10May 2010 by Nigel Ring

Effective Meetings pt 4 – making an Agenda work for you

Administration in the Church, Administrative Skills, Equipping, Good Practice, Meetings, Planning
Meeting with purpose Meetings should be purposeful and all attending must be clear about the purposes. To assist with this an agenda is essential. This may sound a bit formal for some meetings but even if it is constructed on arrival due to the meeting’s spontaneity it helps focus the minds of those attending on what it is intended to accomplish. In a Newfrontiers context we would see relationship as a high priority. This can lead to an informality which, although enjoyable, may lead to an inefficient use of time. Agendas help to give direction to the meeting. Constructing an agenda An agenda is a list of items to be covered during the meeting. If provided only as a list of topics it gives only basic information. However, it can…
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04May 2010 by Nigel Ring

Effective Meetings pt 3 – Types of meeting

Administration in the Church, Administrative Skills, Conference Administration, Equipping, Meetings
In the last blog we looked at some of the core characteristics that are common to all meetings. Now we shall look at the different types of meeting. Types of meeting The types of meeting I attend fall into three categories: 1. Informal and often spontaneous 2. One in a defined series towards a particular goal 3. On-going for the purpose of conducting ‘general business’ Informal and often spontaneous These describe many of the meetings which I attend and may number just 2 people or a few more. Called to discuss a particular point they do not carry the need for agendas and minutes, about which I will say more in subsequent blogs. However, it is important that everyone knows the purpose and expected outcomes, as discussed previously. One in a series towards…
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19Apr 2010 by Nigel Ring

Effective Meetings pt 1 – Overview

Administration in the Church, Administrative Skills, Biblical Administration, Christian ministry, Equipping, Meetings
The future of Time Management I still have one more Time Management posting to make about PDAs but am not yet ready to do so. In the meantime I want to begin a new series on meetings. I hope you will find it helpful. Meetings in abundance Do you ever feel that the Lord got it wrong?! When he says he came to give life in abundance do you sometimes feel that he must have meant meetings in abundance? We all seem to attend so many! I am sure that many in leadership feel that their lives consist of attending meetings. I don’t mean worship meetings, but planning and strategy meetings, finance and administrative meetings etc. It is obviously vital that such meetings take place in order for your church…
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12Apr 2010 by Nigel Ring

Time Management pt 14 – Summary

Administration in the Church, Administrative Skills, Equipping, Good Practice, Time Management
We have now completed the detailed material I wished to share but there are two more sections I shall include. First, a summary and then a look at applying these principles on a PDA. Summary Initially I set out to share my own experience, not to give a comprehensive overview of various different time management systems. I have particularly focussed on the day-to-day management of your Organiser, being the ‘vehicle’ in which the events that fill time are planned and monitored. Time management is about ‘writing your history in advance’, making the best guess you can about what the future holds and planning to achieve that. I encouraged you to define long term goals and expectations and then to break these down into intentional activities to help you achieve them.…
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05Apr 2010 by Nigel Ring

Time Management pt 13 – Progressing the Do it list 3

Administrative Skills, Equipping, Good Practice, Planning, Time Management
Keep going! Processing the Do it list, as described below and in the previous two blogs, can appear very complicated. But it is in fact quite simple if you work your way systematically through the guidelines I am giving you. I want to urge you to persevere - it will quickly become ‘second nature’ and will redeem hours of your time to be used more effectively. So, keep going – we are nearly finished! Don’t fall just short of the finishing line!! Having looked at the symbols used when setting up the day’s Do it list we shall now look at those used to monitor progress and maintain continuity. There are two symbols in each category. Monitoring progress ^ In Process / Completed Maintaining continuity > Transferred x Dropped Monitoring progress The symbols ‘^’…
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12Mar 2010 by Nigel Ring

Time Management pt 11 – Progressing the Do it list 1

Administrative Skills, Christian ministry, Equipping, Good Practice, Planning, Time Management
Now that we have dealt with prioritising and have the Organiser organised it is time to bring practical application to your Do it list. When you write the list leave two imaginary columns on the left side – in other words indent the items. In the column nearest the list you write the priorities, A1 etc. So a list may look like this: |  |  |Phone John Smith 019234 567890 |  |  |Plan the Conference meeting agenda |  |  |Complete ministry proposal for the elders’ meeting |  |  |Brief staff about holiday arrangements |  |  |Report back to staff on trustees meeting |  |  |Monitor progress with Sally about Easter outreach |  |  |Ask Mike to set up meeting with local press officer Note the ‘2 columns’ of space beside…
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