Measure Effective Meetings by Your Team's Progress
A detailed staff meeting agenda makes follow-through possible.
You know that ‘ah-ha’ moment you feel when a meeting is over? That moment where you want to fist pump the sky and yell, ‘we nailed it,’ while jumping and freezing in the air? It’s a euphoric feeling.
But it doesn’t mean your meeting was successful.
Meetings are only successful when there is actual, productive follow-through. If you cannot convert ideas into action, those meetings are a colossal waste of time. It’s as effective as eating bagels in the break room for the allotted time (and not as tasty).
At Hybryd, we know you don’t have time to waste. This is why your team needs a detailed staff meeting agenda that can help your team keep momentum. Our software makes it happen, but you can still facilitate follow-through by following these simple tips.
A detailed staff meeting agenda = optimal follow-through
Good intentions alone won’t help you to piece together a functional staff meeting agenda. Be as clear and organized as possible. If the information is lacking or readers cannot easily reference the staff meeting agenda. Unclear directions mean they will throw it in a drawer of their work desk and forget about the document.
Do not think that it needs to be complicated, though. Ensure someone responsible documents what was discussed. These details must include accurate conversations. Be sure the person assigned to documenting the meetings is someone that can be trusted with the role.
Be timely about sharing the details. Give attendees a copy of the staff meeting the next business day at the very latest. If the meeting happens on a Friday, work diligently to ensure every attendee has a staff meeting agenda before the end of the workday. You don’t want attendees forgetting the details come Monday morning.
The necessary details
Writing the minutes of each meeting is only the first step to crafting a staff meeting agenda that delivers results. As you piece together the document, detail the answers to these questions:
Who/should have attended the meeting?
What was the purpose of the meeting?
What is the preferred outcome(s) from the meeting?
Are there barriers preventing the preferred outcome(s) from happening?
What action(s) must be taken before the next meeting?
When is the next meeting?
Do not choose an arbitrary meeting date. Choose a date that gives team members enough time to accomplish the ‘actionable’ detailed in the staff meeting agenda. Alternatively, a new meeting always follows the completion of 'ationable' items.
As you answer these questions you will find your own unique questions to ask yourself. Each time you or a team member create the newest staff meeting agenda remeber these questions. Keep a copy of each document and use it as a template for future meetings. It speeds up the process and reminds you of the questions worth answering inside the document.
Don’t sweep at-risk-non-deliverables under the rug
A staff meeting agenda makes following through after each meeting a reality. But it isn’t magic. Unfortunately, there are times when goals cannot be met.
A properly written staff meeting agenda does not guarantee that every talking point will be met with appropriate follow-through. Reseach shows it can help your team pivot when goals are not attainable. Communication is key here. At the first sign that an action is in jeopardy of becoming impossible, the individual(s) assigned to the task must alert the team.
When this happens, it is essential not to chastise the responsible party. For example, do not browbeat the party in an e-mail chain: chances are, they feel bad enough. Instead, exercise the skill you are fostering while creating the team’s staff meeting agenda. Put all the details and information about the situation together, then come up with the best solution for minimizing the fallout of the failure.
Using the information in the staff meeting agenda. ( Including the minutes of prior meetings. ) The team may even devise a solution that keeps the goal from failing in the first place. Everyone may find a better solution than what was initially found in the meeting, making the would-be failure a blessing in disguise of sorts. Everyone wins regardless.
See a trend here? When a team communicates effectively, productive, positive results follow. Even in the face of the most abysmal failures, teams can turn lackluster situations into fist-pumping, celebratory wins. When everyone is up-to-date and on the same proverbial page success follows.