In my last video in this series on specific tips to create motivated employees, I outlined the importance and value of listening intently. Today’s tip also relates to communication, but this time it’s about how you share information. Strategy #12 is to facilitate lively and informative staff meetings.
Facilitate lively and informative staff meetings
Most employees greatly appreciate being kept in the information loop. They want to know what is going on, whether it’s the company as a whole, your department, or perhaps most importantly, how decisions and changes affect them. When employees feel like they’re informed, they’re engaged. And engaged employees are motivated employees. One of the easiest, most efficient ways to keep employees in the information loop is to facilitate regular staff meetings. But beware! These meetings need to be lively and informative.
You likely have attended the meeting from hell – you know the one – where objectives are undefined, the meeting crawls on for hours, personalities clash, disagreements take over, and progress grinds to a halt. In short, nothing gets accomplished. So make sure that your meetings aren’t the meetings from hell! If meetings are handled correctly, they can be very powerful and effective ways to not only build morale, but also elevate communication, establish goals and recognize achievements. Well-run meetings lead to motivated employees! But the key of course is that they need to be lively and informative.
Three ideas to make your meetings stand out (in a good way!)
Here, quickly, are three ideas to make sure that your meeting is lively and informative:
- Rotate the chairing and minute-taking responsibilities
- Make sure everyone at the meeting gets to speak at least once, perhaps by using a round table format, and
- Use meetings as an opportunity to get to know your employees.
For much more specific information on making meetings useful and productive, I have a short article at my website that you can access at no charge. Here is the link: http://mergeg.sg-host.com/PDF/articles/EffectiveMeetingsSepOct2004.pdf.
Or alternatively, just go to my website and access the Article Archives under Tools. Look for the article titled Effective Meetings under the Productivity Tools section.
What are you doing to make sure that your meetings are not the “meetings from hell”? Please share your ideas for making staff meetings lively and informative by commenting below.