How to run an effective team building meeting?

Creating a successful and effective team is more than just having a group of people with the right combination of professional competences. So, it’s important to select the right people on the team to make your team more effective.

The first rule of team building is an obvious one to effectively lead a team, first you must establish your leadership with each member of the team. Remember that the most effective team leaders build their trust and loyalty relationships, rather than fear or the power of their positions

A team meeting is an essential component of every organization. It’s important for the employees to know and understand what’s going on with the company and what standards they need to reach to make the company succeed. It is one of the best ways to create a culture of continuous improvement.  Want to run a great meeting and save time each and every week?  Just follow our tips on how to run a team meeting.

• How does your team react to the weekly meeting?
• Do they welcome the break from their desks?
• Is it a task they dread?
• Do they get frustrated because every single meeting always seems to be about the concerns of one single person?
• Do the meeting participants believe it is time well spent?

We have found that companies that take control of their meetings get a huge return on their investment with high employee engagement.

Even if you think you’re already good at running effective team meetings, I’m sure you’ll find something here to make them more worthwhile. Here’s how to do that.

1. Set up a meeting with a clear objective

The first thing is to have a purpose. Why is the meeting being held? Is it just because you always have one, or is there an actual reason for dragging everyone into a room or on to a call and putting the outside world on hold for an hour?

Typically, a meeting is a great opportunity for a lot. It’s an opportunity to catch up with everyone on what’s in the whole scheme. This is an opportunity to determine how each person travels and recognize potential problems. It is also an opportunity to reinforce the mission statement and concentrate everyone on team goals.

Before every meeting, create an agenda outlining the points to be discussed. Taking a few minutes to do this for each meeting makes a big difference in the outcome of your meetings. It helps you stay on track and constantly reminds you throughout the meeting about what the objective is.

2. Have an agenda and stick to the time

You need to have an agenda for meetings if you have a mission. This is a list of the items in the available time. When you look at the agenda, you get a rough idea of how much you can spend on and item, since time is an important part of team meetings.

They should start on time and only go for the allotted time. If some items on the agenda require more time than is available, they should be moved to the next meeting or, if urgent, a separate meeting should be held with those immediately involved.

Meetings should also be held regularly. Whether it’s every Monday morning (the ideal time to plan the week ahead), or every day, they should be held when you say they will and everyone should be encouraged to arrive punctually.

Meetings that are called at the last minute or constantly postponed are an indication that you do not have respect for your team.

3. Designate a meeting leader

Without a meeting leader, chaos will ensue every time. Your meetings must have a point person — typically the person who called the meeting — to lead a meeting and to keep things on track throughout the session.

The primary roles of the meeting leader include:

• Scheduling the meeting and sending a calendar invite
• Creating and disseminating the agenda
• Assigning talking points or time slots to each attendee
• Assigning tasks upon the conclusion of the meeting
• Take minutes of the meeting
• Share the minutes of the meeting with all attendees after the meeting

4. Get inputs from your team

Every team members inputs matters. A team meeting is just that — a meeting with and for the team. It’s not always up to one person to run the show. A good team meeting allows everyone to participate and create strategies and approaches to advance the business goals.

Ask for feedback to include items on the agenda for your meeting and see what they want and discuss. If you can’t do anything, ensure that you keep an eye on the employee who suggested it, whether it’s something you talk about at your next meeting or something you follow up during a one-on-one meeting.

This is one of the best management tools in your portfolio if you have an important meeting and requires more than a series in status updates.

5. Use digital means of communication for meetings

The digital approach is also great if there is a general debate about how to tackle a problem. Anything in the line of a project management tool or platform would not only improve the productivity of the operation, but also record the learning for new team members joining the team.

With the growing movement towards a mobile workforce many teams find it less desirable to hold daily face – to – face meetings. Technology can be used for virtual meetings through telephone and video links in this case.

People can participate from various locations, using their smart phones or tablets to log into a central meeting site. People can use Skype, Zoom, or Microsoft Team.

If we are doing a ‘virtual’ meeting, even attendees in the same office log in to the technology separately so nobody gets preferential treatment.

Effective team meetings can give a benefit to everyone like

• Keeping individual team members in the loop;
• Providing valuable clues to potential problems that you can then head off; and
• Helping to raise morale and engender a greater sense of teamwork.

In short, effective meetings can increase your team’s productivity and your organisation’s profitability.

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