Contrary to what a lot of people believe, staff meetings do not have to be a waste of everyone’s time. In fact, a well run monthly staff meeting can have many benefits for your IT organization.
As a young IBM Systems Engineer, monthly staff meetings were great breaks from the daily work routine. It was there that I learned the value of a properly conducted staff meeting.
I’ve incorporated regularly scheduled staff meetings throughout my management career to help me accomplish many things with my IT organization including:
- Keeping staff informed of company events & issues
- Reinforcing teamwork
- Coaching key points
- Providing group education
- Building camaraderie within the IT group
- Recognizing successes and achievement
- Having fun
You need to balance the impact on productivity against what you gain by having a meeting. Fifty employees out for one hour in a meeting is potentially 50 hours of lost time, maybe even lost billable time if your organization generates revenue. That’s a hit against your organization’s output or billable revenue to be sure.
On the flip side, getting everyone together once a month keeps them informed and allows you to emphasize key issues that need their focus. The bottom line is that it helps you manage the output of their productivity potential. Informed employees who know their manager realizes the importance of both hard work and having fun tend to be more motivated. Highly motivated employees produce more in a 40-hour work week than those who are not.
When I hear employees or managers make statements that meetings are a waste of time, one of two things is happening. Their meetings lack substance and are held simply to meet, or the person doesn’t realize the peripheral benefits that are taking place by keeping the team informed.
Your IT employees typically have a huge need to know what’s going on. Staff meetings are one way to keep them informed. Meeting time is high quality time with your people when you organize and prepare for the event and make it a priority to make it meaningful for your staff.
ITLever™ 