Black In Business

One aspect of the big corporate world I never cared for or miss is extremely boring and long meetings. We use to have meetings scheduled from 8 to 5 with little free time.It seemed as though meetings increased over the years. One of the worst situations is to work in the same building as your boss. They have to have something to do so meet it is.

I did a similar post about internal focus vs external focus. Much of my career I had managed teams in remote cities and we had to have meetings a few times a year. These events would last for a couple of days. My goal was to make my meetings an event and something of value. I wanted team dynamics and a learning environment. Here are blackinbusiness, 10 ways to a great meeting.

1) Ask yourself is this meeting neccessary? Is having this meeting going to help build share holder value? The point is not to meet just to fill that activity. I have been a part of organizations where a strategy to improve sales was to meet more often. With customers or prospects? No with each other.

2) When people have to travel for the meeting, combine topics to minimize trips and save on expenses. Ensure proper notice, for busy team members a minimum of 30 day notice is professional. You should try to  provide a yearly calendar with key meeting dates noted. This should be published  in late December.

3) Communicate in writing the meeting time, date and place. Ensure everyone knows what is expected of them. If you want them to review facts and data at the meeting provide the time to do so.

4) You should have a team nick name or theme to build on for the year.IE, Circle of Winners, Greatness is a state of mind.Make sure you use the occasion to recognize achievement. Your team members will love the peer respect.

5) Share ownership of the meeting. I always would give my managers that reported to me some topics to lead discussion and facilitate ideas. Topics were situations that everyone faced and will have interest in. I have had presentions on issues like,motivation tactics, managing performance problems, interviewing, competition. You will find the presenters will really step up and the dialog will be free flowing. This will also benefit the team dynamics in a postive way, along with individual growth.

6) If in the budget, meet off site at a nice site. You want to get away from distractions and you want the team members to feel special. Since your remote team will only meet 3 to 4 times a year put them in a comfortable venue. Have a team building event. Spend some time having fun.

7) Bring in some company guest.You may have some product managers provide  some information about a new product or a VP because you have some team members you want to get exposure for

8)Establish some agreed upon action items that will improve performance. Set objectives, tactics, and time frames. Quantifly your goals that the action items will meet.

9) Have time for just you and the team members to round table discussion. Talk about frustrations and topics of interest to them. ask for feedback and listen. Do not agree to something unless you plan to deliever.If you have reason to belive there will be a lot of frustrations, do this prior to your meeting adgenda and take as much time neccessary to listen.

10)It has to be fun. Play loud music to start the meeting and during breaks. Let your team get up and walk around, do your best to make every one relaxed. As the leader this is your moment, make it great.