Meetings, whether held virtually or in-person, take up a lot of time and energy at your nonprofit. Some meetings are essential for aligning teams, setting priorities, and driving progress. However, many nonprofits find themselves drowning in unproductive and excessive meetings that waste time and hinder their impact. While some nonprofits have found they’ve become more efficient with meeting time since COVID has pushed more nonprofit work to happen virtually, others are finding even more waste in a world where more work is happening remotely.
To simplify the meeting chaos and ensure efficiency in a virtual world, let’s explore the three types of nonprofit meetings organizations truly need to be successful. This meeting structure tends to work particularly well for nonprofits that are aligned with our Nonprofit Impact SystemTM method, which suggests regular strategic planning, the use of OKRs and a meeting cadence to bring a nonprofit’s strategic plan to life.
A a reminder, pillars are the big picture themes around which a nonprofit’s strategic plan, marketing plan or fundraising plan is centered. Objectives are specific descriptions of the most important things you need to accomplish under each pillar, over the timeframe you are planning for. Key results are the benchmarks you can measure that track your progress toward each objective. For a refresher about how OKRs work, read this resource.
Annual Planning Meetings
Annual planning meetings set the course for the year ahead and are vital for charting an organization’s strategic direction. Here’s what should happen during these crucial sessions:
Annual Strategic Plan Review Meeting
Towards the end of each fiscal year, the CEO, leaders of each department, and the board should discuss progress from the previous year and plans for the upcoming year. Together, they should review the pillars, objectives and key results in their current strategic plan, determine whether these elements are on track, and make revisions if needed. Depending on how your nonprofit operates, you might involve other stakeholders, such as beneficiaries, in an annual goal and priority setting meeting. Approximately every 2-5 years, it will be time to develop an entirely new strategic plan rather than reviewing existing pillars, objectives and key results.
Annual Activity Planning
Following strategic plan review, pillar and OKR owners should collaborate to develop one-year activity plans aligned with the pillars, objectives and key results they own in the strategic plan. Each department or program can also create its own activity plan, outlining the key initiatives required to achieve the pillars and OKRs they impact. Collaborative small-group planning ensures buy-in and creativity.
Annual All-Staff Update
In the first quarter of the fiscal year, the CEO should host a meeting for the entire staff to share progress from the previous year and present the organization’s priorities for the coming year. Leaders of each department or program can also outline their activity plans in this meeting if appropriate. This meeting fosters transparency and employee engagement.
Quarterly Check-In Meetings
A year can bring many unforeseen changes, as 2020 taught all of us. To remain adaptable and on track, nonprofits need quarterly check-in meetings, including:
Quarterly Pillar Meetings
Key result owners should be responsible for updating their KR grades quarterly. Then, each quarter, the pillar owners will meet to discuss and review progress on each of their pillars based on updates provided by the people who own the KRs under their pillar. While each OKR will receive a number grade, pillar owners should use this meeting to lead subjective discussions about KRs as well. Low scoring KRs should be discussed and re-evaluated (does something need to change in the way the Objective/Key Result is being approached?), while high scoring KRs will provide empirical proof of delivery.
Quarterly Strategic Plan Board Updates
Strategic plan progress reports should be provided to the Board of Directors quarterly by the Executive Director/CEO, with specific call outs to areas where strategic input/support is necessary or desired from members. Pillar owners may be invited to report to the board at this meeting as well.
Quarterly All-Staff Update
Following the board meeting, the Executive Director/CEO should update the entire staff on metrics, performance, organizational adjustments, and plans for the upcoming quarter. This ensures everyone is informed and aligned.
Monthly Progress Meetings
Each month, there should be a meeting focused on each pillar in your organization’s strategic plan. This meeting should be organized by the pillar owner and include anyone who owns an objective, key result or activity under that pillar. In this meeting, OKR owners should review progress toward the KR, and activity owners should provide a progress report on the overall activity, the action steps taken over the last month, and planned action steps for the forthcoming month. If accountabilities are not met, or continue to rollover month-to-month, the OKR owners will lead a discussion to understand obstacles/challenges/roadblocks that are impeding progress and decide if changes are necessary.
Clean Up Your Calendar
By adopting these three types of meetings and adhering to them consistently, you can declutter your calendar of unnecessary and unproductive meetings. Streamlined and purposeful meetings lead to a more engaged, efficient, and impactful nonprofit organization, even in the always-on world of Zoom meetings and Slack messages. Embrace this meeting framework, and watch your nonprofit soar to new heights of success.
