mind. If you are using a certain theme or color, keep your eye out for items in stores that might match or “go” with your theme. Visit the local arts and crafts store. And if you’re planning several months in advance and want to know what colors might be available, search on the internet to find out what  will be in style for the next season. You can bet you’ll find stores with those colors. (by the way, the colors used in this post are from 2008 so they may be a little out-of-date!)

6. Be mindful of your budget. We can get carried away with our creativity, but we all have financial limits. Look for bargains, end-of-season sales (I recently had a seminar leader who used plastic eggs for her class and bought them six months in advance for 80 percent off the original cost). Look for ways to re-use items you already have purchased. (glass vases and globes can be re-used in a multitude of ways) Look in your own house for items and borrow when you can. None of us have lots of extra storage space in our church facilities and we need to be good stewards with our resources.

So, how are you going to be more creative in your ministry? We’re anxious to hear how the creative process works for you.