Struggling to make your staff meetings worthwhile? Losing team concentration and motivation? Want to make your meetings have a higher impact, greater engagement and ultimately get better results? Then here: we’ve created the winning formula in just three simple steps…
STEP 1: Know Your Outcome
Before going into the meeting, have a clear understanding of why you’re holding it and what you want to get out of it. Write down the meeting objectives -clearly and specifically- and then ongoing outcomes you’re aiming to result from there. For example, you may need to hold a meeting to run through some new regulations. It’s mandatory (although can be a little uninspiring), but if you have the objective to complete it and motivate your team in the process, you will start thinking outside the box for exactly how you can do that
Don’t be shy to also share your objectives with your team too; keeping everyone on the same page, with focus and drive, knowing exactly what they’re working towards and why. Where possible, get your team to also set their own personal targets, that you can then monitor and follow up on. For example, if you hold a group meeting for your sales team to boost figures there- get each member of staff to write down their own new targets going out of the meeting. You could even gather these, add them together and put them onto a progress board; encouraging teamwork and a little healthy competition.
STEP 2: Prepare Properly
Once you know what your goals are and the purpose of the meeting, you can start to formulate a proper plan. Don’t go in there blind, then be surprised why it doesn’t have the impact you want! Like all things in life, you get out what you put in. So to improve the effectiveness of your meetings, you have to take the time to prepare them properly.
How will you format your meeting? How will you kick it off with a bang?! Utilise videos, storytelling, quick quizzes, statements for discussion, questions, tasks- there’s so much you can do. How will you make your next meeting different? And how can you craft it to grab their attention early on, and then maintain it throughout?
STEP 3: Do Something Different
You want to be in the position where every time you call a staff meeting, your team don’t groan, but instead- get interested, unsure of what to expect! The only way to do this, is by continuously mixing things up!
High energy is essential, as is your delivery, but get creative with how you can get your messages across. How about breaking the meeting up with group brainstorming sessions, getting people moving from table to table? Or what about a ‘Speed Dating’ exercise to get staff sharing their thoughts/ feedback on a particular topic, bouncing ideas around, or have you ever tried ‘sticker voting’? This is a fun concept where you write different approaches/ techniques in different places, and your team put stickers next to the ideas they think they could work with. There are so many different things you can try- either by getting ideas from the internet, or creating your own.
The key here, is to simply do them. Don’t be afraid how well it will be received, because if you don’t try- you won’t know. But if you start to innovate around your meetings, you will not only get far better engagement within them, but also create a better company culture and lead your team to greater success!
Try it, and see the difference it makes. Think you’ve mastered the meetings?! Pop your engagement strategies in the comments box below- we’d love to hear them! And if you’re looking for meeting or conference rooms, don’t forget- we provide an impartial service to find the right space for you. See here.