Taking a Step Back: A Framework for Optimizing Team Meetings

By Lauren Rodriguez

My project for Changemaker Boot camp is focused on improving  weekly staff meetings and optimizing our team process. Working at a learning community focused on transforming the way leadership leadership development, work is convinced, evaluated and conducted,  it can be tough to balance the staff brainstorming sessions with having a space to take care of staff business and organizational content.

Naturally, the stakeholders in  my project are my awesome team members. Since we are a small team, I was able to  interview  each member (Deborah, Miriam, Eleanor, Natalia in that order ) and get their feedback in order to create a framework around optimizing team meetings.

The question I asked the staff was, “What’s been your best experience in an LLC staff meeting where you felt the value of the team was best optimized”. I asked staff follow up questions to really probe their examples.

I tackled the analysis section by writing out key words or phrases mentioned in each of the interviews onto post- it notes and then clustered them into themes (just like in our class).  

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And what emerged were three distinct but intertwining categories or processes that contributed to staff meetings with optimal levels of staff preparation : pre-conditions,  preparation and execution/goal setting.

1. Pre-conditions or Teamwork prep

This seemed to be a very important part of successful staff meetings.  Many staff members mentioned pre-conditons as essential. I think this is also an interesting issue since most of our staff is fairly new- hired within the last year or less. Staff identified areas in which they felt were needed to be in place and continuously worked on in order to carry out the work on a deeper level and solidify our collaboration as a team.

Some of these preconditions included:

  • The importance of trust and trust building

  • Compassion

  • The acceptance of our humanity

  • The creation of safe environments

  • Openness and and voice

  • Appreciation

  • A design thinking atmosphere

  • Trial and error accepted

An interesting theme here is that the staff is open to trial and error, testing ideas and bringing a design thinking mindset to staff meetings. This innovative mindset is combined with the need to create a safe space that foster other preconditions such as, trust, compassion and openness.  As one staff member said, “Each of us should feel solid, that our piece is valuable and valid”. In order to marry an environment of innovation and trust, these important components helped me to realize that we need more team building as a staff as we try to break new ground in staff meetings.

2. Preparation

Various levels of preparation was a major theme that staff mentioned. Some phrases included:

  • Having materials planned

  • Being prepared

  • Mapping it out

  • Being intentional about the meeting

  • Bringing in guest speakers/ outside experience when necessary

An interesting observation during the staff interviews was that each shared similar examples of meetings that worked best for them. But what was common about each example was having good preparation materials in place. Whether it be tools, exercises or bringing in someone from outside to further staff thought, planning was essential element to successful meetings

 

3. Execution/ Goal Setting

  • Clear outcomes for meetings

  • Strategic agendas

  • Voices are valued

  • Team is engaged and participates

  • Follow up and next steps

Being strategic about the goals of meeting and just as strategic about the products or follow up of that meeting were also a big theme. Testing approaches and really implementing design thinking was goal that as a staff we would like to move forward on.

Final Comments:

What I learned from the exercise is that as someone so wisely said in one of the interviews, “Good meetings really take a lot of prep work”. But maybe preparation work doesn’t just mean preparing for the team meetings. That maybe, by prep work, we have to take a step back before just the staff meetings and be really intentional around team building because we have new staff. We have started this kind out work with a recent staff retreat and other small lunch outings etc. But I think we have to be very intentional about building our relationships with one another. The idea of team relationship building really expanded my own framework about how to optimize team meetings.

Closing questions: What were successful elements of a team meeting that you have been part of? What are some good team building exercises or activities that have worked for you?

 

3 thoughts on “Taking a Step Back: A Framework for Optimizing Team Meetings

  1. Eugene Eric Kim

    I was struck by the progression of the clusters from openness and “soft” attributes to concreteness and tact. I think that’s a very good spectrum, and it was a good outcome. I like your simplified framework.

    I was also struck — both from this post and your checkin yesterday — by how important the simple act of asking your colleagues this question is. Even if nothing in the framework is particularly groundbreaking conceptually, the fact that everyone on the team has thought about the question, and the fact that conversation led to this framework, means a ton when it comes to ownership, alignment, and relationship-building.

    I want to emphasize that last point. I love your insight about the importance of relationship-building, and relationship-building and the “work” is often an “and,” not an “either-or.” When I was consulting, my tongue-in-cheek promise to my clients was, “No trust falls.” My point wasn’t that I thought trust falls were worthless, it’s that trust is contextual. You build trust by doing stuff together, and the same goes for relationship-building. That’s not to say that time spent getting to know your colleagues outside of a “doing” context is worthless. it’s not. The trick is in finding the right balance.

    You can imagine my answer to how to find that balance. 🙂

  2. Renee Fazzari

    One tension that comes up for me after reading this, Lauren, is the preparation part. I fully agree that preparation leads to the best meetings. At the same time, what is the right amount of prep for a weekly staff meeting? You don’t want to make it so intensive that it takes time from people’s work unless that’s necessary.

    Sometimes I feel our best team meetings are those where we don’t have a packed agenda and we can leave some room to spitball and think a little bigger. There are times when we have to be all business, but we are not very good at creating agendas that allow for emergence. When it happens, despite our business-like intentions, it’s great! I’d like to find ways to design that in more often.

    1. Eugene Eric Kim

      To me, you’ve asked the critical question, Renee. In order to find the right balance, Lauren, you’ll need to be crystal clear about what your goals are for the weekly staff meetings. Some items might be better if they had their own separate meetings. Other items might be better delegated to a smaller group of people to take care of on their own and do a quick status report at the staff meeting, rather than have everyone involved. Figuring these things out are the hard part. Once you figure them out, the actual design and even the facilitation of the meeting will be much easier.

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