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Ask most teachers about faculty meetings and they鈥檒l describe black holes of boring announcements, fruitless debate, and overwhelming agendas, ending in a deeply dissatisfying lack of meaningful conclusions or decisions. But what if these meetings and all the others鈥攄epartment, grade-level, professional learning community, and even special education and 504 meetings鈥攚ere focused on learning together, building community, and solving meaningful problems? What if meetings could actually inspire and engage?

What if we actually looked forward to them as a key piece of our professional self-care?

One thing you should be aware of, though: You may have staff who are very attached to elements of your current meetings that don鈥檛 seem like a big deal to you鈥攊ncluding the location鈥攕o you鈥檒l need to create buy-in for change by explicitly sharing why you鈥檙e asking for these changes.

5 Ways to Improve Meetings

1. Pick the Right Space: Be it a classroom, a conference room, the library, or the cafeteria, we have to work within the space we have. Being mindful of the choices we make鈥攁dult-size chairs, please!鈥攃an go a long way toward making sure the staff are comfortable at a meeting.

It should go without saying that the meeting room should be clean and . In addition, be intentional in the way furniture is arranged so that everyone can see everyone else without twisting around in their chairs.

Finally, consider providing food and drinks, even if it鈥檚 just simple snacks鈥攅ating together .

2. Be Clear About Your Purpose: Figure out what you want to achieve in the meeting鈥攄on鈥檛 just have a meeting because you always have one on Thursday afternoons. What do you need to do? Solve a problem? Make a decision? Discuss a new idea? Share pedagogical successes or challenges? Know your purpose and .

Once you have a clear purpose, you can more easily choose the right process, protocol, or structure for the meeting. And don鈥檛 be afraid to look outside the educational community for those tools鈥擭OAA, for example, has an on collaborative decision-making. Once you know what you鈥檙e trying to achieve, build an agenda focused on that purpose and only that purpose.

Keep the agenda brief鈥攐nly one or two topics or questions per 30 minutes of meeting time鈥攁nd share it in advance. Even better, . And be sure that all agenda items require the presence of everyone in the room. If only a subset of people are impacted by an item on the agenda, hold a separate meeting on that item with just that group.

If you鈥檙e using meetings to read announcements, stop. Anything that can be shared by email should be. Consider if you have announcements to get out: Tools like G Suite, Smore, and Flipgrid can help you share information and raise questions that the staff need to address together. Hand out a hard copy of all announcements at the end of the meeting, not the beginning, because questions and discussion will derail your agenda鈥攁nd if you can anticipate questions or discussion, that 鈥渁nnouncement鈥� is actually an agenda item.

If one of your goals is to solve a problem, consider setting up a instead of using faculty meeting time. A small group can research, discuss, and create a proposal much more efficiently than the whole team, and they can report to the larger group either in a meeting or via email or Flipgrid for feedback as needed.

3. Establish Fair, Productive Processes: Just as good classrooms are built on reliable systems and structures, a positive meeting should utilize protocols and processes that ensure all voices are heard, that no single voice dominates, and that discussion stays focused and productive. Get clear about what you expect from one another using a , and then use those expectations as a tool to reflect and grow your communication and collaboration skills together.

Think about , and use processes that build . I personally like some protocols from the School Reform Initiative for their effective, elegant approach to making sure all perspectives and voices are included. For example, if the goal of the meeting is to discuss a new idea, the can guide small-group conversations within the larger meeting that are more comfortable for quieter faculty members. Need to have a conversation about how to improve a system or plan? Try SRI鈥檚 .

Provide a paper or digital 鈥溾�� to put on hold any off-topic or emergent questions that would eat up time without being resolved鈥擯adlet is a great tool for this, but a shared Google Doc or even chart paper and sticky notes will work. Save the questions for a later meeting or for resolution by a smaller group, or respond to them on your own via email or handout.

4. Be Present: If there鈥檚 ever a time to be fully present and aware, this is it. The time you spend with your team is sacred鈥攁s is the time your team spends on their other tasks鈥攕o start on time no matter what else is going on in your professional or personal life.

Be with the people you鈥檙e with. Leave your phone in your office, and encourage your faculty to do the same. We know that just putting phones away , and you can apply that idea to your time with your colleagues. You鈥檒l all need your collective mental energy if you鈥檙e going to be fully present and responsive. Try to set aside your hoped-for outcomes and pay attention to what鈥檚 being said. You all might be surprised by what you notice.

5. Have Courage: The status quo has a powerful gravitational pull, and change鈥攅ven well-intentioned and seemingly small-scale鈥攃alls for courage. As a leader, choosing to be intentional about how you use your meetings, to limit your time to only the important issues, and to insist that everyone engage respectfully and fully requires courage.

Beyond the changes discussed here, you can also ask for recommendations. Start by asking staff if they鈥檙e satisfied with the use of the time and what, if anything, they want to preserve or change about the existing meeting structures and processes.

If you build from what they identify as successes and shortcomings, you鈥檒l get better results. Facilitating鈥攔ather than聽leading鈥攔equires a shift in the way we think about staff meetings. If done well, it raises the level of discourse, builds professional culture and community, and models the pedagogical philosophies we want to see in classrooms. How would your meetings be different if you made the shift?