Team meetings…we love them or we hate them…how can we achieve more effective team meetings?

Well, it seems many people hate them – for different reasons.

Many people hate team meetings because they are…

❌ boring

❌ unproductive

❌ confusing

❌ unclear

You are probably hoping I’d say to simply leave team meetings away but I won’t.

Effective team meetings are extremely valuable for the following reasons.

They can help us to…

✔️ Develop our people and morale

✔️ Brainstorm and innovate

✔️ Make crucial decisions

✔️ Solve problems

Unfortunately, what kills most meetings is:

💥 Lack of conflict – like any good story, meetings need to make room to rumble through challenges or simply to make decisions

💥 Lack of team – if everyone focuses on their individual goals there is no team, that’s called a group of people without a common goal or purpose

💥 Lack of structure – again, like any good story, there needs to be some sort of an introduction, body, and conclusion

💥 Lack of clarity – if people don’t know the purpose of the meeting they are not able to engage at their highest capacity

 

Now, the question is, what makes team meetings effective?

I think Patrick Lencioni hits it perfectly – there need to be more meetings! 😅

Ok, what that means is there need to be different styles of meetings.

In his brilliant book ‘Death by Meeting’, Lencioni draws ideas from the movie industry and suggests running four types of meetings with your teams:

1. 📆 The Daily Check-In (compared with the daily news): 5-10 min administrative meeting to cover the priorities of the day

2. 📋 The Weekly Tactical (compared with your weekly show): 45-90 min operational meeting to cover critical short-term issues that need to be resolved

3. 📅 The Monthly Strategic (compared with your monthly movie night): 2-3 hours strategic meeting to discuss, analyse, brainstorm and decide on a few strategic topics

4. 📊 The Quarterly Off-Site (compared with your retreat): 1-2 days to review, reassess, and develop interpersonal, performance, and strategic issues

This framework helps teams to…

💡 Know the purpose of each meeting

💡 Engage productively and solve problems

💡 Commit to decisions, and

💡 Stay focused on organisational priorities

 

Let me know your thoughts. Contact me or book your free intro session here.

Happy Tuesday!

Desiree