Regular staff meetings are a critical part of effective worker communication. They are a good opportunity to check in with your team, monitor their progress, and identify strengths and weaknesses. No matter the agenda for the meeting, your team needs to be engaged from the get-go. So, here are five strategies you can take to make your staff meetings more productive.
Make The Purpose Clear
Whether you’re sharing information in person or holding a remote meeting, you must know the objective of your staff meeting before it takes place. While it may seem like an obvious tip, your employees must know what to expect to ensure your meeting runs smoothly. If you want to gather feedback, make group decisions, or brainstorm ideas, your team needs to be in the same headspace as you. If you want to discuss specific safety hazards and sake work practices, you can keep them quick and hold a toolbox talk. If you’re unable to establish a clear purpose for the meeting, you won’t get the most out of the experience.
Set Strict Time Limits
When deciding on a time limit for your meeting, it’s best to keep things short and sweet. If your meeting is one hour or more, you run the risk of participants losing interest and not staying engaged with what you have to say. Setting strict time limits and sticking to them will mean that your attendees can set aside time for your meeting. No matter what, make sure you begin the meeting on time and don’t allow employees to take part after 15 minutes. Doing so will disrupt your meeting and mean you have to relay information for late arrivals.
Spice Things Up
Putting a little variety into the format can make all the difference and help keep your participants engaged throughout the meeting. Whether you do this by inviting guest speakers, celebrating something, or running a team-building activity, there are lots of things you can do to keep your attendees’ attention and focus. If you’re running a remote staff meeting, make sure that you use the best video conferencing software that is easy to follow for all staff members.
Get Input From All Participants
If you’re the person who is holding the staff meeting, you must let all participants have a say. Instead of being the key speaker from start to finish, you should get input from all attendees, as this will show that you appreciate and value their time and feedback. Listening to somebody for the whole duration can be difficult. So, listening to other people’s points of view and keeping communication lines open will make your team feel more respected. Effective communication between all parties is critical for business success.
Follow-Up
Once the meeting has taken place, you must follow-up with all attendees to ensure anything said in the meeting has been taken on board. Make sure that you run through a list of responsibilities and assignments and clearly communicate to your team and what will happen next. If you have another meeting scheduled, you should state the objective of that meeting and let participants know what they must do to best prepare for it.
The ability to run a productive staff meeting is a powerful skill as it allows you to get the most out of everyone in the room and ensure the time you have set is used in the best way possible. Regardless of what the meeting is for, everyone must leave the meeting with a clear focus and objective on what steps to take next. All the tips above can help keep attendees engaged and focused from beginning to end.
