The Weekly Leadership Team Meeting
The Weekly Team Meeting can be the most hated, boring event.
These fall-asleep, get-your-email-done, ramble-on-reports meetings happen because the person in charge has failed to remember the purpose of a weekly meeting and to bring the most important conversation to the table.
Done right, the weekly team meeting is where the real momentum and traction happens. It can motivate, energize and help your team to stay aligned and focused on what matters most.
The primary purpose and structure of the meeting is to refocus or recalibrate to make sure you hit the goals set at your quarterly meetings.
Here’s the framework to make that happen:
Keep it tight
- 60 to 90 minutes, maximum two-hours.
- Assign someone to run the meeting and manage time.
- Use a timer to make sure everyone reporting stays succinct and has equal time.
- Close on time.
Note: The length of the meeting depends on the size of, and what works for, an individual business. Set a time for each section of the meeting and don’t go over.
Set a positive tone
- Start with a win. What’s a highlight? How does it relate to the core values?
- Connect and check in with each other. Tell the truth and rate where you are from zero to ten.
Track the numbers
- What are the numbers and critical KPIs?
- What’s red? Amber? Green?
These results may create other questions for the collective intelligence part later in the meeting. e.g., Why are sales dropping?
- Review quarterly priorities. and company-level goals and possibly, executive- or team-level goals.
Review progress against quarterly priorities
Are you on track, in terms of the top three-to-five quarterly priorities set for the company?
- What progress have you made on that quarterly priority?
- Where are you be stuck and need some assistance?
- What are you going to do next?
If you have no progress to report that means nothing happened in the last seven days.
Review customer or employee data
Pay attention to information. Even if you don’t have sophisticated qualitative and the quantitative systems or eNPS, this should be a best practice.
- What have you heard in the marketplace?
- Do you hear anything different from customers or employees/new hires?
Review collective intelligence
These are strategic team discussions or debates and at least 30 minutes of a 60-to-90 minute meeting when you use the smartest brains in the room to troubleshoot or figure out the critical things you need to do to move ahead. For example:
- Gather feedback on a new model around people and strategy.
- Address short-term tactical issues
- Address items in the parking lot or things held for a future time.
- For example, a different team member presents a topic (perhaps every second week).
Tune up regularly
- Be disciplined. Refine and update your weekly agendas to make sure they stay efficient and fresh.
- If they get a little rough, don’t worry about it. Get a couple people to tighten up and reset the agenda.
The Challenge
- What can you do to make your weekly meetings one of the most valuable meetings of the week?
For more, listen to Episode 93 of The Ghost Whisperers podcast.
And for more tips on delivering great meetings:
Blog: 12 Tips for Better Business Meetings
Blog: Team Meetings, Debates and the Power of Bowling Balls
Podcast: How to Leverage Collective Intelligence
Podcast: The Seven Best Practices for Weekly Meetings
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