If you don’t already communicate with your staff through team meetings, now is the time to consider introducing them. Team meetings are a great way to communicate to everyone together at once and save you time repeating yourself over and over again.
Meetings Can Improve Morale
As a business owner, you’ll fully understand that managing staff is hard work and doesn’t always come easily or naturally. Keeping good employees and ensuring that they’re happy and engaged with your business requires time and effort on your part, and with this in mind, it can be really easy for the overall morale to drop when staff don’t feel well communicated to.
Having team meetings where you invite everyone to bring up any issues or provide feedback can be somewhat therapeutic for everyone involved. A team meeting can also be a great opportunity for a catch-up and a laugh. Consider taking along some sweet treats or snacks to keep the energy high!
Valued Staff are Productive Staff
It is important to an employee to feel valued and acknowledged. Therefore, you should regularly ask for opinions and take the time to listen – even outside of team meetings. Your employees are in direct contact with your clients on a daily basis and quite often pick things up that you may not notice. Utilise this insight, they can often contribute important feedback that you wouldn’t otherwise be aware of.
Heads up!
Give all staff a heads up in advance that you’ll be holding a meeting and that will allow them to prepare appropriately. Invite honest and open feedback and try to keep things positive and upbeat as staff who feel valued tend to be more productive. Don’t take it personally. It might be hard to hear any criticism, but if this is the way your employees are feeling then it is important to listen and take on board what they are saying. Even if you don’t agree there could be a compromise somewhere in the middle that will ensure everyone is happy.
Breaking the Routine
It may seem like a strange concept but a team meeting can break up the monotony of a daily routine. Don’t take the word ‘monotony’ as a negative thing. It’s human nature to get bogged down with the day to day jobs. Sometimes a quick catch up can pull your staff away from their daily routine can give them, and you, some much-needed motivation.
Communication Is Key
Communicating is so important so if you plan to introduce regular team meetings. Try to be consistent, holding meetings regularly even if you don’t have anything to mention, your employees might. It can be difficult to get pulled under with workload as well as personal commitments (especially as a business owner). But sticking to a routine and communicating regularly can eliminate a number of potential problems.
Image:istock.com/jacoblund
