When speaking to business owners who have staff or Managers and I ask the question of whether they have regular meetings with their staff, most of the times they say yes but not on a regular basis as they have so much to do that they don’t have time to run them.
They did mention however that they do communicate on a daily basis about things with their staff. What you find is that passing through the office and having a conversation in an informal manner is great however as there are elements missing from the conversation the outcome may take longer to achieve. In some instances, the problem is raised but the details of why, how, when and who are not addressed.
This is why a formal meeting where times are set aside to address this is a great way to get results faster.
A meeting can have different formats, whether you are a business owner or a manager in a corporation, these types of meetings can be used in many business types.
There are 3 types of meeting:
- Regular meetings to discuss general activities.
- Meetings called to address a topic that needs to be addressed immediately.
- Meetings that relate to the projects that are being worked on.
A productive meeting is one that when you walk out the room you can say, “we achieved a lot in a short period of time and we are all clear as to the next steps and by when to reach a certain outcome.”
Some elements of a productive meeting will include the following:
- Having meetings on a regular basis with your team [daily 5-10 minutes at the start of the day, weekly, fortnightly, monthly].
- Having an agenda [what will be discussed in the meeting].
- Having a start and end time for the meeting.
- Having the relevant people at the meeting, those who can provide insight on the topics and those who have authority to make decisions.
- Sending the attendees any relevant documents for them to read outside the meeting before attending.
- Having a chairperson, making sure the discussion stays to the agenda.
- Knowing the outcome you want to reach by the end of the meeting [the purpose of the meeting].
- Minutes are taken outlining topics discussed, who will be responsible for any actions outside the meeting and when to have them completed by.
- Setting a date for the next meeting at the current meeting.
- Sending out the minutes to all those who attended the meeting and who were invited but were absent at the time of the meeting.
So if currently you are not having regular meetings with your staff or you are but not as structured as you would like them to be, start this week with setting them up.
Decide how regular you want these meeting to be with your staff. Look at what projects you need to start or issues you need to get resolved and set up meetings with the appropriate people.
EmpowerBeyond – Business Performance Solutions, focusing on people, process, products and services and improving productivity and cash flow www.empowerbeyond.com.au