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Better Group Meetings
September 5, 2019
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This column is the fifth installment of Lessons in Leadership. We continue to cover time management. You can't be an effective leader until you take control of your time. Last week, we introduced you to the first of the Four Formal Methods of Communication within an organization, the Private One-on-One Meeting. This week we'll cover the Group Meeting.
The Group Meeting is another way to spend time with your team in the "Important/Not Urgent" quadrant of the Eisenhour Time Management Grid. When you spend more time in the "Important/Not Urgent" quadrant, you can focus on activities that are important and not urgent because this is where and when we can make the most significant gains in our personal and professional development.
Have An Agenda
The most effective Group Meetings have an agenda. The agenda must be distributed to all attendees at least 24 hours in advance so that all participants can come prepared. Even if you distribute a copy of the group meeting agenda in an e-mail, have a printed copy for each attendee on hand for use in the meeting.
The purpose of holding a Group Meeting usually fits into one of two categories -- transactional information meetings and training meetings. You should not mix training content with transactional informational content in the same group meeting.
Here is a sample agenda.
Welcome (5 minutes)
- Celebrate success
- General announcements and reminders
Where We Stand (10 minutes)
- Group and individual goals and status for the next three months
- Specific goals and status for special group sales packages and initiatives
- Review of unsold package inventory, weathers, news, "Drive at Five", etc.
Department Report (10 minutes)
- Traffic department (5 minutes)
- Programming and Promotions department (5 minutes)
Calendar Review (5 minutes)
- Discuss important dates coming up
- Sales promotions
- Holiday traffic department deadlines
- Provide a written handout of important dates to attendees
Current Group Sales Effort Status (15 minutes)
- Review the goals of the group sales effort
- Review the deadlines for sales and paperwork
- Discuss the need for additional or changes to the sales tools and materials
Next Group Sales Effort Status (15 minutes)
- Review the goals of the group sales effort
- Review the deadlines for sales and paperwork
- Review the sales tools and materials
Start And End On Time
Timely attendance is essential for productive meetings. That means, you, as the leader and meeting organizer, must start and end the meeting on time. You will need to train your staff that you are serious about the meeting times. It's disrespectful for anyone to be late to a meeting so don't be the one that disrespects your coworker's time. If people arrive late, keep on schedule, don't acknowledge them or scold them in front of the rest of the team. That should be done in private.
Involve the Staff
Break up the meeting by getting people involved. There is already 10 minutes devoted to members of your programming, promotions and traffic departments. But you can get your salespeople involved in presenting the numbers in the Where We Stand segment. Pass the job around from one salesperson to the next every week. They are supposed to be good presenters, for goodness sakes. Make sure they get a copy of the numbers in advance so they can review the numbers before you ask them to stand and present.
Prepare, Prepare, Prepare
The weekly transactional information meeting is a critical component of the Four Formal Methods of Communication in a Professional Organization. You have the complete attention of your sales team for 60 minutes. Make it count.
If you need some help, let me know.
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