If you are like me, there is nothing worse than getting a meeting invite knowing the sole purpose is “a status update”. For me, if you want the team to INVEST time in the meeting, it needs to get real.
\nStatus updates squander time that could be spent using your team as a TEAM. At the bottom of that article I mentioned 11 things to do instead of reporting status.
\nReal meetings DRIVE to the outcome, the vision, the mission…. if you want to provide a status update, send the 1 pager….. if you want to engage the talents and skills of the team to drive to outcome, put together a cracker of an agenda, build the motivation and get the team there.<\/p>\n
Getting your team together offers a precious opportunity to focus the team energy on great discussions that will drive the business forward.
\nEngage the team, see what the team really think! Empower debates!\u00a0As a leader you need these conversations to make you smarter and to inform which direction you should be taking the team and the business.
\nHere are 11 ideas of great things you can do with staff meeting time.
\nThis list is by no means exhaustive. There are just some ideas to get you thinking about higher value conversations you can have with your team.<\/p>\n
How will we know if we are achieving them?
\nIt\u2019s really worth putting this question of key outcomes out there, and aligning on both the list and what the measures are. You will be surprised how many different opinions will exist if you haven\u2019t had this discussion already.
\nDifferent opinions on what is important and how we measure it = low productivity.<\/p>\n
What should we do about them?
\nEveryone has a different risk profile. You will find that some people are afraid of everything and others are afraid of nothing.
\nYou\u2019ll get critical insights on how you need to manage the individuals on your team, and you may even learn about an important risk that you didn\u2019t see before.<\/p>\n
Is it knowable? How will we find it? If it is not knowable, what scenarios should we plan for?
\nI can tell you I made this mistake every which way for years, wishing I had data that actually was knowable, or guessing at answers that were not knowable.
\nMake the list with your team. Get the data you can get and make explicit plans for what you will all agree to do when there is no data.<\/p>\n
I would have this as a staff topic at least twice a year. Grit always creeps into the gears, and old habits lose their usefulness.
\nQuestion them.
\nThis one never ceases to pay off. All the annoying, time wasting stuff creeps into the environment and teams just accept that as the new reality.
\nOnce or twice a year, talking about this gives people the permission to raise issues, and then as a team you can decide which ones to fix. Productivity always improves after this meeting.<\/p>\n
Ask what has changed in our market, business, or customers\u2019 markets and businesses? What does that mean for our plans?
\nHere again, you will find that some people care deeply and know a lot, and others are happy to just keep their head down plowing away at their former job descriptions.
\nFind out. Discuss. Drive important change.<\/p>\n
What process or infrastructure improvement would have the biggest impact on our ability to deliver?
\nThis one is also a winner to crowdsource. As the manager you are responsible for making improvements and increasing the capacity and capability of your team over time. But you don\u2019t have to think of all the answers yourself.
\nThis question is actually important to ask everyone in the organization, not just your direct reports.<\/p>\n
What should we consider changing?
\nAt the pace technology and communication changes, something is harder or easier in your business than it was before.
\nIf competition or margins have become harder, shine the spotlight on it, and discuss it as a team. If other advances have made things easier, don\u2019t miss it.
\nDon\u2019t keep doing things the same old, slow, hard way because you never paused to think and talk about it.<\/p>\n
What should we learn this year in addition to our core work? What do we want to be better at, or smarter about next year?
\nElevate the discussion about what we should be all be doing (in addition to our day job) to improve. Make it clear that getting better at the job is only part of the job.
\nEveryone should have goals to improve, and your team should be focused on \u201csomething we all need to learn or get better at\u201d at any given point in time.<\/p>\n
Who in our organization has done something remarkable that we should recognize?
\nI find that if you don\u2019t have this discussion at your regular staff meeting, all kinds of great things happen in your organization and they go unseen and therefore un-thanked. Not recognizing exceptional efforts destroys trust.
\nTalk about this so you don\u2019t miss it!<\/p>\n
Who are the stars in our organization that we should be investing in developing?
\nAlways have a short list of high potential people who should be getting extra exposure, bigger challenges, and introductions to mentors.
\nOne of the best things you can do as a leader is to grow stars in your organization. It\u2019s good for them, for you, and for the company, and ultimately for the world!<\/p>\n
Who\/what groups should our team be communicating, networking, or improving our brand with? How should we do it?
\nThis is a topic that always brings a lot of energy when I work with clients on executive team building. What is your team brand? What do you want it to be? Who are the groups that your team serves? How do they perceive you? How do you need them to perceive you?
\nGetting alignment and an action plan on how your team is perceived is critical to building credibility and support throughout your company, and maybe also with clients or partners, for what your team does.
\nGood luck!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If you are like me, there is nothing worse than getting a meeting invite knowing the sole purpose is “a status update”. For me, if you want the team to INVEST time in the meeting, it needs to get real. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":714,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,9,6,2,17,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-leadership","category-businessq","category-leadership","category-leading-people","category-master-class","category-mbwa","clearfix"],"yoast_head":"\n