Question: Do you hold weekly staff meetings? Why or why not?
Make Weekly Meetings a Must
"We nearly doubled our headcount year-over-year but still maintain weekly meetings. With staff in three countries, it is important that everyone feels part of the company rather than satellite offices. It also gives employees the opportunity to gain insight into other parts of the business they would not normally be exposed to and offer alternative points of view."
@ThomasSmale
Only Have Key Players Present
"Weekly meetings can be a necessary but also time-consuming process. In order to make the best use of time, I hold weekly meetings with the heads of the departments. That way I can get a good feel for what is going on, and if I need to schedule an additional meeting with a specific person, I already have some background information. This allows me to streamline the time spent in internal meetings."
@PhilLaboon
Have Open Arena Meetings
"I'm a big believer that small organizations should be holding an all-hands-on-deck meeting once a week to keep everyone on the same page. As you grow, this isn't sustainable so it'll likely be a meeting between you and your key people. Having a weekly meeting ensures everyone is aware of the work being done by others in the organization even if they don't speak frequently."
@lanec
Leverage Them for Remote Teams
"My entire company is remote with key members in Nevada, Texas, North Carolina, Minnesota etc. Having weekly phone meetings is invaluable to share key information, swap advice and get general status updates on our industry. Building company culture with a remote company is nearly impossible, but weekly meetings help build a real culture."
@markdaoust
Use Them to Motivate Your Team
"Fear of embarrassment alone may drive teams to double down and ensure that they never show up to a staff meeting empty-handed (i.e. no victories, progress, challenges or plans, etc.). So, in addition to letting teams exchange notes on their respective projects, meetings enable staffers to review their progress and work towards future victories -- if only to maintain the esteem of their peers."
@MSinghCFA
Hold Them on Monday Mornings
"Monday mornings are hard. That's why we start our work week by having a meeting first thing Monday morning to talk about what's on the agenda for the week, what goals we accomplished the week before and to just get everyone in gear."
@abnsave
Help Everyone Appreciate Each Other's Roles
"Our 14-member team updates each other on what they have been up to. That way, sales understands what fulfillment is busy with, marketing can support sales better, product development knows what the customer feedback is, and I can give accounting and general administration updates. It helps the team bond, divvy new responsibilities and enables everyone to understand that how their work impacts others."
@weishin
Hold Them During Busy Seasons
"During our busiest time of the year (which is the fourth quarter, as we're a gift company), we have weekly staff meetings so all facets of the business are on the same page. Doing so decreases email and other internal communication, and face-to-face time helps us connect as humans while things grow and get stressful."
@samdavidson
