July 12, 2023 • 13 mins
This week we’re talking effective team meetings and uncovering the secrets to driving collaboration, productivity, and success. Say goodbye to boring meetings and hello to a game-changing approach!
Here's a sneak peek of what we'll cover:
🤝 The Power of Team Meetings: Explore why team meetings are crucial for fostering collaboration, aligning goals, and driving productivity. Discover how well-structured meetings can transform your team dynamics and propel your business forward.
⏰ Meeting Essentials: Learn key elements of running effective team meetings. Set clear objectives, plan and prep with an agenda and designated time, and create an engaging and inclusive environment. Find out who should lead the meeting (hint: it's not always the manager).
🗣️ Fostering Communication and Collaboration: Discover techniques for encouraging open communication, active listening, and constructive feedback during team meetings. Create an environment where everyone feels heard and valued.
⌛️ Time Management and Productivity Hacks: Unveil time management and productivity hacks to keep your meetings focused and efficient. Avoid time-wasting pitfalls, stick to timings, and ensure meetings drive tangible outcomes.
📝 Action Items and Follow-Up: Learn the importance of effective follow-up and accountability. Capture meeting minutes, track action items, and ensure decisions and tasks are carried out efficiently.
🔄 Continuous Improvement: Explore ways to make your meetings more efficient and effective. Foster a culture of continuous improvement by seeking feedback and finding ways to enhance the meeting experience.
💡 Using AI to our advantage.
FREE Hiring & Finance Resources Links
Turn 6 figures in sales into 6 figures in profit [FREE]: https://www.theproductproject.com/moreprofit
Instant Access to The Hire and Scale Masterclass [FREE] - https://www.georgiafitzgeraldcoaching.com/MasterclassReplay
This podcast is brought to you by;
Georgia Fitzgerald (www.georgiafitzgeraldcoaching.com) and Pip Harland (www.theproductproject.com)
If you have a topic you particularly want support with, why not drop us a DM on our Instagram pages: @iamgeorgiafitzgerald OR @pipharland
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
hello and welcome to this episodeof the podcast, and this week we
are talking about how to run yourweekly team meetings effectively.
That is, I saw a brilliant reelthe other day where this girl was
sat in her car and someone askedher what happens in the office?
And she says, basically, Someonesets up a meeting to talk about
(00:20):
the meeting that we need to have.
Then we set up the meeting and talkabout why we're having the meeting, and
then we put another meeting in to circleback about the meeting at a later date,
which I thought kind of summed it up.
But really, team meetings are good, theyare effective, and they can be a great
platform for communication, collaboration.
Alignment with the team andconnection, but we don't just
(00:42):
have meetings for meetings sake.
And I think that's the pointwe're trying to get across here.
Well run meetings can improveproductivity, boost morale, and
foster a positive team culture.
But if they go on too long,they're gonna bore everyone.
Oh yes.
We don't want boring meetings.
We want productive,effective meetings, don't we?
(01:02):
But I think also team meetings aresuch a great way as business owners to
really connect with our team, especiallywhen we're working online and we're all
remote, and it really helps us understandwhat projects everybody's working on.
Where they are, what's going on inthem, if they've got any challenges or
questions that we need to chat aboutand figure out if there's anything that
(01:25):
we need to discuss as a team, becausesomebody's a little bit off deadline and
therefore it's gonna affect other peoplewithin the team and it really helps us.
Communicate what's going on behind thescenes that our team isn't necessarily
seeing on a day-to-day basis.
The changing priorities ofthe business and also our
changing plans for the business.
(01:45):
I think sometimes we are so , inour vision blinkers on, we forget to
bring the team on with us and it's areally nice opportunity for us to help
ensure that everybody's bought intothe bigger mission of the business.
But I do think it's really importantthat we establish a few things to
ensure that we are actually productivein using this time effectively.
(02:05):
And I think the biggest questionwe need to ask ourselves is what do
we want to get out of the meeting?
What are the objectives of this meeting?
What decisions do we want to have made?
who needs to agree to what inorder for us to move forward?
Or what piece of information do weneed to communicate to our team?
And also we really need to thinkabout whether those objectives
(02:25):
are the same for all meetings.
So for example, like a meetingcould be a social, and obviously
a more social meeting is morefor everybody to get together.
It might be that we have a bit of a coffeechat on a Friday to boost team morale and.
Get everybody to get to know eachother, so they work closer together.
But there are also going to belike project checking meetings.
They're not for social time, they'refor understanding whether things are
(02:47):
on track, what's going on, answeringquestions and ensuring that we're gonna
hit the deadlines that have been set.
So it's really important that youunderstand and align your objectives
with the different types of meeting.
You also need to think aboutwhat information you need to
share in the meeting and whatinformation you need other people
(03:07):
to be bringing to the meeting.
You don't want yourmeetings to get sidetracked.
That probably means youneed a different meeting.
So you need to think about who do you needthere and what information do you need
for it to be an effective decision making.
Situation . And with thatcomes, , do you need to plan?
Do you need to pull together any bitsof information or data or pull together
a quick slide on what's going on?
(03:28):
Or what do you need otherpeople in your team to prepare
ahead of the meeting for you?
So you can really ensure that onceyou've got all the right people in,
and I say the right room in the rightvirtual room together, you actually have
all the information you need to makeyour decisions and to move forwards.
Yeah, I'm trying to think backto some really good team meeting
(03:49):
structures that I've been involved in.
And it takes me back to about 10 yearsago to a sales team that I worked in
and we had a weekly meeting every,every Tuesday when our boss came in and.
Actually the format was the same everyweek, but it really focused our attention
on what was important within our role.
(04:09):
Now, because these were sales roles,revenue was essentially what we were
reporting on, but it was a a reallyclear structure in terms of what are
the key activities that I did thisweek that is leading to this revenue.
And how I'm gonna get it to thestage that I wanted it to be at.
And it was great.
It was, it was short.
It was to the point, and it focusedyou on what you needed to think
(04:31):
about in your role, which is sortof what we want from a meeting.
Now I was working recently with someclients who have made some massive
improvements in the way they run theirteam meetings, but the team had sort of
grown and the meetings had grown in sortof length and ness as the team growed.
So they started off with, theywere having three meetings a week.
(04:53):
There was no real structure.
Things would kind of drag out.
There was a lot of niceties andpolite chit chat for quite a long
time at the beginning of the meeting.
Sometimes long conversations would startup with just involving two team members
about a project that they were working on.
So gradually everyone elseis switching off and losing
interest in the whole meeting.
(05:13):
And once people have startedto switch off, it's really
difficult to bring them back in.
So we did some work on how wewere structuring these meetings.
, And we decided that actually firstly,somebody else other than the business
owner should probably be leading thismeeting, these meetings mainly because
they could put in a bit of prep in advancein terms of what do I need to collate
(05:35):
from people in advance in this meeting?
How much time have we got?
What are the big projects?
, and he would have people submit theiragenda in advance if it was clear that
a discussion was going down a routethat it was just two people involved.
He'd cut that discussion.
Sure.
Ask them to schedule a timeoutside of this meeting.
Move on to the next thing.
(05:55):
They started to take way better notes.
They were sending out follow upsand action points afterwards.
And it got to the point where the three,quite lengthy one hour meetings went
down to just two 20 minute meetings aweek, but everybody was feeling much more
motivated and involved in the meetingand actually really getting something
from it rather than feeling it was just awaste of their time on a Monday morning.
(06:17):
That's amazing.
There is nothing worse thanbeing in a meeting and thinking,
I don't need to be here.
It's there.
So Georgia, I would love to knowwhat are some of your top tips or
mistakes that you see your clientsmaking and what can we learn from
those to bring into our businesses?
Okay.
There should definitely bea purpose to your meeting.
Do you actually need thismeeting to happen in person?
(06:40):
Could it be a loom video?
Is there another way that youcould communicate whatever it
is that you need to communicate?
So , number one, thereneeds to be a purpose.
Number two is all aroundsetting clear objectives.
We want everybody to know.
Why this meeting is happening, whatthey need to bring to it, and what
they wanna bring from it, which linksinto the kind of planning and prepping.
(07:00):
I love a meeting agenda, even ifit's just a few bullet points on
this is what we're gonna be talkingabout mainly so I know how long the
meeting's gonna go on once we're in it.
You know, if 20 minutes are in and we'vejust cleared one of the 10 bullet points
we could be in for a long ride, but.
Again, so it's the agenda, how much timewe are looking to, to take up with this,
(07:23):
and I think if you are calling a meeting.
It's really important to stick tothe timings that you have set out
because other people are busy.
You don't know what their prioritiesare or stress levels are that week.
So if you're putting something together,stick to the agenda, stick to the timings.
Plan as much in advance so you are notlosing any time during the meeting.
(07:43):
The other thing you reallywanna do is create an engaging
and inclusive environment.
So think about the team dynamics.
Think about how that is gonna work whenyou are asking people to contribute.
, as the business leader, it's probablybest not to say your opinion first
because people might feel likethey just need to agree with yours.
Much better to encourage some.
(08:05):
Different opinions or some differentthought, and perhaps whoever's leading
the meeting, which might be you, isencouraging people that perhaps are
sometimes a bit quieter to speak up withtheir opinion in, you know, a really
nice, inclusive and encouraging way.
We're not spotlighting them,they're not in trouble.
It's more asking for theirthoughts on something and you can
(08:26):
give them a reason why you mightbe asking for their thoughts.
And then my final point would probably beround who is actually leading the meeting.
Like is it you as the businessbusiness owner or is it someone else?
You know?
And the example I gave earlier, Actuallymade more sense for someone else to be
leading the meeting because they wereinvolved in the different departments and
(08:46):
were a little bit better at timekeeping.
So who should be running this meeting?
What about you, PIP?
What do you think?
I.
Well, it's funny that you mentionedtimekeeping, cuz that would be top of
my list, is making sure that you havegood time management and that might be
you, or if you are not good at keepingtime, you delegate that out to somebody
who's really hot at watching the clock.
(09:08):
So having somebody keeping the meeting ontrack, you can set a timer if you need to.
And that comes back to having your agendaand knowing roughly how many points you
need to to look at in the meeting so youcan divide it in your head and say, right.
10 minutes for this, 10 minutes forthis, five minutes for this, and stick
to it if you need to have a separatemeeting, put in a separate meeting.
But generally, most people don'tneed to be listening to that
(09:30):
lengthy conversation, do they?
So keep to time.
I think another thing is also really,Talking about how you can keep that
open communication and collaborationand how you can encourage this.
So really thinking about active,active listening and following
that up with constructive feedback.
You know, we have two ears andone mouth for a reason, as my mom
(09:52):
always used to say when we werekids growing up, but it's so true.
We need to listen to each other morebecause that's where the best ideas
come out with, and I think it's about.
Creating that environment where everybodyfeels safe to bring any idea, as wacky
as it might be to the table, becauseit's often, those are the ideas where
there's just that little nugget init, which can make all the difference.
(10:15):
It's obviously also really importantto action items and following up.
So again, this doesn't need to beyou, but having somebody that's taking
notes throughout on when there areaction items, making sure that it's
written down and communicated tothe team afterwards or potentially,
you know, put into project software.
So for instance, we'll just put all of ouractions into Asana as the meeting's going.
(10:35):
And make sure that everybodyat the end of the meeting knows
what their jobs are going away.
So it actually gets done.
And that includes alsodeadlines with that.
So people, it's not just, I'm gonna getthis done, you know, what's gonna get done
and you know when it's gonna get done by.
And then I think something thatwe don't think about very often
is how can we improve on meetings?
And this is really like a,the feedback loop, right?
We need to.
(10:56):
Speak to the team and ask ourselves,how can we make this more efficient?
How can we be better at doing this?
And this to me is a team thing.
This is not just you sayinghow we can do, it's better.
It's getting everybody involved andgoing right as a unit, how can we be
an even better team and how can we bemore effective on what we're doing?
And then finally, we really need touse tools and technology and embrace
(11:20):
the, the software available to us.
So whether that is utilizing AIand getting the meetings recorded,
and , getting a transcription.
There's some really cool bits ofsoftware that actually then take
the transcription and like almostpull out a lot of the action points
for you and do the heavy lifting.
But think about what can Iuse tech-wise in order to make
(11:41):
the meeting more efficient.
So it's not everybody scribblingthings down on a piece of paper
and pieces of paper getting lost.
What can we do to speed things up soeverybody's time is spent on actually
doing their jobs and not on all theadmin that comes with meetings for us.
Cuz that's not the pointof meetings, is it?
We're not trying to add moreadmin to people's plates.
We're trying to actuallyachieve our outcomes.
(12:02):
So there you have it.
It's a whistle stop guide torunning an effective team meeting.
hello and welcome to this episodeof the podcast, and this week we
are talking about how to run yourweekly team meetings effectively.
That is, I saw a brilliant reelthe other day where this girl was
sat in her car and someone askedher what happens in the office?
And she says, basically, Someonesets up a meeting to talk about
(00:20):
the meeting that we need to have.
Then we set up the meeting and talkabout why we're having the meeting, and
then we put another meeting in to circleback about the meeting at a later date,
which I thought kind of summed it up.
But really, team meetings are good, theyare effective, and they can be a great
platform for communication, collaboration.
Alignment with the team andconnection, but we don't just
(00:42):
have meetings for meetings sake.
And I think that's the pointwe're trying to get across here.
Well run meetings can improveproductivity, boost morale, and
foster a positive team culture.
But if they go on too long,they're gonna bore everyone.
Oh yes.
We don't want boring meetings.
We want productive,effective meetings, don't we?
(01:02):
But I think also team meetings aresuch a great way as business owners to
really connect with our team, especiallywhen we're working online and we're all
remote, and it really helps us understandwhat projects everybody's working on.
Where they are, what's going on inthem, if they've got any challenges or
questions that we need to chat aboutand figure out if there's anything that
(01:25):
we need to discuss as a team, becausesomebody's a little bit off deadline and
therefore it's gonna affect other peoplewithin the team and it really helps us.
Communicate what's going on behind thescenes that our team isn't necessarily
seeing on a day-to-day basis.
The changing priorities ofthe business and also our
changing plans for the business.
(01:45):
I think sometimes we are so , inour vision blinkers on, we forget to
bring the team on with us and it's areally nice opportunity for us to help
ensure that everybody's bought intothe bigger mission of the business.
But I do think it's really importantthat we establish a few things to
ensure that we are actually productivein using this time effectively.
(02:05):
And I think the biggest questionwe need to ask ourselves is what do
we want to get out of the meeting?
What are the objectives of this meeting?
What decisions do we want to have made?
who needs to agree to what inorder for us to move forward?
Or what piece of information do weneed to communicate to our team?
And also we really need to thinkabout whether those objectives
(02:25):
are the same for all meetings.
So for example, like a meetingcould be a social, and obviously
a more social meeting is morefor everybody to get together.
It might be that we have a bit of a coffeechat on a Friday to boost team morale and.
Get everybody to get to know eachother, so they work closer together.
But there are also going to belike project checking meetings.
They're not for social time, they'refor understanding whether things are
(02:47):
on track, what's going on, answeringquestions and ensuring that we're gonna
hit the deadlines that have been set.
So it's really important that youunderstand and align your objectives
with the different types of meeting.
You also need to think aboutwhat information you need to
share in the meeting and whatinformation you need other people
(03:07):
to be bringing to the meeting.
You don't want yourmeetings to get sidetracked.
That probably means youneed a different meeting.
So you need to think about who do you needthere and what information do you need
for it to be an effective decision making.
Situation . And with thatcomes, , do you need to plan?
Do you need to pull together any bitsof information or data or pull together
a quick slide on what's going on?
(03:28):
Or what do you need otherpeople in your team to prepare
ahead of the meeting for you?
So you can really ensure that onceyou've got all the right people in,
and I say the right room in the rightvirtual room together, you actually have
all the information you need to makeyour decisions and to move forwards.
Yeah, I'm trying to think backto some really good team meeting
(03:49):
structures that I've been involved in.
And it takes me back to about 10 yearsago to a sales team that I worked in
and we had a weekly meeting every,every Tuesday when our boss came in and.
Actually the format was the same everyweek, but it really focused our attention
on what was important within our role.
(04:09):
Now, because these were sales roles,revenue was essentially what we were
reporting on, but it was a a reallyclear structure in terms of what are
the key activities that I did thisweek that is leading to this revenue.
And how I'm gonna get it to thestage that I wanted it to be at.
And it was great.
It was, it was short.
It was to the point, and it focusedyou on what you needed to think
(04:31):
about in your role, which is sortof what we want from a meeting.
Now I was working recently with someclients who have made some massive
improvements in the way they run theirteam meetings, but the team had sort of
grown and the meetings had grown in sortof length and ness as the team growed.
So they started off with, theywere having three meetings a week.
(04:53):
There was no real structure.
Things would kind of drag out.
There was a lot of niceties andpolite chit chat for quite a long
time at the beginning of the meeting.
Sometimes long conversations would startup with just involving two team members
about a project that they were working on.
So gradually everyone elseis switching off and losing
interest in the whole meeting.
(05:13):
And once people have startedto switch off, it's really
difficult to bring them back in.
So we did some work on how wewere structuring these meetings.
, And we decided that actually firstly,somebody else other than the business
owner should probably be leading thismeeting, these meetings mainly because
they could put in a bit of prep in advancein terms of what do I need to collate
(05:35):
from people in advance in this meeting?
How much time have we got?
What are the big projects?
, and he would have people submit theiragenda in advance if it was clear that
a discussion was going down a routethat it was just two people involved.
He'd cut that discussion.
Sure.
Ask them to schedule a timeoutside of this meeting.
Move on to the next thing.
(05:55):
They started to take way better notes.
They were sending out follow upsand action points afterwards.
And it got to the point where the three,quite lengthy one hour meetings went
down to just two 20 minute meetings aweek, but everybody was feeling much more
motivated and involved in the meetingand actually really getting something
from it rather than feeling it was just awaste of their time on a Monday morning.
(06:17):
That's amazing.
There is nothing worse thanbeing in a meeting and thinking,
I don't need to be here.
It's there.
So Georgia, I would love to knowwhat are some of your top tips or
mistakes that you see your clientsmaking and what can we learn from
those to bring into our businesses?
Okay.
There should definitely bea purpose to your meeting.
Do you actually need thismeeting to happen in person?
(06:40):
Could it be a loom video?
Is there another way that youcould communicate whatever it
is that you need to communicate?
So , number one, thereneeds to be a purpose.
Number two is all aroundsetting clear objectives.
We want everybody to know.
Why this meeting is happening, whatthey need to bring to it, and what
they wanna bring from it, which linksinto the kind of planning and prepping.
(07:00):
I love a meeting agenda, even ifit's just a few bullet points on
this is what we're gonna be talkingabout mainly so I know how long the
meeting's gonna go on once we're in it.
You know, if 20 minutes are in and we'vejust cleared one of the 10 bullet points
we could be in for a long ride, but.
Again, so it's the agenda, how much timewe are looking to, to take up with this,
(07:23):
and I think if you are calling a meeting.
It's really important to stick tothe timings that you have set out
because other people are busy.
You don't know what their prioritiesare or stress levels are that week.
So if you're putting something together,stick to the agenda, stick to the timings.
Plan as much in advance so you are notlosing any time during the meeting.
(07:43):
The other thing you reallywanna do is create an engaging
and inclusive environment.
So think about the team dynamics.
Think about how that is gonna work whenyou are asking people to contribute.
, as the business leader, it's probablybest not to say your opinion first
because people might feel likethey just need to agree with yours.
Much better to encourage some.
(08:05):
Different opinions or some differentthought, and perhaps whoever's leading
the meeting, which might be you, isencouraging people that perhaps are
sometimes a bit quieter to speak up withtheir opinion in, you know, a really
nice, inclusive and encouraging way.
We're not spotlighting them,they're not in trouble.
It's more asking for theirthoughts on something and you can
(08:26):
give them a reason why you mightbe asking for their thoughts.
And then my final point would probably beround who is actually leading the meeting.
Like is it you as the businessbusiness owner or is it someone else?
You know?
And the example I gave earlier, Actuallymade more sense for someone else to be
leading the meeting because they wereinvolved in the different departments and
(08:46):
were a little bit better at timekeeping.
So who should be running this meeting?
What about you, PIP?
What do you think?
I.
Well, it's funny that you mentionedtimekeeping, cuz that would be top of
my list, is making sure that you havegood time management and that might be
you, or if you are not good at keepingtime, you delegate that out to somebody
who's really hot at watching the clock.
(09:08):
So having somebody keeping the meeting ontrack, you can set a timer if you need to.
And that comes back to having your agendaand knowing roughly how many points you
need to to look at in the meeting so youcan divide it in your head and say, right.
10 minutes for this, 10 minutes forthis, five minutes for this, and stick
to it if you need to have a separatemeeting, put in a separate meeting.
But generally, most people don'tneed to be listening to that
(09:30):
lengthy conversation, do they?
So keep to time.
I think another thing is also really,Talking about how you can keep that
open communication and collaborationand how you can encourage this.
So really thinking about active,active listening and following
that up with constructive feedback.
You know, we have two ears andone mouth for a reason, as my mom
(09:52):
always used to say when we werekids growing up, but it's so true.
We need to listen to each other morebecause that's where the best ideas
come out with, and I think it's about.
Creating that environment where everybodyfeels safe to bring any idea, as wacky
as it might be to the table, becauseit's often, those are the ideas where
there's just that little nugget init, which can make all the difference.
(10:15):
It's obviously also really importantto action items and following up.
So again, this doesn't need to beyou, but having somebody that's taking
notes throughout on when there areaction items, making sure that it's
written down and communicated tothe team afterwards or potentially,
you know, put into project software.
So for instance, we'll just put all of ouractions into Asana as the meeting's going.
(10:35):
And make sure that everybodyat the end of the meeting knows
what their jobs are going away.
So it actually gets done.
And that includes alsodeadlines with that.
So people, it's not just, I'm gonna getthis done, you know, what's gonna get done
and you know when it's gonna get done by.
And then I think something thatwe don't think about very often
is how can we improve on meetings?
And this is really like a,the feedback loop, right?
We need to.
(10:56):
Speak to the team and ask ourselves,how can we make this more efficient?
How can we be better at doing this?
And this to me is a team thing.
This is not just you sayinghow we can do, it's better.
It's getting everybody involved andgoing right as a unit, how can we be
an even better team and how can we bemore effective on what we're doing?
And then finally, we really need touse tools and technology and embrace
(11:20):
the, the software available to us.
So whether that is utilizing AIand getting the meetings recorded,
and , getting a transcription.
There's some really cool bits ofsoftware that actually then take
the transcription and like almostpull out a lot of the action points
for you and do the heavy lifting.
But think about what can Iuse tech-wise in order to make
(11:41):
the meeting more efficient.
So it's not everybody scribblingthings down on a piece of paper
and pieces of paper getting lost.
What can we do to speed things up soeverybody's time is spent on actually
doing their jobs and not on all theadmin that comes with meetings for us.
Cuz that's not the pointof meetings, is it?
We're not trying to add moreadmin to people's plates.
We're trying to actuallyachieve our outcomes.
(12:02):
So there you have it.
It's a whistle stop guide torunning an effective team meeting.
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