M Is For Meetings: How To Improve Your Meeting Game
If you’re looking for game-changing strategies as you enter this new year, I challenge you to improve your meeting game. You may feel that meetings are time wasters - and truthfully, poorly managed and ill-defined meetings are indeed a waste of time. However, staff meetings are an essential part of any organization, as they provide a platform for communication, collaboration, feedback, and problem-solving.
I know that many of you are currently having what I call “hallway meetings”, where you communicate in the hallways as you walk past each other. It’s not a surprise when things don’t get executed properly using this approach. We can do better!
There are different meeting formats for different purposes; one style does not fit all needs. In this article, I share strategies from the teachings of Patrick Lencioni, best known as the creator of The Five Behaviours, a training program that assists in building productive and cohesive teams. (FYI, I am now certified to facilitate this program.)
Here are four types of meetings:
Daily Check-In (Duration: 5 to 10 mins)
In this meeting, we connect informally to help the team prioritize and allocate resources for the day. Everyone remains standing, which helps to keep it short.
This meeting should highlight information such as schedule updates, special testing required, vendor appointments, week-to-date results, staff roles for the day, and tasks that need to be completed.
Weekly Tactical (Duration: 45 to 90 mins)
The objective here is to review primary objectives and resolve issues. This is a time to inspire and encourage the team to execute on the plan that is already in place - not a time to start new projects.
Do not set an agenda in advance. Instead, start the meeting by reviewing the objectives and current results, then set the agenda based on what is important to the team regarding reaching the objective.
This is what it could look like: If you are working on implementing dry eye, review the results/progress, discuss wins and obstacles, collaborate, and brainstorm on how to overcome obstacles.
Strategic (Duration: 2 to 4 Hours)
Strategy meetings are ideally held on a monthly basis, to discuss and brainstorm around issues affecting long-term success (for example, how to fill the schedule when we are struggling). If a pressing matter comes up during a weekly tactical meeting, you may need to have an ad hoc strategy meeting.
Use a hook for this meeting versus an agenda. A hook is a statement about what the focus is and what is at risk if we don’t resolve the issue. Sort of like a movie preview versus a scene-by-scene description of what happens.
Involving your people so they are heard helps with buy-in, and ultimately, success. Your team has great ideas - be open to them. As a leader, you do not have to have all the answers.
These meetings should be interactive and involve conflict. Yes, you read that right - conflict is key to a healthy team, and encouraging people to respectfully share their opinions (or disagree) helps them feel heard and valued.
Off-site Quarterly (Duration: 1 Day)
At this meeting - which can be limited to leaders only - we review the performance of the team, assess the market and explore the competitive landscape. Keep these discussions at the idea stage and leave the tactics to the tactical meeting.
With all meetings, ensure that you provide clarity as to what the participants should expect and if they need to come prepared with anything. Also, remember to have some fun!
You may be asking yourself how this approach offers a competitive advantage. Effective meetings provide constant communication and focus on team results. The team will be more aligned, engaged - and in turn, more effective. I encourage you to give it a try and see the results! As always, let me know if I can help.
Nancy Dewald is a business development professional, workshop facilitator and optical industry veteran. She is CEO and founder of Lead Up Training & Consulting, which specializes in identifying business gaps, implementing solutions and developing leaders.
Article as seen in Optical Prism.