7 reasons

That is certainly one of the strongest argu­ments in favour of team meetings! When team members come together regu­larly to share successes, tackle chal­lenges together and support each other, it creates a sense of belonging. This moti­vates and funda­men­tally promotes collab­o­ration within the team.

• It’s best to start your team meeting with a round of sharing. Which customer encounter has partic­u­larly pleased and moti­vated employees since the last meeting? Which work steps have been partic­u­larly successful and contributed to the company’s success?
• However, less positive expe­ri­ences should also be shared. After all, sharing a problem makes it twice as big!
• Strengthen the sense of unity from time to time with a team-building game. You can find a huge selection on the internet. The effort is minimal, but the effect on the team is huge!
• Do you have any talented employees in this regard? Then delegate!

One person speaks and the others (don’t) listen… Do you recognise this from your team meetings? Then you should do some­thing about it as soon as possible. Commu­ni­cation in team meetings is always dialogue. Of course, infor­mation is important. After all, you want all employees to be at the same level of knowledge.

• Make sure that each team meeting offers team members the oppor­tunity to contribute their perspec­tives and ask ques­tions. This helps to avoid misun­der­standings and improves collaboration.
• Team commu­ni­cation is always about trust. Create an atmos­phere that makes it easy to share ideas. 
• During the meeting, form small discussion groups with a specific task or question. This gives even the more reserved employees a chance to contribute.
• Let people finish speaking. Only interrupt if they don’t stick to the topic and get bogged down.
• Do you have a chat­terbox on your team? As a general rule, use the rule of short votes, it helps.

Moti­vated employees are invaluable to any company. That’s true! But sustainable moti­vation is not about more money and gifts. What really moti­vates people is the oppor­tunity to think, plan and shape things with the company. This is how employees feel seen, heard and valued. Team meetings provide a wonderful platform for promoting exactly this. 

• Give your employees positive and honest feedback on their work during the meetings. 
• Show your appre­ci­ation for their’s indi­vidual abil­ities and strengths.
• Emphasise their value as a member of the team.
• Express your grat­itude for their commitment, even if there is no measurable result.
• Cele­bration is often neglected in teams. Organise a breakfast instead of a “normal” team meeting. Or schedule the team meeting an hour before the end of the day and surprise the employees with an aperitif. 

Addi­tional team events such as the annual dinner, a summer cele­bration or a joint excursion emphasise the appre­ci­ation beyond the team meetings. 

‘Vision? Values? There was some­thing about that…’ Yes, exactly. Back at the job interview, someone from HR held the document with the vision/mission/values under the new employee’s nose. Since then, it has disap­peared back into the drawer. And it certainly hasn’t reached the employee’s mind and heart. If you really take your vision seri­ously, then you will keep deep­ening it. What does the company want to achieve and how will it get there? Which core values does the company follow? Once you have inter­nalised this, you have set yourself a guideline for discus­sions with customers and decision-making. 

• Use team meetings to repeatedly refer to the company’s vision and mission. 
• Make the values a topic of discussion from time to time. 
• Expect your employees to famil­iarise them­selves with the company’s overall mission statement.
• Be an influ­encer and live the values accordingly.

Can colleague A stand during the team meeting? Is colleague B allowed to sit on the windowsill? Is coffee a thing of the coffee break or does the coffee mug belong to the team meeting? Our recom­men­dation: loosen up! Theatre seating and a ban on coffee are no way to guar­antee your employees’ attention. Allow for the spatial atmos­phere and indi­vid­u­ality. The use of media is also important for the atmosphere. 

Is a Power­Point presen­tation appro­priate for the topic? Does every­thing work perfectly or do you need the first five minutes to get the tech­nology up and running? Good prepa­ration also involves checking the media that will be used. 

On the other hand, insist that employees do not have their mobile phones within reach at the team meeting. Otherwise, attention will suffer 100%.

Swarm intel­li­gence is an expression that we at nevalux AG use in connection with our intel­ligent lights. However, swarm intel­li­gence is also ideally suited to team meetings. Someone contributes some­thing, the next person takes up the thread, which is then cheer­fully spun further in the team. In this way, countless ideas and solu­tions have been developed. In addition, important deci­sions are made in the team, which improves accep­tance and guar­antees imple­men­tation. After all, everyone was part of the idea! 

Since brain­storming does not work well for devel­oping ideas in larger teams, we do it like Barack Obama, who is considered a fan of the walking meeting.

We’ll keep the 7th reason short and sweet. Team meetings don’t have to take place at all costs. For example, leave it out during the main holiday season. 

If you manage to attach great impor­tance to team meetings in your company, chances are that your employees will really look forward to spending time together after a break!

Finally, this…

• 1. A team meeting is work and counts as working time.
• 2. Hold team meetings regu­larly and not just when there is an urgent need for commu­ni­cation or tension within the team.
• 3. Send out the meeting invi­ta­tions in good time, ideally with a calendar entry..
• 4. Start on time.
• 5. HMake sure you stick to the time limit.
• 6. End with a moti­vating message for your employees.
• 7. Send the infor­mation to your employees in writing after the meeting.