What should be discussed in a staff meeting

What should we learn this year in addition to our core work? What do we want to be better at, or smarter about next year? Elevate the discussion about what we should be all be doing in addition to our day job to improve.

Make it clear that getting better at the job is only part of the job. Not recognizing exceptional efforts destroys trust. Always have a short list of high potential people who should be getting extra exposure, bigger challenges, and introductions to mentors.

One of the best things you can do as a leader is to grow stars in your organization. How should we do it? This is a topic that always brings a lot of energy when I work with clients on executive team building. What is your team brand? What do you want it to be? Who are the groups that your team serves? How do they perceive you? How do you need them to perceive you?

Getting alignment and an action plan on how your team is perceived is critical to building credibility and support throughout your company, and maybe also with clients or partners, for what your team does. She became the youngest general manager at HP at the age of 33, ran a billion dollar software business at 35, and became a CEO for the first time at 38 all without turning into a self-centered, miserable jerk.

You might have an "all staff" meeting for the entire company, a quick "check-in" between supervisors and direct reports, or "huddles" for brief, strategic debates for rapidly evolving issues. Getting together with colleagues and managers provides an opportunity to meet outside the confines of an office or cubicle. Building interpersonal relationships can help promote teamwork and collaboration, and can also reduce the potential for miscommunication and misunderstanding.

Although memos and emails are effective ways to communicate many things quickly, holding regular gatherings and discussion groups help ensure that everyone is in the know and that they're updated on critical business issues. How often you schedule staff meetings depends on your purpose, but having a regular meeting on the books is helpful for planning purposes.

Small groups may be able to meet weekly and accomplish a great deal; large groups may be better served by meeting each quarter. But here's the problem: a small minority of employees including those in leadership know their organization's core values well enough to recite them. Asking questions that reference and relate to core values actively helps employees to build that connection between the values of their organization, and the sum of their contributions to it. As a leader, it's your responsibility to build and maintain that alignment, so take this as an opportunity to do that, and forge a more successful working relationship.

Are you helping your direct reports grow and excel in their career? Actions you take to help your team grow not only provide the benefit of a more skilled or equipped team, they also foster engagement, intrinsic motivation, esteem, and confidence. These efforts can also be a meaningful factor in attracting and retaining employees long-term. Better still, you as a representative of organizational leadership are visibly investing discretionary effort toward their continued growth and success, which can help inspire a reciprocative investment of the same sort of effort on their part.

Asking actionable questions on a regular basis is an excellent way to improve employee engagement, boost productivity, and establish stronger relationships with each member of your team. At its core, asking questions opens a channel of communication that can strengthen the environment of an office, and strengthen the organization it serves.

Lives to learn and build cool things with good people. Customer Stories. Resources: Blog Polly. The Polly Blog. What do you need to do?

Why is that so important to get right? OK, but why does that matter? Solid communication is more important now than ever. Written by George Dickson Lives to learn and build cool things with good people. Purpose: To stay up to date with progress on goals, projects, and other responsibilities. Discussing employee performance is second nature to most.

A lot can happen in a year, let alone a quarter, a month, or a week. Having regular conversations about employee performance allows managers to quickly see what is hindering or impacting performance and coach to make immediate adjustments.

Managers should conduct performance conversations at least quarterly after initial goals have been set. This provides an opportunity for managers and employees to discuss goal progress, obstacles, and any feedback they may have recently received.

The annual employee performance review is a common conversation between managers and their direct reports. This topic is one that is most likely a regular part of your performance strategy. Purpose: To discover behaviors or barriers that are hindering top performance and create an action plan. This employee meeting topic is a good opportunity to see what may be missing in their experience and what gaps managers can help fill.

These meetings should end with clear, agreed-upon action steps for performance improvement. Purpose: To align on goals and find out where employees need support in goal achievement. Goal-setting should be conducted at the beginning of the year and act as a roadmap or blueprint for the rest of the year. Employees and managers should collaborate on and finalize goals together. Setting aside a 1-on-1 meeting to work through goals leaves space for identifying barriers, pinpointing stretch goals, and assessing the resources needed to obtain success.

Every meeting is an opportunity to give and gather employee feedback. Gathering feedback helps employees feel valued, while giving feedback helps employees grow.

Giving feedback helps employees grow, while gathering feedback helps employees feel valued and heard. Giving feedback. Be honest, immediate, and specific when giving feedback. This gives employees a view of their performance, strengths, and opportunities, and gives them the chance to make meaningful adjustments. Dealing with negative feedback. When reviewing negative feedback, an open discussion allows employees to share their point of view. Managers and employees can decide on a course of action together to avoid the problem in the future.

Gathering feedback. Every meeting is an opportunity to gather employee feedback.