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Brought to you by:

Julie Bartkus     1.800.211.5671      ã2008

This tip sheet may be reprinted with contact information and copyright in tact.

For more tips and strategies to help you manage, motivate and retain great staff visit:

www.LCforCC.com

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Preparation Stage

___ Prepare Agenda

Many leaders forgo putting the time and effort into preparing and printing an agenda.  However, staff members have shared, through our survey process, that they look forward to attending staff meetings more when there is a written agenda to follow.  Points on the agenda should be written so staff can relate to them and remember them.  It's also advisable to include a notes column or space where staff can jot down a few ideas. 

___ Identify Goal

Many leaders begin their staff meetings by saying:  "Okay -- let's get through this as quickly as possible.  I know we all have better things to do."  And if those words are not said sometimes they're felt by the leader through his/her attitude or body language .  Before you begin your staff meeting, invest a few minutes in writing down a goal.  Your goal can be something you look forward to accomplishing, or a feeling you look forward to generating.  Once your goal is written down,  feel free to share it with your staff (if it's appropriate) in an enthusiastic fashion. 

___ Build Excitement

What does it take to get staff members feeling enthusiastic about attending a staff meeting?  Many leaders share their struggle of staff making excuses when it comes to attending staff meetings (even when they're informed that they are mandatory.) The first thing it takes is a leader who is enthusiastic about staff meetings.  Yep -- that's where it starts.   Next, add a little anticipation, positive word-of-mouth and fun and you'll have a winning formula. 

Anticipation can be best generated through helping staff members look forward to something that is going to happen at the staff meeting.  Positive word-of-mouth is generated when staff members rave about the staff meeting for days and weeks after it took place.  One organization I worked with utilized a few activities I shared with them during one staff meeting and team members raved about the fun they had.  They actually wanted the staff meeting to last longer!!  The great news is the following month nearly every single staff person showed up ready to have an informative, positive experience.  The positive word of mouth spread far and fast.  Fun -- well, that is discussed in the team building section below.

Facilitation

___ Transition

It's important to have some sort of transition from the end of day's craziness to a positive and productive staff meeting.  Many programs use food as the transition.  Even more important than food is the kind of mood that is generated.  Even more important than food is the feeling that is felt.  Consider using adult music, perhaps a theme song to align with your goal for the meeting.  Some programs start with an exercise segment for staff or a success celebration.       

___ Team Building

With every staff meeting you facilitate, incorporate a team building activity.  This is a great way to start the meeting or end the meeting.  Team building activities can be anything from a quick 5-minute morale booster to a 30-minute team building activity designed to improve communication skills.  Need some great ideas?  We have many team building ideas posted on this site that you can listen to and incorporate immediately. 

___ Coach

Staff meetings can truly be a wonderful time.  A time for staff to come together, unite and build a stronger team.  It can also be a time for staff members to build their skills.  Skills in listening, conflict resolution and self-confidence.  Many leaders have shared their concern of staff members feeling uncomfortable speaking in front of the entire group or staff members feeling uncomfortable participating, so the leader doesn't coach staff to get comfortable feeling uncomfortable.  Instead, staff members are given an easy out of uncomfortable situations.  Here's your opportunity to coach staff and help them build their skills through a variety of activities and exercises such as role plays (featuring close-to-reality situations -- very important!), constructive feedback sessions and opportunities to facilitate a portion of the staff meeting.

Ongoing Tips for Success

Here are just a few things you can consider doing to help you have successful staff meetings all year.

___ Be Consistent

Set a schedule for your meetings and stick to it.  If you're always canceling and rescheduling, staff members will come to believe that the meetings are just not that important.  Or, they may begin to make plans on the days of the staff meetings because they are "always" cancelled.

___ Be On-Time

Like it or not, you set the protocol for your team's punctuality.  The more punctual you are - the more punctual your staff will be.  The same principle applies for being prepared  and ready to go.  Again, you set the protocol.

___ Follow Through

Making sure all commitments and promises are kept is a powerful motivator.  This includes making sure that issues discussed are resolved and noted as such.  If team members make commitments and promises, hold them accountable as well.  As time after the staff meeting progresses - ask your staff members how their commitment is going.

___ Delegate

You are not in this alone!  Learn (or should I say get comfortable enough) to delegate tasks to your staff.  New tasks can be motivators especially when staff have fun learning them.  This includes presenting them in a fun and optimistic fashion.  Think about what you can delegate, perhaps you can create a team-building task force.  It's great to delegate tasks and responsibilities from which staff will learn and grow from.  Remember, delegating task is not dumping tasks.   There's a big difference. 

I hope you've enjoyed these tips.  Many more tips and strategies are shared on this site to help you motivate, manage and retain great staff.  Enjoy!

Look for our Staff Meeting Planning Guide on http://www.LcforCC.com.  Coming soon!

ã2008    Julie Bartkus     1.800.211.5671

Related Articles

·  Increasing Self-Esteem & Self-Confidence: AUDIO ·  Making Work Fun!: AUDIO ·  Conflict Resolution: AUDIO ·  Goals ·  Team Building