A strong company knows what meetings they need, to be the most productive. They know the most effective kinds of meetings to do just that and exactly when and how regularly to have them. Companies that know what they’re doing don’t have meetings that everyone hates just because they think they need to have meetings, they have meetings that work smoothly to achieve objectives.
Here are the types of meetings a strong company should be having.
Quarterly and Yearly Retreats
It is essential for teams—especially leadership teams—to have retreats away from the distractions of the workplace. These retreats, although seemingly unimportant, actually have the essential job of developing team skills and unity. Not only that, but you can learn a lot about a person’s abilities once they’re taken outside of the repetitive, day-to-day workplace life.
“To put it simply, you learn to know a person. You can better identify with them. You may even bond over the fact that you have the same interests as them. A hard skill can reveal a bunch of other soft skills, so it’s always useful to find out more about a person.” – Huffpost
Quarterly retreats provide the opportunity to restart. You are taken outside of the normal work life and can reassess projects from a distance. A yearly retreat is about developing skills, team building, and planning for the year to come.
Quarterly Board of Advisors Meetings
Your quarterly Board of Advisors meeting should always be prepared well in advance. This includes sending your Board any material they need to read beforehand. The majority of the meeting should be related to two core goals that your leadership team is focused on. These should be goals that are for the next year or so, not just the next quarter.
“This [the goal] could be a big strategic initiative for which you need the Board’s advice, their help in troubleshooting, or their challenging questions.” – Cameron Herold
The Board asks the tough questions that you need to hear. Although frustrating, these will strengthen your team and your business in the end.
Monthly Financial Meetings
You want the entire company to always be on the same page, but when it comes to finances that is an absolute must. That’s why you invite everyone to this meeting.
Slack lists three things that it’s absolutely vital for everyone at your financial meeting to be very clear on. Those are:
- How much money you’re going to spend
- What the money is being spent on
- What kind of return you can expect on your investment
Financial meetings really emphasize the fact that everyone is on the same team, that the company’s profits and losses are theirs, too. That also means being very, very transparent.
Weekly Strategy Meetings
It’s important for a company to always make time for team strategy. It’s not the kind of meeting where decisions get made, but the kind of meeting where you brainstorm for the future.
“You don’t have to end a Weekly Strategy Meeting with a resolution or put specific plans into action. This meeting is meant to be a time for the team to sit together, prognosticate the future, and throw stuff on the walls to see what sticks.” – Cameron Herold
Without taking the time for strategizing, you and your team will instead grow reactionary. Brainstorming builds future strength.
Weekly Goal-Setting and Review Meetings
These are meetings that take place one-on-one between a leader and a person who directly reports to them. It’s important to take this time so that the leader and that person can set goals for the week and review the previous week. With that, they can improve and learn.
“In these One-on-One meetings, the leader’s role is to provide a balance on three things: direction, development, and support.” – Cameron Herold
By having a reliable, weekly meeting with a leader, employees feel a sense of security and stability. Knowing a leader is going to listen to you can be very empowering.
All companies have meetings, but not all companies know which ones they need and why. Truly effective companies educate themselves about the productivity of meetings. They know how important it is to do them right.
If you have questions or would like more information, I’d be happy to help. Please send an email, and my team will get in touch with you!
