RLP #5: Leading Great Meetings

RLP #5: Leading Great Meetings

by NHS Staff

Tuesday night, NHS hosted our fifth and final class of our 2014 Resident Leadership Program, “Leading Great Meetings,” which was facilitated by Sarah Parmenter, Senior Specialist, Community Building Program at NeighborWorks America®.

Sarah began the meeting by asking for the group to set some “agreements” for how the meeting should go. Class participants offered up many good agreements that were accepted by the rest of the group in order to show respect for one and another.

Once agreements were set, participants were asked to share, in one word or a short phrase, what their “leadership style” was. Multiple participants agreed on “inspiring” and “inspiration,” while others offered up answers ranging from “example,” “dedication,” “sharing,” and “in the background,” showing that leadership styles are diverse, and not any one is more correct than another.

The class then divided into groups of three to reflect on past meetings they’ve led or been a part of. The purpose of the discussion was to come up with a list of traits of both great and poor meetings. Groups then shared what they had discussed, many agreeing on various traits. Sarah then pulled the two lists together by talking about how to fix the traits of poor meetings by utilizing traits of good meetings.

  The next activity that the group participated in was to divide into three different groups, based on three of the campaigns brought up during last week’s class, “Planning Successful Campaigns.” Tying the two classes together, Sarah asked the groups to plan how a successful meeting for the campaign would go, giving the group a chance to display their delegation and organizationskills.

The class concluded with thank yous to facilitators and the handing out of NeighborWorks® certificates to program participants. We are so grateful to Sarah for joining us from the Boston NeighborWorks® office, and to all of the participants and facilitators of this year’s Resident Leadership Program. We look forward to continuing to work with these new Resident Leaders on the campaigns and projects they would like to see in their communities, and hope to see a few of them join us for the 2014 NeighborWorks® Community Leadership Institute!