How to Have Effective Staff Meetings
Effective and great staff meetings can be a big differentiator for your business. They help improve communication and increase productivity amongst staff. However, staff meetings can be stressful if not planned correctly. In this article we discuss how to have a great staff meeting, the do’s and don’ts of a staff meeting and its purpose.
Find out how to run a great and effective staff meeting.
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Do you feel like your staff meetings are productive? Are they effective in achieving the goals you set for them? If not, it may be time to rethink how you run them.
According to the Harvard Business Review, most staff meetings are “a waste of time”.
But that doesn’t mean they can’t be helpful and productive – tools like Meeting for Goals can change the narrative.
Let’s dive in to learn how to make your staff meetings productive. But before then, we will look at a few basics.
What is a Staff Meeting?
A staff meeting is a formal or informal gathering of a company’s employees. There are different types of channels to hold company meetings. These include:
- Virtual Meetings
- Hybrid meetings
- In-person meetings
The Covid-19 pandemic has made virtual staff meetings more prevalent.
What is the Purpose of a Staff Meeting?
A staff meeting allows you to:
- Connect with your colleagues
- Receive updates on company progress
- Get clarification on projects
- Provide feedback
- Hear about new initiatives
Any meeting agenda should have these objectives.
Staff meetings are an also an opportunity to recognize and celebrate. They also help share information, plan and make decisions that will help drive your organization forward. They allow you to get everyone on the same page so they understand what’s going on in your company and how it can impact them.
Finally, they provide feedback opportunities for both employees and managers so we have a clear understanding of individual or team performance. This in turn helps achieve company goals.
How Do You Invite People to a Staff Meeting
Inviting people to a staff meeting is an important part of making sure that all your staff members are there and prepared for the meeting.
You should invite them at least 24 hours before the meeting time. If someone cannot make it to the meeting, you might want to send them an update on what happened in the meeting if they miss it.
You can keep track of who will attend through your calendar invite as most, if not all, calendars will let you know who accepted and who declined your meeting invitation.
For team members that decline you may want to send them an update on what happened during the meeting.
Tips for Running a Great Staff Meeting
How do you run an effective staff meeting? Most organizations have boring and ineffective meetings that don’t add value to the company or employees.
If you want to run a productive staff meeting, here are the tips:
1. Create a Compelling Agenda
The most crucial part of any meeting is the agenda. It should be distributed in advance so that everyone knows what will be discussed.
The meeting agenda ensures that all employees can follow through with what is happening. It also helps them get prepared for the meeting should they need to. Here is a great article we had about having a team agenda.
PRO TIP: Use a meeting management software like Meeting for Goals to speed up the creation of the meeting agendas for your staff meeting and send them to everyone automatically. Here are meeting agenda templates for Free!
2. Start and End on Time
Nothing is more frustrating than a meeting that drags on forever. Ensure you start and end the meeting on time. This will show respect for everyone’s time.
There are a few ways to make sure the meeting ends on time:
- Ensure the agenda is tightly packed
- Have an end time announced at the beginning of the meeting
- Encourage contributors to wrap up their discussion when the allotted time elapses
- Have someone be the timekeeper for your meeting. His job will be to ensure the meeting flows as per the agenda, ends on time and brings people back to topic when they get off topic.
3. Encourage Participation
One of the best ways to ensure a meeting is productive is to encourage participation from all attendees. This can be done by:
- Having an open discussion
- Allowing for questions and comments
- Ensuring everyone has a chance to speak
- Do not negatively criticize comments. That makes people reluctant to share. If you hear something you don’t like be diplomatic in your response.
There is nothing worse than a meeting where only a few people dominate. It is even worse when the dominating person is the leader or manager.
4. Follow Up After the Meeting
The staff meeting isn’t over when the employees walk out of the door. Ensure you follow up with any action items generated during the session.
Our software helps companies allocate tasks before, during, and after staff meetings for execution. Through this, you can hold employees accountable and measure the results of each meeting.
Why You Need a Staff Meeting Agenda
A famous quote by Steve Jobs goes, “People don’t know what they want until you show it to them”. The same is true for a staff meeting agenda.
Employees can’t contribute effectively if they don’t know the objectives of the meeting or what will be discussed.
The primary purpose of a staff meeting agenda is to ensure the meeting is productive.
An agenda should outline the topics to be covered and assigned time slots for each item. This way, everyone knows what to expect, and discussions can stay on track.
That said, here is a staff meeting agenda template that you can use:
Staff Meeting Template Example
- Update on previous week (What was accomplished and what was not)?
- What difficulties are you having?
- What can I do to help?
- Any other issues or topics you would like to discuss?
- What are your deliverables this week?
Staff Meeting Dos and Don’ts
Ever attended a staff meeting that was a waste of time? If so, you’re not alone. Many companies hold ineffective meetings that don’t add value.
To ensure your staff meeting is productive, here are a few dos and don’ts:
Staff Meeting Dos
If you want to have a successful meeting, make sure you do the following:
- Clearly state the objective of the meeting
- Start and end on time
- Follow up after the meeting
- Use video conferencing to include remote employees
- Keep the meeting small, unless unavoidable
- Be Kind and Courteous.
Staff Meeting Don’ts
- Don’t hold a meeting just for the sake of it
- Avoid multitasking during the meeting
- Avoid side conversations
- Don’t let the meeting drag on forever
- Don’t allow attendees to go off topic. Have the timekeeper take care of that.
Frequency and Length of Staff Meetings
A popular question plagues managers: how often should staff meetings be held? Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all answer.
The frequency of your staff meetings will depend on your company’s needs. That said, most companies hold weekly or biweekly meetings.
As for the meeting length, it should be as long as necessary to cover the topics on the agenda. In general, 30 minutes should usually be enough. Staff meetings should be no longer than one hour.
1-on-1 Meetings
In addition to staff meetings, you should also hold 1-on-1 meetings with your employees. A one-on-one meeting is a great opportunity to check in with employees and see how they’re doing.
You can also use a one-on-one meeting to discuss goals, projects, and performance reviews.
One-on-one meetings should be held regularly – weekly, monthly, or quarterly. Some one-on-ones can be a quick 10min or up to 1 hour. It really depends on the discussion and the people involved. Weekly 15 minute one-on-ones with your direct reports are great to increase rapport between you and them.
Make Your Meetings Productive and Effective
Staff meetings are an essential part of any company. They’re a time for employees to come together and discuss projects, goals, and objectives.
An effective staff meeting is productive and meaningful. Maybe your company can’t afford to have meetings every day, but your team can be productive and informed through weekly or biweekly staff meetings with the right tools.
If you’re looking for ways to make your staff meetings more effective, Meeting for Goals is the solution. Schedule a call today to see how our software can help your company!
Staff Meeting Templates
Here are some great staff meeting templates you can use to have productive staff meetings
- Icebreakers - Let's Catch Up
- Team Status Check
- Wins and shoutouts
- Team updates
- Goal performance
- Reminders
- Share something positive that happened yesterday
- Did you finish what you wanted & what you planned for yesterday?
- What are your plans for today?
- Do you have any problems or issues you can’t resolve?
- General Announcements
- Check-in
- Team Status Check
- Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) or Objectives
- How can I help?
Final Thoughts
That concludes our guide to staff meetings. We hope you found it useful and informative! Sign Up to Meeting For Goals and have the most productive meetings. High performing teams use our software to have effective meetings to grow their business & focus on their goals. All in one painless workflow!
Meeting For Goals Editorial Team
Meeting For Goals is where high performing teams go to have effective meetings, achieve goals & improve morale. All in one painless workflow. Use Meeting For Goals to help guide your meetings and ensure you have the most productive meetings.
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