7 REASONS TO HOLD WEEKLY TEAM MEETINGS

APRIL 2016

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Have you ever quest ioned your employees? engagement in company l i fe? You have. Then we need to talk about weekly team meet ings.

I?ve just come across crushing results of an

office survey. We were asked to share our impression on team meetings we hold every Friday. You need to know, that whenever we do surveys, we find people not exactly satisfied with the current state, so it results in some changes around here. But not this time. This time, the vast majority of us was strongly into keeping status quo of Friday huddles. I?ve read comments like ?Don?t change it?, ?They work perfectly? and so on. Practically every one of us

underlined the need of knowing what?s going on in the company, the need of sharing an experience with other team members and a simple need of spending face to face time with colleagues.

Every Friday, we gather around the table to talk about our jobs. We discuss successes, challenges and what we?re working on right now. An informal atmosphere during the get-together, gives everyone a chance to relax and listen to coworkers. Each team

gets max 10 minutes, to present their work and latest improvements. The survey showed, that there was just a single voice of

our staff member who could imagine life without weekly staff meetings. But what kind of life would that be? N onetheless, each of us found gatherings supportive for various reasons.

Day by day, we work as links in the chain. During staff

meetings, we can actually see the chain. Teammates get a possibility to check where the discussed project?s heading to and how the road there looks like. We?re able to see the big picture of what we?re doing every day.

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see yo ur sel f as a par t of t he pr o c ess

7 REASONS...

M eeting gives a great opportunity to see your team?s work progress but also to catch up with others job. And what?s important, to realize how the teams? work influence one another. Every Sparkbit member, starting from C-level, takes part in the meeting, so it gives a complete overview of what?s going on in the company.

N ot only is it an outlet to recognize present issues, but it delivers an occasion for the leaders to share their vision. It results in increasing transparency and trust among coworkers and make everyone feel a valuable part of the team. It?s also a great tool to engage employees and direct individual actions toward company objectives.

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Nothing m otivates better than upcom ing

deadline to present results of your work

Engage em ployees and direct individual act ions toward

com pany object ives

Bringing up staff together gives occasion to share knowledge and experience. Learning is a vital part of our job. Techworld changes so rapidly it?s essential to be up to date with the newest and latest. During staff meeting, we can share what we know and how we?ve learnt it. Thus, we can show solutions and new ways to deal with old issues.

Weekly meetings motivate

the team to end up tasks, they?ve been working on. Well, nothing motivates better than an upcoming deadline to present results of your work. N ot to mention, that sharing achievements and getting an appreciation for them, works like an additional prize for a job we?ve been doing. It also helps to organize work and give priorities to more important tasks.

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"Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is

success." -Henry Ford

When your team?s growing, staff meeting gives a great chance to introduce new team members. It is a platform to talk about upcoming projects and give an update about products that are being prepared by outside companies.

pl ac e t o t a l k abo ut c ompany l if e

Weekly meetings provide a great opportunity to share ideas with others. Relaxed atmosphere helps to express an opinion about the discussed projects while speaker can get inspired by others impression and look at the task from a different angle. Attendees work from honest criticism and moments of challenging or being challenged by one another.

According to many researchers, groups are more creative than humans working alone. One idea flowing in the air sparks another, which eventually may lead to an important discovery. At this point, it?s important to notice that the main purpose of the meeting is to communicate, not to solve. Participants need to bring constructive comments and definite suggestions to the table. Present solutions, not problems to be solved.

f o st er c r eat iv it y

One can?t underestimate face to face time with colleagues. Particularly, when most of our work is done using the keyboard and computer screen. It benefits in creating our own identity in the group and encourage others to participate in a team life. As I?ve read somewhere lately ?careers have been built on poking fun at meetings?. While joking is not a purpose of the meeting, there is no doubt that one brilliant statement, may say a lot about our intelligence, understanding of the subject, ability to think outside the box and sense of humour.

Even if you?re ?not-a-programmer? among IT guys, which is my case, weekly meetings we?ll become your best friends. Every now and

then, I get the feeling that I?m not on the same page with the rest of the staff. M eetings are means to understand my coworkers? activities and see an outcome of their job.

7 REASONS...bo o st t eam spir it

Weekly team meeting serves its

purpose only when it 's eff icient and

productive

a l l in a l lt?s hard to track the origins of the regular team meetings idea. It was implemented by the greatest and most influential companies like Google, Apple or Yahoo. Gatherings led to increased involvement in the life of the company. Hence, if you question your employees? engagement level, it?s high time you called your first get-together.

Well conducted team meetings may become part of a company success. It?s essential to get the most out of the least amount of time, making it straight to the point. Usually, our meetings last 40 min max. While it is a powerful tool of regular communication, it will only work when it?s efficient and perceived as productive.

&CONTACT

m agdag@sparkbit .pl

w w w.sparkbit .pl

@_sparkbit_