Ward Council/PEC/Welfare outline/flow

I'm a ward clerk and have been attending these meetings for a couple of years now. We had a lengthy discussion today about improving the usefulness of these meetings.

I've seen some agenda templates - most are 'round robin' style. We found this to be less effective at generating action outside the meeting. It was mostly reports and calendar items...not things that prompt discussion, counsel, and action.

Is anyone using an outline or specific format for these meetings that focuses on generating action outside the meeting? Or is this more a case of how the meeting is administered regardless of format?

Namodanrot wrote:I'm a ward clerk and have been attending these meetings for a couple of years now. We had a lengthy discussion today about improving the usefulness of these meetings.

I've seen some agenda templates - most are 'round robin' style. We found this to be less effective at generating action outside the meeting. It was mostly reports and calendar items...not things that prompt discussion, counsel, and action.

Is anyone using an outline or specific format for these meetings that focuses on generating action outside the meeting? Or is this more a case of how the meeting is administered regardless of format?

I used to instruct my exec sec/clerk to keep a separate sheet of the actions created during the meetings and use that sheet for the following meetings (and in-between meetings) to follow up on the actions with the relevant people. It took 1-2 months before I felt it made a real difference but after that everyone came really focussed and prepared.

In the end we had minutes on one page (those items that prompted an action was marked in red) and then the action list on page 2.

Thanks for the input! We actually came up with a new agenda and meeting flow that seems to be working well. We've incorporated several principles from the book Counseling with our Councils to facilitate more open discussion and less correlation, calendaring, and information exchange.

Here's copy of our template: http://docs.google.com/View?id=dd5cs9zp_80c37shchc

At the beginning of the meeting, we go back to last week's notes and review the Service Plans and note if they are completed or still In Progress. We discuss the results and add new Service Plans if necessary. Any In Progress Service Plans get moved to the top of the agenda and will roll over from week to week. They are dated, so it's easy to tell if a plan just isn't going to happen.

By the end of this review, it looks like this: http://docs.google.com/View?id=dd5cs9zp_85csdh96f6

The current week always starts out blank like the template. During the week at Bishopric, we include any information items that we want to distribute to the Ward Council. These are not discussed during the meeting and are purely informational. We'll also add any 'Counsel' topics for discussion, but the goal is to have most of the discussion driven by the Ward Council.

Each Counsel item has a Service Plan tied to it. This way, we get away from talking about the same issue over and over and nothing ever being done.

During the meeting, it ends up looking like this: http://docs.google.com/View?id=dd5cs9zp_84gs75cchc

So far, this has given us more time in the meetings to discuss details, brainstorm, and form plans rather than just exchange information.

Open to any other feedback or ideas anyone may have....

I noticed that you used the old three-fold mission of the Church as the basis for the template. Have you considered adding the new fourth mission of caring for the poor and the needy?

jdlessley wrote:I noticed that you used the old three-fold mission of the Church as the basis for the template. Have you considered adding the new fourth mission of caring for the poor and the needy?

I have heard about this "fourth mission", but the last I saw was an item at the Church Newsroom that there were still only three missions. Do you have something more official about this? We are trying to squelch this rumor as quickly as we can. (And sorry, I searched the Newsroom just last week and cannot find the item.)

We will stop squelching if it really is official.

PS. We have nothing at all against caring for the poor and the needy. We do is all the time as part of the Perfecting the Saints mission of the Church.

lajackson wrote:I have heard about this "fourth mission", but the last I saw was an item at the Church Newsroom that there were still only three missions. Do you have something more official about this? We are trying to squelch this rumor as quickly as we can. (And sorry, I searched the Newsroom just last week and cannot find the item.)

We will stop squelching if it really is official.

PS. We have nothing at all against caring for the poor and the needy. We do is all the time as part of the Perfecting the Saints mission of the Church.

This could almost be considered official, if you can trust the Salt Lake Tribune reporter to be relaying the information correctly that apparently a "church spokesman [name not important] confirmed this week" (back in December). The article also reports that it will be in the next version of the CHI as "purposes" instead of "missions". Here is the article:

http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_13965607

I will say this, though...we've seen a major newspaper article get it's facts from LDSTech really messed up in the past, as some of you long-time, involved community members might recall.

mkmurray wrote:This could almost be considered official, . . .

Ok. I read that article. I know both the reporter and the Church spokesman.

Glad to know when the next edition of the CHI is coming out (will that include Book 2?). [grin]

And when it does, we will make the switch. For now, there are still three missions of the Church.

The CHI itself or a letter from the First Presidency will work nicely when the time comes.

lajackson wrote:I have heard about this "fourth mission", but the last I saw was an item at the Church Newsroom that there were still only three missions. Do you have something more official about this?

We had a letter read from the pulpit on a Sunday a few weeks ago with this announcement. I will try to get the details of that letter from my bishop or our stake president.

lajackson wrote:Do you have something more official about this?

I asked my stake president where the information came from. He said "Our Area Seventy [Jay E Jensen] reported this to the 6 stake presidents in our [the stake presidents'] most recent training." He further explained that the mission of the Church would become the purpose of the Church in which the fourth purpose, to care for the poor and the needy, was added. My stake president referenced an article in the Deseret Newsin which Bishop Edgley discussed the topic but did not confirm it directly. My stake president suspects we will know definitely at general conference.

This is as official as we have it in our area. We are, and have been, proceeding on with that information as well as the revised Leadership Training Emphasis, December 10, 2009, provided under cover of a letter from the First Presidency dated December 15, 2009. Neither the letter nor the Leadership Training Emphasis announce the change in the mission of the Church. But the emphasis for all members includes "assist the poor and the needy in the Lord's way."

This thread is a perfect example of what happens in a lot of ward council meetings.
The conversation starts with one point (outline for improving meetings) and ends up completely somewhere else (Welfare article).
In the end nothing is resolved and little accomplished.
An outline is a great guide to have an action items recorded is essential.
The action item needs to have a report date.
Coupled with a good outline is a reliable facilitator for the meeting.
Generally this is the Bishop but if this is not his strength perhaps one of his councillors.
A good facilitator can guide a meetings discussions and help members stay on topic.
I have been in meetings where their are two or three conversations going on in the same room. This can be very messy and unproductive.

The outline in my opinion should be Family Focused rather than the 4 fold mission of the church.
If families are discussed and actions for spiritual or temporal needs set in place the mission of the church will be accomplished.

This thread is quite old. A lot has transpired since the last post in March 2010 in regards to how these councils should be conducted. Note I am intentionally leaving out the word 'meetings' as Elder Bednar has counseled in the Worldwide Leadership Training Meeting November 2010. Following that was the Worldwide Leadership Training Meeting February 2011. Both of which addressed councils. Of course there is also the new Handbook 2, 3.2.2 and ch 4, that provides the guidance for these councils. And since those leadership meetings there has been added an excellentLeadership Training Library on LDS.org in which there is a Participate in Councils section with two brief videos about councils.

While they do not address preparing a council outline specifically, they may help inspire leaders as to how to prepare, conduct an participate in a council. The outline will follow as a result of inspired preparation.