Most people consider it a universal truth – no one likes to go to meetings. They’re boring and a waste of time. Nothing sucks the life out of a room more than a scheduled meeting.
Yet, the most successful stores have regular meetings. Maybe their meetings aren’t the same as your meetings. I know my meetings are different. Because if you ask my staff, they look forward to our monthly meetings. It’s one of their favorite activities.
I do two simple things to charge up my meetings that you can do, too.
- I make them Useful
- I make them Fun
I make them Useful because for every meeting I establish one Goal. I establish the one most important point I want to get across, the one lesson I want them to take away, the ending to the statement…
“This will be a successful meeting if…”
You’re lucky if your staff remembers anything after a meeting. The more you try to accomplish, however, the less likely they’ll be able remember that one most critical point. Therefore, my meetings all have one and only one Goal. I write that Goal at the top of my meeting planner worksheet and make sure that everything I do is built around that one Goal.
This way I guarantee that even the least attentive of the staff will know exactly what the meeting is about and what point I want to drive home.
I make the meeting Fun by coming up with creative and clever ways to reach that Goal. I call those the Tasks. Then I come up with the most crazy, off-the-wall, different, fun Tasks that will accomplish the Goal. The Tasks that seem to work best at making the meeting fun are Tasks that:
- Involve the staff actually doing something
- Have a competitive nature
- Push the staff slightly out of their comfort zones
- Give the staff a chance to be creative
- Give everyone room to be light-hearted and have fun
Some of the Tasks we have done include skits, storytelling, game show games, role playing, trust & communication activities, movies & videos, songs, and food. (Once I even served them ice cream at 8:30am!)
And my staff love it! (And they learn, too!!)
So if your meetings are dull, uninspiring, and dreaded, spice them up by clearly defining your Goal and using clever, creative Tasks to reach that Goal. You’ll be surprised at the transformation just one meeting like this can have on your entire staff.
-Phil
PS For a complete breakdown of all the steps for having incredible Staff Meetings, download my FREE eBook “Staff Meetings Everyone Wants to Attend”
PPS If you have a particular Goal but can’t come up with a task, send me an email outlining the Goal and the group of people. I’ll help you brainstorm a few different Tasks to try.