Common Management Meeting Mistakes
Three mistakes derail management meetings:
- Wrong topics. When the urgent crowds out the important, it limits space for strategic discussions that drive long-term success.
- Wrong engagement. Instead of constructive discussions and decision making, meetings become information-sharing sessions.
- Ineffective process. Falling short on the agenda, prep work, and follow-through mean issues resurface again and again.
If you’ve ever walked out of a meeting thinking, “that could have been an email,” you’re not alone. According to The Bridgespan Group’s research, many nonprofit leaders report that their management meetings aren’t as effective as they should be. Instead of strategic conversations that drive impact, meetings become a mix of updates, firefighting, or discussions that don’t result in action.
That’s a problem. Leadership team meetings are some of the most expensive for your organization, both in terms of the salary dollars per hour and in terms of the opportunity cost. Unproductive meetings aren’t just a waste of time, they’re a missed opportunity for meaningful progress.
So, how do you get the most out of your management team meetings? The first step is to align on the right work for your leadership team—and then to build processes that help you make the best use of the time your team spends together. Here, you’ll find practical guidance, templates, and tools to help your leadership team transform its meetings.
Making the Most of Your Management Team Time
Align on the Right Work for Your Leadership Team
A productive leadership team meeting starts before anyone enters the room or logs onto Zoom. The first step is ensuring the leadership team is focused on the right work.
Consider two key criteria for identifying the leadership team’s work:
- Interdependence: What issues are the most interdependent? Leadership team meetings should consider issues requiring cross-functional input.
- Stakes: What issues have the highest stakes? High-impact topics—such as strategic clarity, financial sustainability, and organizational effectiveness—should take priority.
Sketch Out an Annual Meeting Calendar
Once you’ve identified critical topics for your leadership team, map them into an annual meeting calendar to prevent urgent issues from crowding out strategic discussions:
- Define organizational priorities and ensure alignment:
The CEO or Executive Director (ED) should lead in creating organizational priorities.
While the logistics can be delegated, the CEO/ED ensures alignment.
2. CEO/ED drafts a calendar of “must-have” meetings for the year:
- Include recurring meetings (e.g., weekly or bi-weekly check-ins).
- Schedule longer strategic meetings or retreats for deep dives.
- Align meetings with predictable organizational cycles (e.g., budgeting season or annual goal setting).
- The CEO/ED can then finalize the annual calendar with input from the leadership team.
With a calendar of meetings outlined, you can make sure agendas and materials are shared in advance, giving busy leadership team members enough time to prepare and participate effectively. As Bridgespan Partner Libbie Landles-Cobb has observed, “Making the implicit explicit builds shared ownership… getting things on the page empowers folks to live into things that previously lived only in the ED’s mind.”
Tip: Set your annual meeting calendar up in a shared document so leadership team members can access it and contribute. Here’s a template to get started.
Before scheduling a meeting, assess whether it’s necessary. If an update can be shared via email or a quick chat, skip the meeting or shorten it accordingly. When in doubt, ask:
- Is there a decision that needs to be made?
- Do we need real-time discussion and input from multiple people?
- Is this the best use of the leadership team’s time?
If the answer isn’t YES to all three, consider canceling or finding an alternative way to share information.
Preparing for a Successful Meeting
Effective meeting processes will help your management team make the most of their precious time together. Once you’ve mapped out the leadership team’s work on a rough annual calendar, it’s time to get on the same page about meeting preparation and follow-through.
Match Meeting Objectives to Meeting Format
Not all meetings should follow the same format. Tackling strategy, planning, and day-to-day business through the same meeting format can lead to inefficiency and frustration.
The key to better leadership team meetings (and meetings in general) isn’t just focusing on the right work—it’s aligning meetings with their purposes in formats that increase efficiency.
- Ongoing Business Meetings (Weekly or Bi-Weekly Check-Ins)
- Purpose of the meeting: Keep leadership aligned on day-to-day operations, updates, and key decisions
- Format: Short, structured agenda with clear decision points
- Time: 30-60 minutes
- Review and Planning Meetings (Monthly or Quarterly Deep Dives)
- Purpose of the meeting: Assess progress, review performance, and plan ahead
- Format: A mix of presentations, discussion, and planning
- Time: 30-60 minutes, potentially longer if reviewing complex data
- Long-Term Strategy Meetings (Annual or Semi-Annual Retreats)
- Purpose of the meeting: Align leadership on big-picture vision, organizational priorities, and long-term sustainability
- Format: Interactive sessions with brainstorming, facilitated discussion, and team building
- Time: Half-day to multi-day retreats
Consider Whether Your Meetings Should be Virtual, In-Person, or Hybrid
As remote and hybrid work continues to shape the nonprofit sector, another consideration is whether meetings should be in-person or virtual.
- In-person meetings are best for:
- Relationship building and team cohesion.
- Deep discussion on complex or sensitive topics.
- Strategy or vision-setting.
- Virtual meetings work well for:
- Routine check-ins and quick updates.
- Review meetings with data-driven discussions.
- Topics that don’t require debate or brainstorming.
- For hybrid meetings, it’s important to plan carefully and center inclusion because the format can create an unequal experience. To address this, ensure:
- Everyone can participate and contribute equally.
- A facilitator engages virtual attendees.
- Attendees are oriented to the necessary technology.
Tip: Establish norms for different meeting formats (e.g., cameras on for virtual meetings) to maximize engagement.
Assign Roles and Ownership Expectations
Every meeting should have clearly assigned roles to ensure accountability. Within each meeting, ensure that those in attendance are aware of their roles and responsibilities.
- Determine who will attend meetings based on topics and decision-making needs.
- Establish who will “own” the meeting and lead discussions.
Co-Create Meeting Agendas for Better Engagement
Effective leadership team meetings don’t just happen by chance; they’re intentionally designed. As Leticia Rhi Buckley, CEO at LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes, puts it: “Something as tactical as meeting agendas can help make everyone… see their entry point.”
Getting Started
Preparing ahead with a solid agenda can ensure your team optimizes its meetings and follows up on action items.
Download our agenda template to get started.
Once you’ve confirmed that a meeting is necessary, craft a strong agenda to ensure key topics are covered, and request that participants arrive prepared ahead of time.
- Start with a check-in question. Ice breakers aren’t just “fluffy,” they help build relationships that are critical for trust-building. According to Patrick Lencioni, author and Founder of The Table Group in Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions of a Team “When team members reveal aspects of their personal lives to their peers…they learn to get comfortable being open with them about other things… strengths, weaknesses, opinions, and ideas.”
- Frame topics as questions to encourage critical thinking.
- Clarify the purpose of each agenda item:
- Decide – A decision must be made.
- Seek Input – The team is weighing options.
- Discuss – The topic is complex and needs exploration.
If it’s unclear who owns a decision, use the RAPID decision-making tool (Recommend, Agree, Perform, Input, and Decide) to assign clear roles.
- Assign discussion leads for each agenda item and consider who should be in the room. Are key decision-makers present? Is there enough diversity of thought and representation?
- Set time limits and order topics strategically – Be realistic about the time required and structure the agenda accordingly. Don’t save the most important topics for last.
Follow Up
Follow-through ensures that meetings drive action instead of stalling progress. Use the last 5-10 minutes to confirm:
- What decisions were made?
- Who is responsible for the next steps?
- What needs to be communicated to others?
- What should be revisited in the next meeting?
Tip: Use a follow-through template to document decisions and next steps.
Conclusion
Nonprofit leadership team meetings are among the most valuable hours in an organization’s calendar. By focusing on the right work, assigning clear roles and ownership, and designing agendas with clear follow-through, you can transform meetings from time sinks into strategic engines for impact. Remember, effective leadership team meetings aren’t just about structure—they’re about inclusion. Because when leaders take the time to create clarity, it empowers everyone at the table.
Additional Resources
The Management Center’s resources and articles on check-ins and meetings.
The book Death by Meeting and digital materials Noted author and speaker on team effectiveness, Patrick Lencioni, shares his approach to meetings, including activities and templates to guide implementation.
Making Every Meeting Matter A Harvard Business Review guide that provides a variety of perspectives on making any meeting more effective.
The Meeting Advantage A web-based tool developed by The Table Group, Patrick Lencioni’s consulting firm, featuring information on cultivating organizational health through strong meetings; subscription required.
