Weekly meetings can change your business

Something as simple as weekly team meetings could result in positive changes for your business because it means that more of your people will be accountable more often.

Michael, a director with OBC The Accountants, said: “At first, the thought of weekly meetings may be off-putting because they feel time-consuming and you may be anxious your team won’t buy into them. If you do all the talking, that will be the case and it won’t work.

“The key is to have a clear six-point structure for the meetings and start them at key times like before lunch or home time so it’s clear when it will finish and that it won’t drag on. The idea is not that you’re checking up on your team, but to focus on sharing information and issues that could be common to everyone and to make them feel included in how the company is performing overall.”

Six key points to a good weekly meeting are:

Good news of the week – 5 mins. Start the meeting on a high and share good news.

Share your numbers – 5 to 10 mins. Everyone can share the numbers that reflect the work and responsibilities they have. Make it easy to see by using simple graphs.

Bottlenecks/hold ups – 5 to 10 mins. What’s slowing work down? Are issues cropping up repeatedly for everyone? Don’t resolve them in the meeting, just identify them and agree a time to get the issue resolved.

Strategic or big issue – 10 to 20 mins. What’s the priority focus for the month or quarter/ limit this to just one issue and stay focussed. Agree the next step for the week ahead.

One word or one phrase to finish – 1 to 2 mins. Ask every individual what one-word or phrase finish describes how she or he how feels.

Back to work – stand up and make the statement so everyone knows the meeting is over.

Michael said: “Improving the accountability rhythm in your business – with a weekly team meeting using the suggested agenda – means more of your people will be accountable more often. When people feel they are individually accountable, productivity can increase by as much as 20%.”

For more information on how to transform business results by tapping into the full potential of your team, visit obcaccountants.com or telephone Michael on 01323 720555.