How To Create An Impactful Monthly Meeting For Your Team

Company culture comes from the top down. Having a clear mission, vision and values aren't just mumbo jumbo or something “to be done later”. If your team live and breathe these values and love coming to work, you’ll find that rather than everyone rowing in their own personal direction, everyone starts rowing together in the same direction. The boat picks up speed (productivity) and everyone is much happier. Rather than making decisions that are in their personal interest, your employees start making decisions that are in the interest of the company.

If they don’t know the company’s mission, vision or values, how can they possibly make a decision in the company’s best interest?

Getting everyone to understand your values comes from clear and frequent communication, and one way we’ve found particularly effective is through monthly team meetings. These aren’t your usual boring “state of the business” reports. They are engaging and enjoyable experiences which everyone contributes to in one way or another.

Here are some tips on ensuring your team meeting is informative, effective and goes without a hitch:

It’s All About the WHY

Why do they get up in the morning? Why does your company exist? Why do we spend the majority of our waking hours working hard at this company?

I get that not every company is going to change the world, but your company still exists because it’s providing value to somebody. Focus on that, and your employees will have a higher purpose.

Always coming back to the “why” is essential as there is nothing more empowering than giving your employees purpose in their work. At the end of the day, a job should be much more than just receiving a paycheck at the end of the month.

Pay Day

Talking of the paycheck, a good day to have a monthly meeting is on the last day of the month because everyone is energised, morale is high and it ensures that everyone is geared up for the month ahead. 

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly?

Do you tell your team everything? We believe in letting them ride with us through the ups and the downs. For example, did you have a cancelled project? Did you complete a project that reaped a much higher profit margin than first expected? Did you win new business, or lose it?

There may be low and high points within the year but it brings people together in the hard times and helps them appreciate and enjoy the successes to a higher degree. If there are bad months, just be sure to explain your strategy to turn things around. There’s nothing more corrosive to company culture than fear for job security.

Keep it as positive as you can and give your team hope. Hope will keep them focused on the objective and they will row even harder to achieve it.

Understanding what is truly happening will ensure that they feel more involved, give them ownership of their work and understand that their actions really do have an impact on the company. An added benefit is that it gives the team trust in management. Trust that the ship is being steered correctly, and so when positive things happen, they are even more meaningful.

Our Monthly Meetings

Here is the meeting agenda that we use during our monthly meetings:

Exercise

Stretch those hamstrings! Ask a team member to begin with a certain exercise. Get some blood pumping through everyone’s veins before they are stationary again. It always creates a laugh and wakes everyone up.

Write Down Wins

Ask your employees to write down 3 “Wins” this month.These are things they have achieved which make them feel proud or accomplished. It could be completing a project, achieving a sales target or helping a team member with a difficult problem. It also doesn’t have to be work related, it can be personal achievements such as moving house, or starting a new hobby.

After writing their wins, get each one to stand up and tell them to the team (if you have a large team, get them to say only their biggest win to save time).

Thinking about Wins gets people to look back on their month in a positive way. Remembering successes creates a sense of accomplishment and achievement which may otherwise pass by unrecognised.

We’ve also found that by sharing wins with each other, morale is boosted (especially for big wins where the team applauds) and we all get a deeper understanding of each other’s lives and ambitions.

Update the Team on New Sales or Projects Completed

It’s positive to provide a summary of the month’s activities. I.e. has the agency won any new business? Are you close to winning any new deals? What projects have been completed? Departments rarely communicate between each other, so it’s good for them to hear this type of news and understand what’s going on in other parts of the company.

Get Them Involved

Ask about their failures, mistakes or what they’ve learned within the month. This is a good time for reflection. Always keep an open mind and allow for improvements to happen during the next month. Open sharing will ensure that everyone stays ahead of the game, especially in the fast-paced agency life.

Present New Ideas or Discoveries

Most employees think of a team meeting as management doing most of the talking, however, the onus doesn’t only have to be on them. Why not pass the baton to the team and ask them to present something that they’ve learned within the industry lately, or perhaps it could be a company-wide improvement that they’d like to implement. It can be anything that they are passionate about. Ted talk style!

Empower your employees and give them the confidence to present their ideas - you never know, they may come across a breakthrough which could truly help your business!

Inspiring Video or Quote

As a company leader you encounter inspiration from mentors, books and other sources on a daily basis, so why not share these with your team? We see so many viral videos on social media promoting messages of happiness, entrepreneurship, and innovation - these should be experienced by your team if they promote your core values. A video is the best way to get your message or idea across. Build that bank of inspirational content to share with your team.

Rewards

Team meetings are the perfect time to let your shining stars on the month know that they’ve done a good job. The tried and tested “employee of the month” can work well here or even ask them to applaud one of their team members to make it more interactive. Is it a team member’s annual anniversary, or perhaps someone completed their probation? Reward them with a small gift in front of everyone.

Get Creative & Have Fun!

We love ending the team meeting with a “lottery”. Basically, all of the team member’s names are placed into a pot and someone picks a winner. That employee gets to have the next Thursday or Sunday as a day off. It always ensures that the meeting ends on a high - it certainly gets the adrenaline going for sure!

It gives a tremendous morale boost when a monthly meeting ends on a high, is carefully executed and brings value to the team. I hope these ideas have inspired you with fuel to inject some energy into your next team meeting. 

What are your ideas for a team meeting? Please share with me in the comments.

If you would like an award-winning website that generates ROI for your business, then contact Grow. Give them a call now on 04 456 0220 or email: [email protected]

Laura is the co-owner and Head of Happiness at Grow. Her goal is to ensure employee happiness, enact employee engagement initiatives and overall have a healthy work hard / play hard culture in the office.

This article was originally published in https://www.grow.ae/blog/how-to-create-an-impactful-monthly-meeting-for-your-team.