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Construction
Employee Relations and Benefits
Timely articles covering the most pressing issues
facing construction firms in the Midwest
6 tips on how to hold
short staff meetings
by Steve Kaye
Here’s how to hold a short, effective staff
meeting.
1) In general, keep them short. Most
staff meetings should last less than an hour. You
want your staff to spend their time working on
things that earn money for your business, not
sitting in meetings. Keep them positive. Negative
meetings contain insults, ridicule, and attacks.
These activities create caution and resentment,
which always costs your company money. Keep them
interactive. Your staff consists of intelligent
people. Put them to work in your meetings to
advance the effectiveness of your organization.
2) Share news. Give the members of your
group one minute to report on progress made in
their area of responsibility. Give the members of
your group one You’ll find that this results in
bullet point reports of essential information. It
also prevents people from philosophizing,
explaining, justifying, criticizing, and engaging
in other unproductive activities. Plan a time
budget: 8 to 10 minutes.
3) Teach something. Invite a guest
expert to give a 10 minute presentation on some
skill or technology that benefits your group.
Tell the expert that you want a logical
explanation of practical ideas. You can also ask
members of your group to take turns delivering
brief tutorials on topics that benefit the
others. Plan a time budget: 10 to 15 minutes.
4) Practice skills. Create team learning
activities that sharpen or teach skills needed in
your business. For example, you could role play
job skills (especially useful for sales teams),
solve puzzles (useful for high tech groups), or
take quizzes (useful for everyone). Ask group
members to take turns bringing an activity that
reviews or teaches a valuable skill. Follow this
activity with a brief recap of key ideas. Then
ask the group members to give a 15-second report
on how these ideas can be applied to improve
their work. Plan a time budget: 10 to 20 minutes.
5) Solve problems. Give each group
member a minute to describe a challenge that
hinders work on a current project and then let
everyone propose solutions. Suggestions should be
brief and free of self-aggrandizing explanations
or motivational sermons. This process also
requires a positive, supportive environment to
succeed. If this is used to ridicule, insult, or
criticize the individual, then people will be
reluctant to reveal issues that need attention.
Plan a time budget: 3 to 6 minutes per person.
6) Use a facilitator. A facilitator will
help you conduct meetings where the results
matter. That way, you can participate, rather
than spend your time managing the meeting. A
facilitator will help you conduct rather than
spend your time managing the meeting. A good
facilitator will know group decision making
processes that move your meeting toward results
everyone supports.
About the author
Steve Kaye helps leaders hold meetings that
produce results – fast and with everyone’s
participation. He is an IAF Certified
Professional Facilitator, author, and speaker.
His facilitation and workshops create success for
everyone. Call 714-528-1300 for details. Visit http://www.stevekaye.com for a free report.
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