Take 3 minutes to consider this idea, and I bet it’ll change your entire culture in 6 months. Regular staff meetings still seem to be sacred cows in organizations. What I’ve observed over the years, but especially in today’s fast-paced, information overloaded, message over-saturated day we work in, is this: Very few things warrant a regular meeting lasting over an hour for a team. In fact, it would seem that there’s a direct correlation between organizations who cut down on regular long meetings (opting for shorter, more frequent interaction between team members) and cultures that attract customers and employees who say “this is a great place to be.”
Two years ago, we killed our sacred cow of having the entire team meet on Monday mornings, for 1.5 hours. We killed the draining “we’re all into this for 40 minutes, then we simply drag and hang on for the last 30″ thing. We shot the “let’s keep the boss happy by being in a Monday meeting, because we’ve always done it that way” thing. We shifted to a daily Team Huddle, of 14 minutes in length. Okay, sometimes we run a bit over, but the significance is this: Let’s connect every day, quickly, have someone share personal, professional or Spiritual insights that impact the lives of our team, and speak to the “WHO” in all of us, not the “WHAT” that we do all day. The only rules: We don’t solve problems during Huddle, we don’t discuss projects. We simply pour into our people, we interact, a couple people share what burdens or exciting opportunities they’re working on, we connect.
Most of the “stuff” organizations meet about end up calling multiple people into a room for an expensive hour or more (time is money, so is energy!), and usually it can be effectively AND efficiently communicated electronically. When we leave the paradigm of “we have to meet! we have to meet!”, it’s amazing how much more time you’ll find yourself spending with your team engaged in meaningful interaction, mutual sharpening, and it’ll begin fostering and shaping a culture of collaboration, tearing down of silos, pull on otherwise-left-hidden ideas & talents, and radically change your organization if you’ll let it. The more you do that, the better you flow as a team and “get each other”, and the less need you have to meet all the time to simply communicate stuff.
Here’s a quick test to determine whether you’re in the “Gotta have a meeting” paradigm…as a leader, when you consistently find yourself thinking through things to fill up the meeting time. As a participant, when you find yourself thinking, “Oh, it’s almost time for our regular meeting again. Wonder what it’s about this time?”
Or, you can stick to all the weekly department meetings, to keep the boss and the board happy. Yeah, there’s that. Take a chance, try it. Change the length and the frequency, and most importantly, change the focus: Make the 1st priority be about growing, empowering, encouraging, sharpening, and connecting each other. You can always make a new decision if it doesn’t work. But I bet you’ll wish you did it years ago.
