Your monthly faculty meetings can become a dreaded occurrence at your school.
While you’re trying to get through a long agenda with many items, teachers might feel their time could be better spent on other activities.
A few tactics can help turn your meetings into an activity enjoyed by your entire team—something they come to look forward to.
See how to turn your monthly meeting into a successful event that inspires, revives, and empowers your teachers.
Tactic #1: Add professional development to every meeting. How often do you or your faculty members enjoy a wonderful professional development experience, learn something that is interesting and fitting for your school and mission—and then never share it? It’s not intentional, but the school year gets busy and there’s always a to-do list. There isn’t an easy forum to share insights with others.
Dedicate the first 15 minutes of every faculty meeting to professional development. Give your teachers the floor to report on conferences they've attended, share articles or other materials they have read, or focus on other ways they’re furthering their knowledge and insight. This can help your meeting raise the leadership level among faculty members.
Tactic #2: Prepare successfully for every meeting. A good rule of thumb is that two minutes of preparation is needed for every minute of your meeting. So, if your meeting is scheduled for 90 minutes, spend three hours preparing. Good preparation for meetings is essential to promote clarity (all the knowledge necessary for decision-making is brought to the table), good order (maintaining purpose over frustration), meaningful outcomes (rather than meeting to determine what the next meeting should be about), and accountability (the meeting leader is responsible for promoting positive change).
Set an agenda for every meeting and send it out at least 24 hours in advance. Each teacher should consider all the items to be covered, reflect on whether he or she needs to do some research, bring materials, and develop any questions or concerns.
Tactic #3: The meeting atmosphere matters. Teachers spend all day in the classroom. If you’re asking them to devote precious time to attend a meeting on top of that, make the atmosphere conducive to productivity. Consider the time of day of the meeting, provide food and drink, and pay attention to elements like lighting and comfort. These small details can make a big difference in the mood of your meeting.
It is essential that teachers and school leaders come together to talk about what’s working and what isn’t in your school. Consider these tactics to make your monthly meetings successful for every party involved.
Additional ISM Resources:
The Source for School Heads Vol. 15 No. 5 How School Heads Can Improve Meeting Efficiency
The Source for School Heads Vol. 13 No. 6 Leading the Leaders
Additional ISM resources for Gold members:
I&P Vol. 43 No. 8 Reinvent Your Whole-Faculty Meetings
