“Breakfast is optional, but the morning team meeting is not,” the veteran short term mission team leader told his group shortly after arriving at their mission site. He discovered early in his tenure as a leader that the daily morning meetings were critical to the overall success of his trips. The meetings helped make sure that everyone was on the same page as they began their work for the day. The larger the number of team members, the more important this is.
Here are some tips to making your daily team meetings more effective.
Be concise. Daily meetings or “briefings” should be planned and concise. In other words, stick to the point and keep them moving. Don’t let these meetings drag.
Start and end on time. Make sure everyone knows ahead of time exactly when you will be starting and where you will meet. If you have sub-team leaders, they should be recruited to make sure that everyone in their group attends.
Consider doing your meeting over breakfast. This lets you “kill two birds with one stone.”
Preview the current day plus one. Review the schedule for the day, any changes that the team needs to be aware of, and any miscellaneous items of business. Also, remind the team of the logistics for the day. Highlight the next day’s events, but don’t go beyond that. Don’t overwhelm your team with too much information, especially if isn’t needed right then.
Prayer and Worship. If the purpose of your trip is religious in nature, then you certainly want to start each day with a time of corporate prayer and worship. This really sets the right mood for the rest of the day.
Devotional or inspirational message. These don’t have to be lengthy, but they go a long way in setting people at ease and helping them focus on the importance of what they are doing.
Process the previous day. Are there some brief stories that people would like to share about their experiences from the previous day? What did the team learn that day? What was the day’s most memorable moment?
Daily team meetings can be an oasis in the midst of a busy mission trip. They keep people informed and they help team members process the trip as they go. Do you have ideas about better daily team meetings? Share them on the discussion tab of our Facebook page at Facebook.com/MinistryTravel or on the Ministry Travel Group on LinkedIn.