The Science of Church Meetings (including Ward Council) | An Interview with Steven Rogelberg

This is a rebroadcast. The episode originally ran in February 2020.

Dr. Steven G. Rogelberg is a professor of Organizational Science, Management, and Psychology at UNC Charlotte. The author of The Surprising Science of Meetings: How You Can Lead Your Team to Peak Performance, he is a distinguished scholar addressing issues such as team effectiveness, leadership, engagement, health and employee well-being, meetings at work, and organizational research methods.

The book is a culmination of 15 years of research and thousands of surveys and interviews. It’s a collection of evidence-based insights and represents a strategic approach that leaders and organizations can take that’s highly practical and accessible, but also strongly based in science. In this interview, Steve talks with Kurt about applying the insights from his book to improving meetings in the Church environment. This presentation of this episode was originally included in the Meetings With Saints Virtual Conference, which is now part of the Core Leader Library.

Links

The Surprising Science of Meetings: How You Can Lead Your Team to Peak Performance
StevenRogelberg.com
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Highlights

5:00 We know one thing but tend to do a different thing, but there is no formula for meeting success. Instead the key is making good choices, which is more empowering.
7:00 Steve’s experience with members of the Church
8:15 The cost of meetings is underestimated
11:00 Being self-aware as a meeting leader: stewardship and making changes
13:40 Things to reflect on that are signs that there needs to be improvement
14:30 Start with a quick survey, then work on the little things and assess later
17:00 Talking as the leader vs. leading the discussion
20:00 Transparency and honesty allows you to lead from the back or the front in a genuine way
21:10 Three phases of the meeting: planning/designing, facilitating, and post-meeting activity
21:50 Planning a meeting is not time consuming and has a high return on investment
23:45 Taking a “pre-mortem” moment before the meeting
25:00 Agendas are a hollow crutch: what matters most is what is on that agenda and how it is facilitated

• Frame the agenda as a set of questions to be answered
• Allow other people to different agenda items
• Put the most important/compelling issues first

30:10 Parkinson’s Law: Work expands to fill whatever time is allotted

• How much time should it take? Dial it back a bit and create time pressure
• Volunteer time is a precious gift: build trust by respecting it

35:00 Combating minutiae in meetings by making meeting time incredibly purposeful
38:00 Councils and update meetings

• What is a good update? Decide and then put people on the clock
• Silent updates via a shared document

41:20 Silence in a meeting is a way of engaging people
44:25 Technology in a meeting: multitasking is a symptom of a bad meeting

• Keep meeting minutes in real time on the screen instead of a powerpoint
• People focused on their phones is actually feedback

47:00 Avoiding the meeting that should have been an email

• Recording your voice with the message you want to give and sending it out
• Start the meeting with questions about the message(s) you sent out

49:30 Presentations in meetings: have the person write their ideas in a document, then discuss it in the meeting
51:30 Where to find his book and research on the science of meetings

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