Menu

Meetings

leadership teams

How to champion a world class leadership team meeting, even when past attempts have failed miserably.

, , , ,

Scrapped your weekly leadership team meetings yet?

There are three measures of a world class leadership meeting:

(1) Everyone shows up every week, driven by FOMO and a belief that this hour is the most valuable of their week

(2) There is a palpable sense of forward momentum and an unlocking of potential throughout the meeting

(3) The team leaves energized with a greater sense of clarity

Few leadership teams seize the full benefit of their weekly connection. More often they find any reason to skip it, or bail on the routine completely. The unspoken truth is that everyone finds the meeting a massive waste of time.

For many founders, these meetings take on a bipolar personality. One minute someone at the table seeks to validate their worth, boasting about their latest achievement. The next minute, you find yourself managing a barrage of passive aggressive attacks.

Your leadership team meeting — the group meeting you have with your direct reports — is the most expensive recurring meeting on your calendar. It’s also the biggest leverage point you’ve got. Without them, inefficiency permeates your business.

The defining question to ask yourself before creating or reshaping your leadership team meeting:

Do your direct reports collectively constitute a leadership team?

Most leadership teams in early stage companies aren’t actually teams. They are a collection of individuals who report to the founder and CEO. They don’t feel a shared responsibility for running the company. Instead, they co-lead their respective departments with the CEO.

If you don’t have a leadership team, you don’t need a leadership team meeting. Other types of meetings will be helpful, but skip this one until you are ready to build a true team.

Find the format that meets your needs

Let’s assume you do have a functioning leadership team. It’s a group where everyone brings unique content and has a voice in the running of the business.

Here are three different meeting formats to consider. Use these to customize a meeting that works for your circumstances. Try out all three so you know which one works best for your team.

Format #1: The weekly check-in

Best used: when the primary goal is to keep everyone aligned and you informed.

Meeting rhythm: go around the table with each person sharing the following four items in 5 minutes or less:

1) Changes to their top metrics (sales numbers, milestone completions, cancellations, etc.)

2) An update on critical news since the previous meeting. What should everyone else in the room know?

3) The top 2–3 priorities of their team for the upcoming week.

4) Requests for help (information, resources, etc.) from other teams.

Leave 15 minutes at the end to tackle the most pressing issue of the week.

Close out: by quickly reviewing everyone’s action items.

Format #2: The weekly tactical

Best used: for tackling a high volume of action items. This meeting is all about getting shit done. When teams rely on each other and are too busy to connect between meetings, this format rocks.

Meeting Rhythm: Select a scribe to capture notes that get projected in the room or shared live online. Create an agenda on the fly by capturing a list of topics. Everyone in the meeting participates in creating the list.

Example: “Discuss hiring — Mike”

Start at the top of the list. “Topic one, discuss hiring, Mike what do you need?”

Mike has four possible responses:

“I need everyone to know… [insert critical information that Mike cannot share in some other written format]”

“I need a quick answer (or approval) on…”

“I need time with Zak, Julie, and Sarika to discuss…”

“I have an issue/tension/problem with… [insert issue] that I would like to address by… [propose solution]”

Each of these should lead to an immediate and quick resolution of the issue or to a specific action item. The scribe captures the action and assigns an owner.

Example: “Mike to schedule a 30 minute meeting with Zak, Julie, and Sarika to discuss…”

The weekly tactical should move super fast and cover a long list of issues.

Close out: with each person sharing their version of: “Leaving this meeting I am most excited about / energized to / focused on…”

Format #3: The weekly problem solver

Best used: for tackling big topics needing time and collective brainpower.

Meeting Rhythm: Select one or two topics in advance of the meeting. Send everyone a clear problem statement.

Example: “Sales are 20% below target with 5 weeks left in the quarter. How can we work together to turn this around while we still have runway?”

Start the meeting by restating and taking ownership of the problem statement. Ask for advice. Dedicate a solid 10 to 15 minutes to brainstorming. Let the ideas flow — no idea is a bad idea. Then move to action, recording decisions when made.

The key to these meetings is staying on topic.

Close out: by quickly reviewing everyone’s action items.

Tips for staying on track

At this point you may be rolling your eyes thinking it can’t be that easy. You’re right. Even the experts religiously use hacks to keep meetings on track. Whatever meeting format you choose, here are some tips to keep your meetings running smoothly.

Tip #1: Know why you are meeting.

If you don’t know, the meeting is over. Your time is too valuable to sit around hoping something important drops onto the table.

Tip #2: Be clear on your role at the table.

How are you going to show up in these meetings? As a “teller”? A decision maker? A tie-breaker? An instigator? A disruptor? A facilitator? A negotiator? I guarantee you have a default style you use in these meetings. Choosing to flex is a sign of true leadership. Sometimes the team needs you to be a decision maker. Other times, allowing the rest of the team to debate is better.

Tip #3: Keep it super simple.

You are too busy to manage the creation of a new meeting agenda every week. So don’t. Depend on rituals, repetition and habit instead. Design a standing agenda and stick with it. When you reach the end of the agenda, the meeting is over.

Tip #4: Have an eagle eye for balance.

Agendas can become too rigid. Item. Item. Item. Done. Teams need the opportunity to bond too. Some social banter throughout the meeting is healthy. Without it, creativity and collective problem solving will suffer. If the balance swings too far the other way, important business gets missed. It’s your job to keep this balance healthy.

Tip #5: Meet to design the meeting.

Until you all agree on a set of meeting principles, everyone comes with their own ideas. Your first leadership team meeting has one agenda item: how will we run this meeting? Together, create a short list of principles that will give shape to the meetings. White board a list of questions. Is technology allowed? Under what circumstances can a meeting be missed? What type of content is a good fit? etc. Distill the answers into 5–6 principles. Keep it simple.

Tip #6: Stay focused on business fundamentals.

Meetings often become so intense that business fundamentals get lost. The company Resourceful Humans built a free app to keep the fundamentals present at all times. When someone notices that one of these five basics is no longer true, a red flag goes up.

• The customer is clearly the centre of our debate

• We are making things as simple as possible

• We are clear on the question before moving to solution mode

• Actions are understood and clearly communicated

• We are honouring our values in this meeting

Once you take off the training wheels, these meetings will become a crucial pillar of your business success. You’ll wonder how you functioned without them. Your team will love the clarity and energy that results, and so will you. Embrace a format that works for your circumstances.

Reach out with your success stories and share your unique customization. If you hit some bumps, contact me and I’ll share more tips to get things on track.

I blog to help Founder CEOs on their journey from kitchen table to 200 employees. Be the first to receive new articles by signing up for my newsletter here.

enjoy-team

Founders: How to rock your company huddle without it becoming an awkward time waster.

, , ,

A source of employee dissatisfaction is ALWAYS a lack of communication. It’s in the top three complaints your team has. I guarantee it. Your team wants more info than you give.

Inevitably you’ve tried a weekly team meeting. You put it on the calendar. The first one was a resounding success. You had so much to say that the meeting ran into overtime. The second meeting wasn’t bad, but the content dropped. By the third meeting, you struggled to scrape together enough to fill the time. You shifted to monthly as a compromise. Within four months the meeting was gone from everyone’s calendar. Or worse yet, it has continued as a painful time waster spent reviewing long to-do lists.

Think about this. For a team of 25, a one hour meeting is costing you at least $1k. That’s $50k a year!

A shoddy company-wide meeting reflects directly on you. It damages your leadership cred. On the flip side, if you’re not bringing the team together and keeping them up-to-date, you’re wearing that too.

Looking for a solution that works? Here’s a PROVEN RECIPE FOR SUCCESS. One of my clients has been using this exact formula religiously, every week, for five years. Their employee satisfaction is off the charts positive.

Use the time to maximum benefit — You can achieve a ton in 25 minutes with a solid schedule. Here’s a sample to get you started.

Host starts the meeting at the scheduled time

Good news stories (4 mins) — An opportunity for anyone in the company to share quick personal or professional good news. A new client. A pregnancy. The launch of a long awaited marketing tool. A promotion. Before the first meeting, prompt a few people to share. It will help get the ball rolling.

Industry news (2 mins) — The host shares one or two bits of news from your industry. Something that’s new, exciting and worthy of sharing.

Department updates (10 mins) — Each week, on a rotating schedule, one or two departments present an update. This is the time to share successes, learnings and upcoming plans, keeping everyone in the loop.

Metrics (2 mins) — Report on the top two or three metrics that your company is tracking. Volume of new orders. Percentage up time. Number of new customers.

Open Floor (4 mins) — An opportunity for anyone else to speak if they have valuable information to share. Often this is where other departments, committees, and you provide urgent updates.

Recognition (1 min) — The host recognizes someone on the team. If you have company values defined, the recognition gets tied to a value. It needs to be a specific person for a specific action or achievement. A general appreciation for the awesomeness of a department or individual doesn’t cut it.

Select the next host (1 min) — The current host chooses someone to be next week’s host. They also announce the departments presenting the following week.

Embrace these four philosophies to rock your weekly meetings.

1) Weekly without fail — Pick a time that works and NEVER move it. Steer clear of Mondays and Fridays to avoid public holidays and personal vacation days. The meeting goes, whether you are there or not (You should be there at least 75% of the time). Set the expectation that everyone needs to schedule around this meeting.

2) Keep it tight — Irrespective of the size of your team, this meeting should run less than 25 minutes. If you can’t keep it on schedule, something’s not working. You will start losing the support of your busy team.

3) Depend on rhythm — This meeting works or fails based on rhythm. Create a template, make sure everyone knows it, and stick to it.

4) Keep it fun — If there isn’t a good dose of laughter every week, be concerned. These meetings should be fun. It’s a time for the team to connect. Keep it light.

That’s the time tested recipe and here are the critical ingredients.

Define a meeting owner — Someone needs to own this meeting. Often it’s an EA, receptionist or office manager. This person has a few critical responsibilities. Two days before the huddle, they send a reminder email to the host and presenting departments. Before the meeting they collect presentations and compile them into one document. On the day of the meeting, they make sure the space is ready, IT equipment is working, and music is playing. During the meeting they take notes of what’s said. Within 60 minutes they send those notes and the presentation to the entire company. Anyone who missed the meeting is back in the loop within an hour.

Start time — Set a standard start time for your meeting and be specific. My client starts their meeting at 1:07 SHARP every Wednesday and ends by 1:30. Why 1:07? Meetings scheduled for the top of the hour will start late. Period. Midday is good for spanning time zones. Early morning meetings infringe on your team’s work-life-balance. Late afternoon meetings will be lower in energy. Choose a time that works and stick to it.

Pump the music — About 3 minutes before the start time, pump music through the office. It builds energy and provides a friendly reminder. The meeting host picks the music for the week.

It’s a standing meeting — Any team member capable must stand. This is a quick huddle not a lingering social event.

Rotate the meeting host — There are so many benefits to having someone different host each week. Here are four. The host gets to practice their public speaking and gets some visibility. No two meetings are the same. As the team grows, everyone gets to know everyone else. Most important, the meeting can always run even if you are away.

Remote employees — Everything I’ve shared is perfect when your team is in one place. This is often not the case. Technology is the answer. Buy a portable video camera and microphone and broadcast the meeting using [insert your favourite tool here]. Have someone watch the computer so remote team members can type in questions.

Large vs small teams — If your team is small (under 10), find ways to have everyone take part in every meeting. Keep it short. Have everyone share one good news story or their single biggest priority for the next 5 days. For larger teams, impromptu is better. Everyone has an opportunity to speak but doesn’t need to.

Daily vs weekly meetings — Some companies use short (<10 min) daily meetings rather than longer weekly ones. Everything here still applies with two changes. Use the same host for an entire week and break the larger agenda down into smaller, shorter pieces.

Give it a try. I’d love to hear your success stories. If you hit some bumps, contact me and I’ll share more tips to get things on track.

I blog to help Founder CEOs on their journey from kitchen table to 200 employees. Be the first to receive new articles by signing up for my newsletter here.