Transcript Best Practices - Mayflower Church

Best Practices for
Engaging with Others
Tools for Living your Purpose
Objectives
 Provide information and tools that help
you create an optimal environment for
your group to thrive, including:
 Ways to ensure healthy communication and
optimal collaboration
 Methods to build your community and optimize
the time you spend together
 Guidelines for practices to help your group stay
healthy over time
Topic 1: Healthy Communication
1. Read over your copy of Mayflower’s
Guidelines for Healthy Communication.
2. Turn to a neighbor.
3. Share the one to two guidelines that really
stand out for you. Why are they
meaningful? Ask your neighbor to do the
same.
4. We’ll ask you and your neighbor to report
out to the large group.
Methods of Communication
When you need to communicate…
For what types of communication do
you prefer email?
For what types of communication do
you think it’s best to use the phone?
For what types of communication do
you think it’s best to talk face-to-face?
Email Risks
 No guarantee people will read it on a
timely basis
 No non-verbals
 Meaning can be easily misconstrued
 It’s not confidential
 Not constructive, yet tempting to use it for
inflamed conversations
Email Use Guidelines
 Use a meaningful subject line.
 Keep your objective in mind.
 Keep it brief.
 Establish a pleasant tone.
 Attend to clarity.
 Resist using email when your emotions
are running high.
 Resist long-chain emails. Pick up the
phone or call a meeting.
Faith and Community
Building
Providing Care and Support to One Another
Exercise: One to One Discussion
 Find a partner you know less well.
 One of you will be the speaker/sharer and one of
you will be the listener.
 Each of you will have five minutes for a brief oneto-one conversation. Each person gets
uninterrupted time to talk.
 The listener in the conversation focuses on the
speaker, asks open-ended questions, and
encourages the speaker to say more. The focus
remains on the speaker until it is the other
person’s turn to talk.
 Dawn will ring a chime when it is time to switch to
the other person.
Your Starter Questions
 Tell me what is interesting and engaging
to you about the work your group is
doing.
 What in your background or personal
history makes this so for you?
Building in Care and Support for
your Group Members
 Use an icebreaker or a check-in early in your
meetings
 Have one to ones with your group members
throughout the year. Get to know one another on a
deeper basis.
 Follow up when someone doesn’t attend
unexpectedly.
 Check in on how people are doing after serious or
contentious conversations.
 What other suggestions do you have?
Brainstorm
 Your meeting pet peeves. In other words,
what can go wrong with meetings?
Guidelines for Effective Meetings
 Meet only when there is a compelling reason.
 Send background reading out ahead of time.
 Be scrupulous about start and end times.
 Take time to orient new members.
 Begin and end with a devotional.
 Use Mayflower’s Guidelines for Healthy Communication.
 Keep meeting time to 90 minutes max.
 Use agendas.
 Determine a note taker. Summarize discussion and record
actions and decisions.
 Discuss and adopt ground rules.
 Be sure you address how decisions will be made and what you
will do when you cannot reach consensus.
Facilitating the Meeting
 Stick to the agenda and keep the conversation on
track.
 Attend to the process as well as the content.
 Paraphrase and summarize important statements
and group decisions.
 Manage monopolizers.
 Invite quieter people to share.
 Use the round robin when it’s important to hear each
voice
 Use your ground rules and the healthy
communication guidelines as an anchor when
conversations become serious.
 Consider pausing and reflecting if things get
contentious.
Case Studies of Challenging
Situations
 With your small group, read each case
study.
 What would you do in each situation?
 Your note taker and reporter is the person
who lives closest to church.
 Be prepared to share your responses with
the larger group.
Group Practices to Ensure Longterm Health
 Use a term limit of three years. Group
members may return after a one-year
sabbatical.
 Review your Ministry Plan with your
Leadership Team liaison on an annual
basis.
 Periodically partner with MRCE to garner
feedback on your group’s continuing
relevance and effectiveness.