The Dreaded Staff Meeting

Staff meetings are the bane of existence for more than a few nonprofit executive directors. They occupy precious calendar time, and too often we walk away wondering what we actually accomplished.

But staff meetings can also serve as useful mileposts for self-reflection. If these gatherings aren’t working, it’s worth asking whether we’re part of the problem. Are we dominating the conversation? Not participating enough? The honest answer matters.

One of the better books on organizational management is Traction by Gino Wickman, which introduces the Entrepreneurial Operating System. While it’s written for the for-profit world, I’ve found meaningful portions of it applicable to nonprofit leadership.

One section focuses on what Wickman calls the “Level Ten” meeting — a structured agenda covering performance data, goals and objectives, customer feedback, to-do lists, and problem-solving. When I tried to apply it at my own organization, it consistently broke down. Conversations would devolve into debates about why we measured certain things or whether our goals were even the right ones. It became more frustrating than productive.

Our staff meetings still run thirty to forty minutes, but the agenda is now just three lines.

Line 1: Opening Prayers
We are a faith-based organization, and this matters. It focuses us and prepares us for the meeting ahead.

Line 2: Things We Can Celebrate
This is the highlight of every meeting. I always open by recognizing good work and calling out team members who went above and beyond. What I’ve learned is that success is infectious — once I start, others naturally join in, pointing out positive contributions and sharing how the people we serve have expressed appreciation. It sets a powerful tone.

Line 3: Challenges I Can Help Solve
I ask our team to share the problems they’re encountering, always framing it around why the issue matters to the team — then I open it up for the group to solve together. Maybe someone is struggling with the logistics of getting food pantry products from one location to another and we need to reschedule a van. Getting these challenges out in the open, where everyone has a chance to own a solution, builds genuine trust and camaraderie.

I always speak last in this section, for two reasons. First, if I’ve noticed a problem, there’s a good chance others have too — and I want to draw that awareness out of my team. I want them to grow confident not just in identifying problems, but in relying on each other to solve them.

Second, I’ve learned that my problems aren’t automatically the most pressing ones facing the organization. The issues that matter most are usually the ones felt on the front lines. Giving frontline team members the time and space to identify, discuss, and solve those problems means far more to them than a top-down lecture from me.

Our meeting doesn’t follow Wickman’s Level Ten format, but it remains highly effective. In a looser way, we’re still covering goals, customer needs, strategic priorities, action items, and issues to resolve — just in a way that naturally draws the team out rather than working through a rigid checklist.

Perhaps the real secret is the agenda itself. With only three items, you might assume there’s nothing to hold the meeting together. But there’s actually a practical structure underneath it. Each printed agenda has two columns with writing lines — one for Things We Can Celebrate and one for Challenges I Can Help Solve. Team members write notes in those columns before and during the meeting, which helps them reflect on what they want to share.

For me, it also doubles as a complete meeting record. I file the sheet away and have a running log of what was discussed — a surprisingly handy reference when I need it later.

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Bill