Today we’re going to talk about the incredible benefits of meeting weekly and/or monthly. Now, I want to give you a quick overview on meetings: What we really recommend with most companies, especially those with a considerable number of people on their teams, is to have daily huddles, weekly/monthly meetings, and then quarterly/yearly off-site retreats. There’s a different strategy and emphasis for each of those. We are going to focus on the weekly and monthly meetings. Particularly, what they can do to help grow your business and improve as a team.
There are a couple of reasons why people are always objecting to meetings. For one thing, many think they’re a waste of time. I mean, most of us believe that we’re busy enough as is, too busy to fit another meeting in. But the reality is that as long as the meetings are strategic in nature and follow a set process, they’re actually going to save your team and company a lot of time in the long run.
Secondly, many people question the necessity of meetings. They’re already in the same office as the people they’re meeting with. They see each other every day and they’re constantly communicating, so why in the world would they need to sit with the whole team again and talk in a more formal fashion? However, there are some benefits that you can’t get through informal interaction. For example, during the weekly meetings, there’s a sense of accountability within the group. If you told everyone you were planning to get a project done in last week’s meeting, the pressure to deliver is on this week. You can also take the chance to review quarterly objectives in these meetings. This is important because during your day-to-day interactions with your team, you don’t often get a chance to think long-term.
Another perk to think about is the ability to share information with your entire team during these weekly meetings. This way you can stay up-to-date on what everyone else is doing, and how their progress may affect your work and vice-versa. In the monthly meetings, you can get even more in-depth. So weekly meetings are usually less than an hour long, and you go through your agenda relatively quickly. If there’s a topic that’s going to take more time, push it to the next monthly meeting. The monthly takes maybe two to four hours, and that’s where you tackle the big issues, the things you don’t have time to discuss on a weekly basis but that are still important.
Finally, during these monthly 2-4 hour meetings, you can talk about the values and vision of your company. Repeat them every month so your team members will be able to understand the core values and eventually have them ingrained in their minds, which is critical.
I really encourage you to conduct the weekly and monthly meetings with your team. You’ll see for yourself how powerful they can be.
