There are certain themes in business coaching that I touch on pretty regularly. One of them is the topic of holding regular team meetings. I don’t believe there is a week that goes by that I don’t talk about the importance of meetings.
My clients often say, “Well I have an open-door policy. When my employees need to talk to me, they can just come to me.” That’s good. It has a sense of being accessible and part of the team. But there can be a negative side to that as well.
Typically, when a team member comes to talk to someone with an open-door policy it is because they have a problem. As a result, the tyranny of the urgent can start to govern the business.
So I recommend for all my clients, no matter where they are in the corporation, to set up regular meetings. Each individual in the organization should have regular meetings with their superiors, colleagues, and subordinates. This will put them in a position where they are consistently and proactively communicating about the business–looking at the business in a proactive way rather than a reactive way.
If the meeting is with a subordinate, the best way to enable the subordinate to be more proactive with the business is to allow them take care of the agenda for the meeting. I often find that my clients are feeling “oppressed” by their business. They will say things like, “I can’t believe how much I’m having to take care of!” So then I will ask them how often they have meetings with their leadership team. And if I’ve been coaching them for a while, they will lower their heads and say, “Well, we have the meetings scheduled on the calendar, but we had to cancel them,” or “We keep rescheduling them,” or “We’re having a hard time getting together.” And once again the business starts to go into a reactive mode rather than a proactive mode.
This is one of the most valuable things I help my clients do: set up regular meetings. Your business will start addressing issues proactively rather than reactively.
Does your business hold regular meetings? If not, why not? We’d love to talk with you about how your business can benefit from something as simple as holding regular team meetings. Get started by calling us at 864.243.7579.