teammeetings.org

How to use team meetings to improve performance and switch people on.

living OF theMeeting

dead

© 2009 by Jason Moore. Copyright holder is licensing this under the Creative Commons License, Attribution 3.0 teammeetings.org

teammeetings.org

from the moon, and removed the pips from fruit.

In the last 50 years ordinary men

and women have cured countless diseases,

saved millions of lives, returned safely

teammeetings.org

So why cant we conduct an

effective meeting?

teammeetings.org

...that has blinded us to the horrors done unto others in meeting rooms around the globe.

Maybe, scientists will announce a missing gene...

the meeting gene?

teammeetings.org

maybe not

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Perhaps some bright spark will find a defective neural pathway

that pumps adrenaline when we gather to listen to the minutes from incredibly important meetings we were not worthy enough to attend.

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unlikely

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Do you think long monologues about ‘what needs to change around here’

will eventually have a delayed, explosive impact?

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what are you thinking?

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That the living dead expressions

of team members

signify an incredibly powerful

psychological ‘learning state’?

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More likely, the sound of our own voice is just

so much more interesting ...

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teammeetings.org

...than the collective hum of a highly motivated and engaged team, working collaboratively to

solve problems and share ideas.

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‘Managers Make us Miserable’

Lets stop watching people professionally die a little every time we herd them together for another episode of...

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rocket science!It’s not

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based on lots

of research

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BTW... the least

are very common.

We observed

1000’s of them.

effective managers

We found the least effective managers have fewer team meetings than the most effective. Which is probably a good thing, because team members can’t wait for those meetings to end.

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One-way communication, information overload,

compliance-focused get-togethers aren’t as much fun as you think!

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teammeetings.org

on the other hand

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The most effective managers, who’s team members look forward

to team meetings and report serious organisational benefits...

teammeetings.org

focus on priorities41. Producing a Result

Actions that directly link to the organisations objectives

2. Innovating Work

Continuously improving productivity through process innovation

3. Facilitating Growth

Developing team members collaboratively

4. Monitoring continuity

Celebrating, acknowledging contributions and keeping everyone accountable.

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focus on Producing a Result

1. Producing a Result. Focus on Actions that directly link to the organisations objectives

A team meeting that starts with team and organisational goals shows this is a business

meeting, no matter how much fun you make it.Managers that have high performing teams tend to spend the first 25% of the meeting on goals.

teammeetings.org

Reflect on achievements,

discuss what the team wants to accomplish tomorrow

and plan how to get there.

Clarify the team + organisations goals.

It is important to help team members see the link between what they do and the core goals of the company.

Relate short-term team goals to the organisations vision so people can see how they make a difference.

Record team commitments and evaluate the success of actions under-taken after the last meeting before moving on.

Ask team members to share their goals.

Give each team member a minute or two to briefly share their performance goals, how they are travelling and what they will do to meet them. 

Ask all team members to make suggestions based on their experience, particularly if there is a shortfall in individual or team goals.

1. Producing a Result. Focus on Actions that directly link to the organisations objectives

teammeetings.org

focus on Innovating Work

Move from ‘what’ needs to be achieved to ‘how’ to improve the way you accomplish goals. 

High performing managers spend about 25% of the meeting on improving productivity, by

making processes and tools easier and better.

2. Innovating work. Focus on continuously improving productivity through process innovation

teammeetings.org

Collaborate on improved processes and tools.

Make what team members do every day easier.

Get everyone participating.

Ask team members to focus on improvement.

Large scale changes might be out of your sphere of influence but improving smaller, tactical processes and tools can have a big impact.

Ask the team to pick a simple process or tool and brainstorm ideas that will improve it. Implement the change quickly and let team members know.

Share and discuss current & future changes.

Few things say “you’re not important” more loudly than withholding important information Team Members need. Sending it via eMail is no better.

Between team meetings make a note of all current or future changes that impact team members... keep everyone in the loop (verbally, not via eMail) and ask for constructive suggestions in or after the meeting.

2. Innovating work. Focus on continuously improving productivity through process innovation

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focus on Facilitating Growth

High performance managers also focus on ‘how’ to accomplish goals through professional

development. They spend at least a quarter of the meeting on learning from each other.

3. Facilitating Growth. Focus on developing team members collaboratively

teammeetings.org

Provide a forum for learning from each other

and the teams collective mistakes.

Ask team members to share expertise.

Give each team member a minute or two to share what they have learned between team meetings.

If a team member has a BIG LEARNING give them more time to share and discuss.

Ask team members to share learnings and observations from coaching sessions...

Conduct role plays & debrief as a group.

Ask: what happened, what worked well and what could be done differently.

Learn from individual and team mistakes.

One of the best times to learn is when things don’t go to plan. Brainstorm ideas to ensure the team doesn’t make the same mistakes again.

3. Facilitating Growth. Focus on developing team members collaboratively

teammeetings.org

focus on Monitoring continuity

Spend the remaining time celebrating team members accomplishing. Encourage team

members to take responsibility for this section of the meeting. They can show their appreciation

of each other just as easily as the manager.

4. Monitoring Continuity. Focus on Celebrating, acknowledging contributions and keeping everyone accountable.

teammeetings.org

Celebrate wins,

reward outstanding contributions

and keep everyone on the same page.

Celebrate accomplishments and small wins.

Let team members know their effort is appreciated. Even a small memento or a thank you can have a big impact.

Keep rewards small, tailored & relevant.

Avoid comparing team members, it annoys people more than it helps them. Involve everyone in the celebration and ask team members to commend others when appropriate.

Confirm values and high standards.

If you have a list of team values or commitments (and you should) discuss them as you bring the meeting to a close.

Ask team members to share how they have lived the values between team meetings.

At the end of the meeting team members should leave motivated and clear about the teams high standards.

4. Monitoring Continuity. Focus on Celebrating, acknowledging contributions and keeping everyone accountable.

teammeetings.org

Always start a team meeting on-time (even if

others are late) and allocate at least an hour.

If you have a team of ten, that’s 10 person hours you

are responsible for... spend at least an hour

preparing for the meeting.

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Let team members know what you expect from them

(for example: arrive on time, participate, ask

questions, one conversation, et al).

Be flexible with timings but always finish on time.

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Open the meeting, then let team members do the

talking... it’s their meeting.

Your role is to keep things on track, ask thought

provoking questions, facilitate activities and mediate

personality clashes.

teammeetings.org© 2009 by Jason Moore. Copyright holder is licensing this under the Creative Commons License, Attribution 3.0

teammeetings.orgFor Details on how Jason Moore can uniquely tailor an engagement to your specific needs, contact him at jason@beingculture.com

Jason delivers practical, cutting-edge insight in a presentation style that has been described as ‘expertise with humour’.

Actionable ideas are at the heart of every Jason Moore engagement. Over 20 years of research, consulting, leading and keen observation of the best and worst of today’s leaders has gone into creating one of the strongest, most practical approaches to developing leadership.

Jason and his company are dedicated to making work better and developing leaders who will have the greatest possible impact.

By observing thousands of teams and noticing where they spend their time and effort, Jason found a simple but enduring truth: High performing and low performing managers focus their time and effort on completely different things. Top performers consistently focus on 4 simple leadership priorities: Producing a Result, Innovating Work, Facilitating Growth and Monitoring Continuity.

With humour and candour, Jason will share with you simple, practical and common-sense secrets that only the top 10% of managers use.

Contact Jason at jason@beingculture.com...

Jason Moore will help you make work betterA world in which people can produce a meaningful result, innovate, grow, live up to a high standard and enjoy what they do everyday.

Jason is a member of the Australia Institute of Professional Facilitators

Monitoring Continuity

Facilitating Growth

Innovating Work

Producing a Result