We just had an all-staff meeting at Black Tulip on Friday. I have tried and hold one monthly, though when things get busy, it is one of the first things that gets postponed until later. I think it might have been four or five months since the previous one.

I use the staff meetings to update our staff on new developments, welcoming new staff or new clients, and generally give them an overview of how things are going. It is also used to remind people about rules and regulations, upcoming holidays and an opportunity to single out people for praise. Criticism gets done in private.

I always attempt to keep it light and positive and we generally finish with a team-building activity and some snacks. It is easy for the management team, who are generally aware of all on-going activities, to forget that the other staff members also benefit from knowledge related to their activities and their work environment.

On the internet I found an interesting article by Damon Schechter, How To Run A Staff Meeting. There is a lot of good information in the article, here are a couple of things that caught my attention:

• Instead of calling them staff meetings, it’s a small but important thing to call them what they really are, which is leadership meetings.
• Most well run staff meetings do seem to address a clearly defined need, such as the need for team members to know what’s going on with each other
• As for frequency, it goes without saying, that everyone is adverse to meetings for the sake of meetings
• Meeting Structure:
  • Leader Overview
  • Team Member Round Robin
  • Customer Focus
  • Deep Dive, Seek Input or Brain Storm
• Leader’s Responsibilities
  • Be the embodiment of the vision and values of the company
  • Do not make decisions , only ratify decisions
  • Be brutal about keeping to a schedule
  • Mix up the agenda, invite guests and take field trips
  • Consider banning mobile devices and laptops
• Team Member’s Responsibilities
  • When you speak, clearly differentiate between facts and issues versus judgements
  • When you listen, give compliments on the good info you hear and voice your opinion on areas on which you want to see more next time

A really interesting article; I suggest you read it. It’s on a site called the Business Insider.

Thank You!