Christian Business Concepts
Christian Business Concepts
Go From Unproductive To Productive Meetings By Following These Tips
We would love to hear from you. Send us a text message now by clicking HERE!
Have you ever sat through a meeting wondering why you were even there? You're not alone. The average professional spends countless hours in unproductive meetings that drain energy, waste resources, and lead to mediocre outcomes.
As believers in business, we're called to a higher standard. This episode dives deep into how biblical principles can revolutionize your approach to meetings, transforming them from necessary evils into powerful tools for organizational success and spiritual growth.
Drawing from scripture and practical business wisdom, Harold Milby unpacks how servant leadership, good stewardship, and godly excellence apply directly to meeting management. You'll discover why Patrick Lencioni was right when he said, "Bad meetings almost always lead to bad decisions, which is the best recipe for mediocrity"—and how to ensure your meetings produce the opposite result.
The episode explores specific strategies including: defining clear objectives, creating structured agendas, inviting only essential participants, facilitating active engagement, making decisions with accountability, and following up effectively. Each step is grounded in biblical wisdom from passages like Colossians 3:23-24, Proverbs 15:22, and Matthew 20:26.
For Christian business owners, the episode also addresses how to appropriately incorporate prayer and spiritual elements while respecting legal boundaries and team members who may not share your faith. This balanced approach allows meetings to become ministry opportunities without creating discomfort.
Whether you lead a department, manage a team, or run a company, these principles will help you honor God's gift of time while advancing your organization's mission. Transform your meetings from energy-draining obligations into purposeful gatherings that reflect Christ's love and wisdom in action.
Share this episode with other business leaders you know who might be struggling with meeting effectiveness. Together, we can build a community of professionals who honor God through excellence in every aspect of business.
Welcome to the Christian Business Concepts with your host, harold Milby. Christian Business Concepts is dedicated to guiding companies and business owners in becoming effective, efficient and successful through God's Word and godly principles. Now, here's your host, harold Milby.
Speaker 2:Thanks, kelly, and thanks to all of you that have decided to download this week's Christian Business Podcast. I'm your host, harold Milby, and each week we discuss biblical business principles and how they apply to your business or maybe your organization or department. Our vision here at CBC is to help you find truly godly success, or true godly success, by applying these biblical principles that we talk about. You know it's my desire today that you'll be enlightened, encouraged and empowered by what we talk about today. Now would you be so kind as just to share this podcast with four or five other people and maybe post the link to this podcast on your Facebook or your LinkedIn page? You know we need your help. We want you to help us grow the CBC family so that we can help others, and we have such a desire to help businesses around the world, and we're so thankful for all the different countries that tune in and download the podcast every week. And this week I just want to give a big shout out to the country of Kenya. You know Kenya is new to Christian Business Concepts, so we're excited about having Kenya on board. So thank you to those of you in the country of Kenya, and I also want to say and give a big shout out to the city of Houston, texas, right here in the United States, for having so many downloads. So thank you both and thank you for making us a part of your personal growth strategy. That's so important to us, and we hope that this podcast helps you to grow as a person. That's important to us.
Speaker 2:Now in the company spotlight today, I want to talk about a company called Worldwide Technology. They're in St Louis, missouri. David Stewart started this information technology company in 1990 and now has over $11 billion in annual revenue. That's right, billion with a B. But yet that's not his greatest accomplishment. You know, david, when he started the business had such a heart of a servant leader and felt we were all put on this earth to serve other people. Now he wrote a book called Doing Business by the Good Book and he calls serving his employees his biggest job as CEO and owner. Consequently, worldwide Technology offers one of the best benefit packages in the world and he's also worked hard at creating a culture where employees are just very valued, and he takes the time to even sign cards for employees' birthdays and at Christmas. And worldwide technology they make Forbes top 100 lists for being the best place to work year after year, and you know he calls it golden rule leadership, and what he's saying is you know you treat others the way that you want to be treated and that's how he operates as a leader. In his book that we just talked about a minute ago, he mentions 52 biblical principles that he has applied at Worldwide Technologies, and David is a great example of godly success and a godly leader, and we thank Worldwide Technologies for being that example to all of us. Keep up the good work. We really appreciate you guys there.
Speaker 2:So I'm sure all of you have been in a meeting where you felt like number one. You weren't needed. You didn't need to be in the meeting, or it was boring or it didn't have any focus and it was just not overall, it wasn't productive. And I worked for a company where 20% literally 20% of my time 20% of my time was in meetings, was in meetings and they lacked agenda, they lacked purpose, they lacked having the right people in the meeting.
Speaker 2:But as Christian business leaders, you know we're called to be stewards, so that means that we're called to be good stewards of our time and our resources, our relationships. We're supposed to be wise about that. We're supposed to reflect God's kingdom and even our professional lives. And meetings are really a key part of business. It's a key part of operations. But a lot of times, you know meetings are just unproductive. You know they're just draining. They're just draining and they don't only drain us of energy, but even resources sometimes. You know so having good, productive meetings is so important.
Speaker 2:You know, patrick Lencioni said this. He said bad meetings almost always lead to bad decisions, which is the best recipe for mediocrity. And I think that's true. I think that's true in every business, every organization. You know, if you have a bad meeting that leads to bad decisions, you know, as Colossians 3, 23 and 24 reminds us, that whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord, not for human masters. It is the Lord, jesus Christ, you are serving. So we need to approach meetings as an opportunity, an opportunity to show excellence, an opportunity to really be productive and really kind of an opportunity to serve God through excellence and through servant leadership.
Speaker 2:And you know the Bible's got a lot to say about meetings. You know there's great examples throughout the Word about meetings that took place and they were very important meetings. But you know, proverbs 15.22 says Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisors they succeed. So meetings can be very productive. They can be. It doesn't mean that they all are because, like I said, we all know meetings that are not. But you know we think about getting input from people, getting input from others, so that we can prepare for that meeting and be very thoughtful about preparing.
Speaker 2:You know the Bible says Ephesians 5, 15, and 16, it says but be very careful then how you live, not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity. You know we've got to value everybody's time. You know we all have 24 hours in a day and that's all we have. We don't have less than that, we don't have more than that. We have 24 hours. So it's important that we be a good steward of our time. And Ephesians 4 and 3 says make every effort to keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace. So we need to have unity and respect, you know, during these meetings and we've got to encourage participation, and so that's important.
Speaker 2:Another passage in Matthew, chapter 20, verses 26,. It says whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant. So servant leadership is important and so you need to lead meetings that empowers other people. We're not leading a meeting to try to dominate. That's not what we're trying to do. We should be leading meetings to empower other people. And Proverbs 16 and 3 says commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans. So we need to make sure that we have dependence on prayer. We need to be dependent upon prayer, connecting with God, getting his mind, getting his direction. We need to be able to do that, especially when we do these meetings. So when we weave in and out these principles that we're going to talk about today, I think your meetings are going to be much more effective and much more powerful.
Speaker 2:So what do we need to do? First, I think you've got to prepare for the meeting. So it's got to be intentional. You've got to intentionally prepare for the meeting. You know poor planning, it just absolutely wastes time and it really dishonors your team. So you definitely want to prepare. And how do you do that? Well, first of all, you should define very clear objectives. You know what is the purpose. Is it going to be decision making or is it brainstorming or just getting updates? But you need to know what the purpose of the meeting is what are the clear objectives of this meeting?
Speaker 2:You know Steve Maraboli said it's a lack of clarity that creates chaos and frustration. Those emotions are poison to any living goal. So it's important that we understand that we've got to provide clear objectives. You know, in Nehemiah, chapter 2 and verses 17 and 18, you know Nehemiah, he sets a vision for the meeting. You know he sets that a very, very clear vision for what he's trying to accomplish. And you've heard me talk about Nehemiah when I talk about vision, and vision is so important, and you should follow the vision, the overall vision that you have, even in your meetings. Now let me give you just a little tip, though Make sure that you limit your objectives in any given meeting to three to five at the most, and that's just to help you stay focused. You know I try to stay at three, three objectives at the most for any given meeting.
Speaker 2:Now the next thing that you should do to prepare is create some type of a structured agenda. You embarking on a cross-country road trip without a map or no GPS, and you could be wandering around, you're going to be wasting fuel, you're going to miss your destination entirely. So a meeting is like a roadmap, a meeting agenda. I should say it's like a roadmap. It's guiding the team through the discussion with clear mile markers. We'll say these are the topics and your estimated times, and we'll consider that to be like a pit stop when you're on a long journey, a long trip, and then there's the final destination and that's your objective. So without it, without this map, without it, your conversations are going to veer. Off course, you're going to waste a lot of time and energy.
Speaker 2:You know, just as Proverbs 16 and 3 urges us to commit our plans to the Lord for success, a very well-planned agenda will help us and ensure that our meetings stay very purposeful and then honor God's gift of time Because, like I said, we've got 24 hours in a day. You can't stretch it, you can't manage it and get more. It's 24 hours in a day. It's coming whether you like it or not, 24 hours in a day. So you want to have a really clear agenda, include your time allocations, who's going to be responsible for this portion of the meeting. And then you need to make sure you send this out at least a day or two days in advance, before the meeting, so other people can get prepared.
Speaker 2:So you know, an example agenda may be something like if you're going to pray, if you pray in your meetings, at work or in your organizations, then you would say opening prayer, okay, that'd be your first five minutes and then review the objectives. What are they? Okay, so you allow two minutes for that. And then you've got topic number one and you give 15 minutes to that and you put who it's going to be led by. And then topic number two what is its description? You're going to give 20 minutes for that one and it's going to be led by somebody else. And then you want to have action items reviewed. So as you look at topic one, topic two hopefully you have action items that come from that and so you want to review those action items one last time before you dismiss the meeting. Allow yourself 10 minutes for that one. So this just gives you an idea of a template.
Speaker 2:It could be something that you come up with, but what you want to do is make sure that you have an agenda template and you set time limits and you put down who's going to lead those, and people who come into those meetings that are going to lead a specific topic need to understand what the time limits are and they need to stay within those parameters. So then, after that, you've got to invite the right people. So you've got to make sure that you only include those people that are essential to the objectives, and you've got to respect that time. You know, the Bible says in Psalms 90 and 12, it says teach us to number our days. We've got to make sure that we're not wasting time for other people, so you may have to consider virtual options. Maybe they can't all come in the same room. That's another thing that just came to my head.
Speaker 2:You've got to think about virtual options for your meetings and then make sure that you have all the necessary materials. As you're preparing, you know, make sure you get the right reports, the right tools, and you know you've got to have all that gathered together. And then you've got to set the environment. You've got to choose a really good space, whether it be for virtual meetings or what have you. You should test the technology that you're going to be using, whether it's a laptop for a PowerPoint or whatever it is. You want to get there in time to make sure that you get all that set up and you're not wasting time. And so you've got to do that.
Speaker 2:So now it comes to you prepared. Now you've got to conduct the meeting itself. So how do you do that? What's the best way? Because, again, we're talking about having an effective meeting, not an ineffective meeting. We want it to be effective, we want it to be productive, you know, and bring forth fruit right. So you've got to make sure that you do that specifically, and there's some principles here I can give you. So, first of all, start on time. Please Begin promptly. That honors everybody and everybody's commitment.
Speaker 2:Again, if you're going to open in prayer, open in prayer, and then you want to make sure, if you're the one leading the meeting, you want to make sure that you facilitate that meeting, but very actively do that. In other words, stick to the agenda. Off-topic conversations, redirect it, get back on topic. I can remember being in a meeting and multiple times, not just one time and then there'd be two people in the meeting that had 10 people in the meeting, and these two people would begin discussing a topic that really should have been discussed at another time, just between them, and we were all there just kind of shaking our heads like why are we here? These two people should be having a meeting that has nothing to do with us. So stick to the agenda and you want to make sure that you encourage participation. You know, if you got some people who just don't ever give input during a meetingourage those people, you know, for their input Because you want to create unity.
Speaker 2:You know Henry Ford said coming together is the beginning, keeping together is progress, working together is success, and I love that quote. I use it frequently, but that's a great quote from Henry Ford. So also use time checks. In other words, if somebody's making a presentation, you can say, or if you're in the middle of a conversation, you can say hey, look, we got 10 minutes left for this topic. It's so that people understand hey, stop getting off on rabbit trails, stay focused.
Speaker 2:And then next what you want to do is you want to promote this very kind of a healthy, healthy dialogue. You know you want to be very active in your listening. You want to, you want to welcome a lot of different perspectives, you know, and you want to listen to those people very attentively. You know Proverbs 18, 13 says to answer before listening. Yeah, that is folly and shame, and so we need to make sure that we're listening and then make sure, if you have conflicts in that meeting. Make sure you handle those conflicts. Handle them biblically, but make sure you handle them. And so you've got to make sure that you do that.
Speaker 2:And then you've got to make decisions and assign actions. You know, summarize a lot of the key points or maybe some of the decisions that were made and then kind of go over again about those decisions that were made and then assign some actions to certain people that they've got to get done. You know, brian Tracy said that decisiveness is a characteristic of high performing men and women. Almost any decision is better than no decision at all. So you've got to make sure that you've made some decisions during this meeting. There's nothing worse than having a meeting and not coming away with anything that's going to change or anything that's supposed to be done. So make sure that you have your key points and the decisions and the decisions. And then you assign those clear action items with people and make sure you know what the deadlines are. For example, oh, john, he's going to research our vendors by Friday. Okay, so you've got a time on there, you know who it is and you know what he's assigned to do.
Speaker 2:So make sure that you do that and then make sure that you end on time, because a lot of people they've already gotten plans and made plans for the day after the meeting. So if you don't end on time, it throws their schedule off. Please be aware of that. You know Jeff Weiner. He's a former CEO of LinkedIn. He said meetings should only last as long as it takes to get the business done. So and that's it. You get business done, you get done, get out of that meeting. You're done.
Speaker 2:So then close it with prayer. If you pray, like I said, thank God for his guidance and then you know, recap, recap what you talked about right before that. You pray, recap, recap what you talked about right before that. You pray and make sure that you all are comfortable with what the next steps are, and then you need to follow up. Follow up after the meeting. So maybe you want to send the minutes of that meeting. Make sure that you track the progress, follow up on any kind of action items, either by email or whatever tools that you like for sharing documents or whatever.
Speaker 2:But you've got to make sure that you hold everybody accountable. People have to be held accountable if they are assigned an action item. Make sure that they understand that and then begin to evaluate and improve. You know, get some feedback. What worked well, what didn't work well, you know, look at your own self and just kind of reflect. You know, personally, you know how did this meeting go, how well was this meeting handled, how well did people walk away from this meeting and know what was assigned and to who, and I think that's important.
Speaker 2:So let me give you some quick do's and don'ts. So do set and respect time limits. We talked about that. Do encourage inclusivity. So make sure that you're inclusive, right, value everybody's voice and make sure that you do that. And then do focus on solutions. Okay, so, yeah, you may have challenges. You're talking about those, you're dealing with those, but let's focus on the solutions, not the problem.
Speaker 2:Document everything. Do document everything that's important. It keeps transparency there, there's accountability there. But make sure that you document everything that's important. It keeps transparency there, there's accountability there. But make sure that you document everything and then lead with a servant's heart. Put other people's needs first, try to do that to the best of your ability, but be a servant leader.
Speaker 2:Now, what are the don'ts? Well, first of all, don't multitask. In other words, don't be looking at your phone, looking at emails at the same time you're in this meeting. Make sure you give your full attention. Give your full attention in the meeting. Don't allow domination, in other words, don't allow any one person to take over the meeting and talk all the time. Don't ignore conflicts. If there's conflicts, you got to address them, you got to deal with them, and right away. Um, don't skip your preparation. That's so important. Don't skip your preparation. Don't forget your follow-up, that's important. And uh, don't, uh, you know, don't neglect spiritual integration either. You know meetings are ministry opportunities. If you own the business and you're a Christian leader, you have a great opportunity to have ministry opportunities within that meeting.
Speaker 2:Now again, you can be a Christian business owner and you can pray in meetings, but you can't force people to participate in anything that's a spiritual exercise, whether it be prayer, whether it be Bible reading or whatever. You can't force them legally. Can you do it legally? Yes, you can, absolutely. You have a right and that is protected under the Civil Rights Act, and so you do have certain rights. So make sure that you let those people know. If you have people that may not want to be a part of it, say, look, we're going to open the meeting in prayer. If you want to step outside while we do that, Phil, you're more than welcome to. Or if you want to, you can sit in here silently. So whatever you feel comfortable with, you're not forced to be in here while we pray, and you do the same thing at the end of the meeting.
Speaker 2:So I think those things are important for us to understand, you know, because, as Christian business leaders, productive meetings are more than efficiency. They're bigger than that. They're really a platform to demonstrate Christ's love, his wisdom, his leadership, and when you apply these principles today that we've been talking about, I believe that you'll not only boost business outcomes, but also you'll inspire your team towards some really godly excellence. So commit to continual improvement with regards to having effective meetings within your organization. Pray for God's guidance and his wisdom in every meeting that you have prior to that meeting. Uh, it's so important because meetings are such an integral part of business growth, business development. Um, uh, it's so important. But we just need to have productive meetings.
Speaker 2:And I'll tell you, sometimes you're better to have more frequent, shorter meetings than you are to have a big span of time between meetings, because then you're forced to cover so much in one big meeting and it's very discouraging. So much in one big meeting, it is very discouraging. So, what you want to do, you're better off to have multiple meetings for these things let's say that it lasts only 45 minutes than to have a three-hour meeting that you have once a month. So have more frequent meetings. They can be shorter, but have them more. You know more frequently sometimes.
Speaker 2:But don't get me wrong, I'm not big on having meeting after meeting after meeting after meeting. I think it's important that we meet, especially for brainstorming. I think it's important to meet for the direction of certain departments or certain things. You know there's some positive reasons why you need to have a meeting, but I am definitely not into having so many meetings that you can't get anything done. So you need to be very careful, make sure that you limit the number of meetings that you have, make sure you invite the right people so that they don't feel you know that they're wasting their time. That's very discouraging and just make sure that you follow these principles that we talked about today.
Speaker 2:All right, lord, we thank you for helping us understand the importance of having productive and very purposeful meetings. Lord, we're to be good stewards of our time and other people's times that work with us, work for us. Lord, help us to apply these principles in our businesses, in our departments and even in our personal lives. Lord, we thank you for that. Help us to be good stewards, lord, even of our time and others, and Lord, we thank you for that. We praise you for it In Jesus' name, amen.
Speaker 2:Well, thanks to everyone who has listened to today's podcast, today's Christian Business Concepts podcast, and make sure that you tell others, you share with others, about Christian Business Concepts and the podcast. And if there's any way that we can be a blessing to you, reach out to us. We're here. We want to help. We want to be a part of Christian businesses around the world. Well, it looks like we're out to us. We're here. We want to help. We want to be a part of Christian businesses around the world. Well, it looks like we're out of time. So until next week. Remember that Jesus is Lord and he wants you blessed.
Speaker 1:Thank you for tuning into this week's Christian Business Concepts podcast. Go to ChristianBusinessConceptscom for more information and resources. Be sure to check out other podcasts that will help you take your business and your personal life to a whole new level of success.