Resources e-letter 21:5 - October 2021
Here is news of the latest upload to the site: Article A51, The 'To Do Diary' guide - how to use this simple tool. This is followed by a complete listing of all resources relating to church meetings.
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NEW: The ‘To Do Diary’ guide
For some years I have promoted a self-management tool which I call the ‘To Do Diary’. There is already an outline of this on my website at Training Notes TN23, How to do ‘To Do’ lists. Now I have written a more detailed explanation to help anyone use this tool effectively.
It was first devised for Ministers but applies well to all church staff and wider than this too. It combines a normal engagement diary with two different types of ‘To Do’ list, one for tasks likely to take at least 45 minutes and the other for much quicker actions of under about 30 minutes – many will take no more than five. These three are known as:
- Timed Engagements (TE)
- Main Tasks (MT)
- Quick Actions (QA).
The key point is that these are allocated to a specific diary date, unlike many people’s ‘To Do’ lists. At the end of the day you note any items not actioned and either decide they simply will not happen or move them to another page. So, at this point, nothing is outstanding – tomorrow’s list can wait for tomorrow. You can sleep in peace.
There are several other points to note such as the value of ticking items when actioned and the need to allocate ‘Pack’ and ‘Unpack’ time for all meetings and events.
Article A51, The ‘To Do Diary’ guide, is now available without charge from the Articles index page of my website.
Resources on church meetings
Here is a list of resources on the website that deal with meetings of any kind.
A5 How to chair meetings – An orchestral approach
A20 Annual meetings can be different – Ideas to experiment with
A24 Mission-shaped Church Councils – Three ways forward
A40/41 Going deeper into meetings – Planning issues, People issues
TN8 Major decisions: a new approach
TN13 A purpose statement for those who chair
TN45 Are you sure it’s minutes you need?
TN58 Beware committees
TN61 Mapping out a meeting (agendas)
TN71 Seatings for meetings
TN88 Advice to a new committee member
TN97 How to minute a meeting
TN118 Why, exactly, are we meeting?
TN125 How to take major decisions
TN128 Effective staff meetings
To print out a complete listing of all resources, scroll down to the bottom of the Resources page and download the pdf there.
Please ensure all these materials are widely promoted in your church. Thank you for your interest in my website.