For any organization, be it an early-age startup, a mid-sized company, or a large enterprise, meetings are a crucial aspect of day-to-day operations. Team meetings allow the management and employees to keep a tab on the company’s progress to reach defined goals and objectives. Not just that, these meetings enable people to collaborate, discuss ideas and make collective decisions to solve business problems.
In this post, we will talk about four types of team meetings that allow companies to effectively communicate expectations, keep track of progress and accomplish business goals.
1. Brainstorming or Idea Generation Meetings:
When it comes to generating new and unique ideas, brainstorming is a popular concept used by professionals around the world. These meetings are often open-ended and require a bit less formal setting and more creativity. Professionals across different backgrounds or departments can collaborate and bring their ideas to the table. It is how managers can identify the potential of different ideas, determine their scope and eventually select the best one to transition to reality. Hence, today brainstorming has become a part of the daily lexicon in all scales of businesses and is widely used for idea generation.
Brainstorming is usually done around a specific problem, but you can always have broader scoped sessions around business topics such as improving customer service or boosting the company’s branding. What makes these meetings effective is that people can collaborate to generate new ideas or to find solutions through open discussions and then reach team consensus while fostering strong teamwork. The goal is to produce a set of quality ideas and select the best ones to be developed.
2. Project Planning Meetings:
Now that a company has decided to embark on a project, the first thing that the management has to do is build a project plan. Planning a project is one of the most critical parts of any project’s management. Right from clearly defining the scope of the project, and finalizing the resources or procedures to determining the timelines and milestones, the planning meeting plays an imperative role in a project’s success. Managers can leverage an agenda slide and lay a solid foundation for their project planning meeting that answers critical questions such as:
- What is the project about?
- When is the timeline?
- Who are the stakeholders?
- How much will it cost?
- What are the key deliverables?
A report by the Project Management Institute says that companies lose an average of over 90 million USD for every billion they invest due to lacking project performance attributed to poor planning. Project planning meetings help companies reduce gaps between project expectations and achievable outcomes. You can clearly define the project objectives, provide a holistic breakdown of the work structure, highlight your risk management plan, stress on quality assurance plan, and much more.
3. Progress Check Meetings:
Another significant meeting sitting at the epicenter of business operations is progress check or daily scrum meetings. The purpose is simple, to take stock of the project, what has been accomplished, what is due, and mitigate any concerns or contingencies. Progress check or status meetings are part and parcel of any project lifecycle. They help management to ensure the project is on track while giving team members and stakeholders the ability to come aboard at the same time to report progress and address concerns.
The team should try to answer questions such as:
- What are they working on today?
- What did they accomplish yesterday?
- Are there any concerns or impediments in the way?
The goal is to maintain a birds’ eye view of the project and provide all parties and stakeholders with a consistent, central place to contribute project information and discuss issues. If done right, Scrum masters can facilitate a smooth project workflow and enable teams to accomplish project goals within the stipulated timeline.
4. One-on-Ones:
These are generally brief, weekly check-ins aimed at improving the employee’s performance. One-on-one meetings give the project leadership a chance to get in touch with their people on a personal, confidential level, foster strong relationships, improve productivity, build team loyalty and deliver meaningful & personalized feedback. Managers can leverage this business meeting as an opportunity to connect with an employee directly and check if things are fine.
Managers can consider setting aside 15 to 30 minutes on a weekly or bi-weekly fashion with members of the team, individually. If done right, one-on-one meetings allow managers to stop larger issues from festering with the help of regular check-ins. Further, they act as a space where communication is open, allowing managers to provide personalized, immediate, and regular feedback. The idea is to create a space where employees feel comfortable sharing their concerns and issues without a filter.
Wrapping It Up:
Effective business meetings provide correct information at glance, a clear direction of business goals & objectives while keeping the employee engaged. The types of meetings discussed above in the post help you connect with your teams in different settings and ensure goals are met, right from project conception to completion.
