The best monthly updates are…
- worked on for at least 30 minutes before the meeting instead of last minute or made up in the moment.
- filled with vulnerable content that you are sharing too many other places. This is often called the 5%.
- Specific with the information instead of generalized.
- Reflective on what truly happened over the past month.
Far too often, forum members fall short on several of these goals. Sometimes the member is aware, and course corrects for next time, but many times the member isn’t aware and needs a nudge from the group to step up their game.
One solution to give people insight into how they are doing with their monthly updates, in relation to the goals listed above, is to do a Monthly Update Rating after each person goes.
Here’s how to implement this at your next forum meeting.
- Give everyone one index card for each member of the group. So if the group has seven members, then give each person seven index cards.
- Write the name of one person at the top of each index card.
- Write the following works down the left side of the card:
- Prep –
- 5% –
- Specific –
- Reflective –
- After each person shares their monthly update, have the group rate the member on a 1-10 scale for each item.
- Have one person collect all the cards, sort them for each person, and hand them back out.
After people get their cards back, the group can either move on with the rest of the agenda or have a reflective moment where each person shares one area they will improve in next time.
The end result of doing this a few times per year is that members will quickly realize what areas they need to step up and hopefully do so.