What is a staff meeting?
This is a chance for you to bring everyone that works for you together. That could be to discuss a project, conduct employee reviews or have a catch-up.
Staff meetings can happen regularly or not and come in lots of different shapes and sizes. In business, one of the most common reasons for staff meetings is to review projects and ensure everything is going to plan, talk through blockers and air any concerns.
How often that happens depends mostly on the type of project you’ve got at hand, the company size and your current goals. For instance, a tech startup with limited employees will find it easier to meet often compared to a business with 500 people per department.
In your staff meetings, regardless of size, be sure to create a positive atmosphere – that’s how you’ll get the most out of everyone and encourage them to talk openly.
Before you start your meeting, make an agenda that details what needs to be discussed. If you’re meeting regularly this can be a standing agenda that covers important updates. Planning the format, goals and scope of your discussion will help you understand the value it provides. It can also help you keep everything on track and not deviate too far from each topic.
A successful staff meeting will need someone to chair it - either you or someone you appoint. Ensure if it’s not you, it’s someone who can facilitate conversation, keep the meeting focused and give everyone a chance to speak.
You might not always need all your staff in every meeting, so make sure the meeting purpose is clear so people can skip it if they don’t have anything to bring. Ask your team if they want to prepare anything in advance and give them a chance to lead conversations, share significant updates, offer proposals and decide on action items.
Be sure to ask for feedback regularly so you can continually refine the meetings and make them productive. There’s no point in meeting if no one is getting anything from it.