In this week's newsletter

• Why the meeting you dread might be a hidden gem for your team
• Warm-up and checkout questions you can use today
• Q: People on my team are sharing inaccurate info and I'm strapped for time. What can I do?
• Your weekly bird break

In a job early in my career we had an all-staff meeting every Monday morning.

I loved that meeting.

I was a project manager doing detailed behind-the-scenes work that was somehow also high stress. I was managing international projects, but never left my cubicle in Vermont.

I looked forward to the staff meeting. It was where I got to say hi to my work friends. I got glimpses into how my less than glamorous work fit into the exciting work our company was doing overseas.

It’s where I learned about the financial health of the organization and a case of fraud that ultimately forced policy changes and a reorg that impacted my day-to-day work.

It’s also where I got my first opportunities to speak in front of staff beyond my close teammates.

As we grow in our careers, we often begin to resent the block of time a meeting like this one takes in our schedule. We forget how meaningful those touch points can be for early career staff.

And because of this, we often forget the role we can play in turning this meeting into a true PD opportunity.

Ask yourself

Meeting Minute

​Warm-up question​

Feel free to invite people to think creatively about what they've read (article, social media post, book, email, etc.). Acknowledge diversity or similarities in interests. Plant the seed that we're always learning new things from a variety of sources.

​Check-out question​

This is a good one for a) solidifying any learning or key takeaways in the minds of meeting attendees, and b) good data for you on what landed (or didn't!)

Q: I found out someone in the community asked a member of my team what our company does and they responded with an answer that is not at all aligned with our brand. Then I heard someone asked a different team member about a critical project and they said "I don't work on that." This is unacceptable and I'm strapped for time, what can I do?

A: As leaders, we often forget how much more context we have than our teams, how our experience equips us to see the big picture and connect dots, and how our years of reps have taught us how to talk about the work with confidence. To build these skills across your team, consider adding “Q&A practice” as a regular agenda item in your team meeting.

Prep:

• Pick 3-5 FAQs that are critical for your team and create a shared document with these questions

During:

• Split your team into pairs assigning one question to each pair
• Ask the pairs to write out how they would answer that question in the shared document (or on paper if you’re in person)
• Bring the group back together and ask pairs to share out
• Invite the whole team to give feedback on the answer noting anything to add, remove, or edit
• Assign someone to update/edit the shared document after the meeting (or do so yourself)
• Set the expectation that all team members need to know the answers to FAQs in the doc and may be quizzed in the future

Future Meeting Ideas:

1. Work through more FAQs repeating the process outlined above
2. Spend a meeting doing rapid fire questions - randomly ask team members questions from your list OR have them practice in small groups
3. When a new question comes to your team, save it to workshop during your next meeting using the same process

Did you try this one out? Reply to let me know!