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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26Apr 2010 by Nigel Ring

Effective Meetings pt 2 – Characteristics of a meeting

Administration in the Church, Equipping, Good Practice, Meetings
I am involved in many different types of meeting. Not all have the same structure or importance but listing them may give you a point of identity from your own scene, so I will discuss them briefly in the next blog. First, however, all need to have certain characteristics or questions answered. Characteristics 1. What is the purpose? 2. What are the expected outcomes? 3. What is the status e.g. does it have a legal standing as part of the management of the church/charity? Purpose This defines the structure on which to hang topics to be handled. So, the purpose of one group could be ‘to govern the church’ (i.e. elders’ meetings), ‘to organise a conference’ (e.g. the annual Newfrontiers conference ‘Together on a Mission’) or ‘to manage and strategise for the family…
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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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25Mar 2010 by Nigel Ring

Time Management pt 12 – Progressing the Do it list 2

Administration in the Church, Christian ministry, Equipping, Good Practice, Planning, Time Management
The symbols we use to monitor progress are During the planning process: * Urgent [J] Delegate (e.g. to Jan) ( ) Reference For Monitoring progress: ^ In Process / Completed > Transferred x Dropped Symbols used in the planning/prioritising process In the last post we saw that * highlights urgency. This is used at the time of planning the day’s priorities, as is the delegation symbol [J], where the initial refers to the person to whom the activity will be delegated, in this case my excellent and efficient secretary, Jan. How does this operate? If, while planning, I find an item on my Do it list that can be delegated, particularly if this allows it to be done sooner than if I undertook it myself, I will bracket the initial of the person concerned. The priority still…
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