If you will give me 15 minutes of your life right now, I will greatly improve your company's productivity.
To accomplish this (get ready-it's not too sexy), you must have world-class weekly meetings with your leadership team. The following are the 10 vital elements your weekly meetings must possess. Use it as a checklist and do a checkup to make sure all 10 exist in every one of your meetings. Any that are missing are a huge opportunity for you to get more out of your business.
The World-Class Weekly Meeting Checklist
1. Consistency - Don't change it. A great weekly meeting is one that meets the five following criteria:
- Same day.
- Same time.
- Same agenda.
- Start on time.
- End on time.
2. 100% Attendance - The only reason to miss a weekly meeting is vacation or death. With the meeting being the same day and same time every week, there should never be a conflict with your calendar.
3. A Segue - Always start your meetings with good news from each attendee. There is a science behind what it does for your team's brain chemistry and building your team's health.
4. Focus - Only report on what is most important! That's three things: First, that your most important numbers are on track. Second, that your most important priorities are on track. Third, that your people are happy (employees and clients). You should never spend more than 15 minutes reporting on these three things. Drop anything down to the issues list that is off track.
5. Accountability - You must include a to-do list on your agenda. You are human beings, and all human beings do better with a little accountability. By listing all action items committed to in last week's meeting, and confirming that they were done in this week's meeting, you will greatly improve your productivity.
6. Open and Honest - Everything should come out. No holding back. Every unresolved issue, good or bad, should be added to the issues list to be tackled.
7. Solution-Based - You should spend more than half of your meeting on issue solving: solving problems, removing obstacles and barriers, and discussing ideas and opportunities. On average, you should solve 5 to 10 issues per meeting.
8. Conflict! - The only way to keep growing your company and not getting stagnant is to get to the root of every issue and solve it. The best meetings are the ones that get a little intense.
9. Decisiveness - Once everyone has said their piece (only once) and everything is on the table, the fearless leader needs to make the call, decide, and move on.
10. Self-Improvement - In the conclusion of your meeting, always have each member rate the quality and effectiveness of the meeting on a scale from 1 to 10 (10 being best). You must always average an 8 or better. If it's less, ask, and you will start to self-correct and improve.
By assuring these 10 elements are in place, your weekly meetings will become a time-management tool. A great weekly meeting will save you two to three times the amount of time you're investing in the meeting in avoided train wrecks, the right hand knowing what the left hand is doing, and increased productivity.
Watch the following video to see exactly how to do it.
Gino
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