Department meetings

In response to a friend’s request for advice on running a department meeting…

There are many ways to run a department meeting, but I’d start by asking: what is the meeting for? Some possible answers:

• Sharing news (there are generally more efficient/effective methods)
• Building camaraderie
• Building consensus / having group discussions
• Changing mental models (particularly of the status of various items, resourcing, etc.)
• Venting (ew; avoid this though it can help with the above)
• Completing group tasks
• Creating shared experiences/knowledge (everyone watches the same TED talk for example)
• Reflecting on past achievements, planning future achievements
• Training and coaching (what ours was, mostly; works better in smaller groups)
• Setting a tone and reinforcing cultural expectations
• Setting the team up for success (perhaps introducing new stuff)
• Identifying opportunities for improvement or better service
• Defining the group’s role in the organization
• … other amazing things I’m sure you can think of

Are you sure you need a meeting? Maybe you could have a multitude of things that would be better: an appointed librarian/library; regular status emails; small group exercises; real training programs; a group chat system; better performance management; committees or task forces to complete work… It’s worth keeping this question in mind as you make up activities if only so you can focus on the value that doing things in a group setting adds.

The duration, frequency, and size of the group definitely affects the manner in which you achieve things together. A “Weekly Reflection” structure (brief updates from me, journals, group sharing of experiences, refreshments) only works well with smaller groups. You could divide up a big group into smaller groups, but you’ll need trained small group leaders to keep people on task if you intend to replicate our approach.

Typical “Weekly Reflection” questions were:

• What did you do since we last met? (What was good? What was bad?)
• What’s one thing you accomplished? (And, what’s the spin on that for your résumé?)
• What’s one piece of praise you gave? What’s one piece of praise you received?
• What’s one trade-off you made (competing priorities you had to decide between)? Why?
• How did last week’s prediction turn out?
• What’s one prediction for next week?

Other things we’d discuss on occasion:

• [What do I have to share that might provide more context for our work?]
• What did you find or make that you can share with our team for their reuse?
• How do you feel about what you did?
• What’s something you didn’t expect?
• What criteria do you use to make your decisions? What are your values?
• How do you make the world a better place?
• What do you need to be (more) successful (next week)?
• What are (new business) opportunities that you’re seeing on your account (that other people might not)?
• Where did you miss something/fail/leave something out? What could you have don better?
• What does your resourcing look like?
• What do you have to celebrate, brag about?
• How does this tie to your professional goals?
• How could we involve [other team/person] in that?
• What are your goals for the next two weeks?
• What vacations or schedule changes are coming up?
• What are you feeling: Happy or not? Challenged or not? Interested or not? Hopeful or not? Supported or not?

I’m fond of using Gallup’s Q12 survey to establish a baseline when I start working with a department.

I’d say good goals for the first few are:

• Have real value / not be a complete play-time
• Build some sense of belonging among a network within the company
• Clarify the meeting’s purpose, role
• Set expectations and ground rules / “design the alliance” (for attendance, contribution, etc.)
• Start to earn support from executives and people outside the attendees (account directors, etc.) through some observable difference among the team

Of course, do all the normal things that make a good meeting:

• Include agenda: ask for team input (and any materials to be reviewed ahead of time)
• Ensure anything to be presented has ample reviews before meeting
• Account for time zone differences
• Avoid scheduling middle-of-the-day meetings; consider ordering refreshments
• Schedule it at a time when most attendees seem available
• If it’s a recurring meeting, try to schedule it at the same time and day of week each time
• Note who the attendees are, and highlight any out of the norm; define roles
• Mention if it’s in-person or via phone
• Reserve conference line and provide number and PIN in appointment (ideally as phone-clickable link)
• Reserve WebEx and put link/password in appointment

Meetings of this type are usually sorta lame: a couple boring presentations of the work other accounts are doing, a few generic words from the department head, lots of complaining, and maybe a TED talk or brainstorm exercise. Aim to be more than than those meetings. Make it something people look forward to attending rather than begrudgingly attending or skipping in favor of working more.

The best department meetings have a fast-pace, optimism, humor, new tools I can apply immediately, tons of things to checkout outside of the meeting, bonding with teammates over similar experiences, news and updates presented in a non-BS-PR way, debate over our role in the larger organization, guest executives from other departments in for Q&As or brainstorms, and cookies. They’re a whirlwind of passion and progress, not a bunch of slides from some client presentation on some other account or a roll-call of resourcing.