Quarterly Meetings are Critical

{"public_access_rules_enabled":false,"public_access_rules":[],"post_summary":"

When you're meeting in person, you can read a teammate's body language, make eye contact, and connect more effectively. Face-to-face meetings are always better, but they're not always possible.

\n","post_body":"

When you're meeting in person, you can read a teammate's body language, make eye contact, and connect more effectively. Face-to-face meetings are always better, but they're not always possible.

\n\n

When you have a distributed team, virtual meetings are a necessity. While meeting remotely provides a connection challenge (and not just because of spotty internet), it's still possible to have a great meeting -- from anywhere.

\n

How to Run a Virtual Meeting

\n

In a related post, we outlined a basic distributed team meeting template with principles on how to structure a virtual meeting. Here's the agenda we recommend:

\n

\n
1. Check in personally and professionally. If you're following the Level 10 Meeting methodology, this is known as the segue.
\n
2. Discuss each item on the meeting agenda. Ideally, everyone will be looking at the same list in a tool like Strety. To move through talking points more efficiently, ask all team members to review and contribute to the agenda before the meeting starts.
\n
3. When decisions are made and action items are assigned, check off the talking points and add tasks for the appropriate parties while still on the call.
\n
4. When you've checked off all your agenda items, ask everyone to rate how the meeting went. You're shooting for 10s all around but all feedback is worth knowing. If someone gives a low rating, that might be a cue that your meeting processes could be run more smoothly.
\n

\n

Strety Users: If you're using our Meetings tool and your meetings don't feel as efficient as you'd like, email our Success Team - We'd love to give you some customized advice on how to spend less time on the phone with your team and more time doing high-impact work.

\n

So: you have the structure down. You're tracking your goals, you're documenting action items, and you're taking notes in a centralized hub. That's a great start -- but if you're used to meeting in-person, it can still feel like something's missing. Using our template for virtual meetings will help you address existing pain points, but it can be trickier to read someone's body language to understand what's *not* being said.

\n

The best meetings preempt issues before they turn into problems. To do that virtually, you need a blend of communication best practices and the right systems for automated team management.

\n

How to Uncover Unspoken Issues in a Virtual Meeting

\n

Structuring a meeting is pretty straightforward -- if you're using a tool like Strety and have a set agenda, the meeting almost runs itself. (Almost.)

\n

Understanding team dynamics and preempting issues that employees haven't yet voiced is murky in any situation. Reading people can feel like a talent you either have or don't -- and, certainly, some are more naturally talented at it than others. Luckily, it's also a skill that can be learned. To have an effective remote meeting that preempts issues before they turn into problems, add some communication best practices to your software stack:

\n

Default to Video

\n

We'll get this out of the way: it can be annoying to hold a video call instead of a phone chat. If you're on the go, or multitasking, or just haven't showered (we won't judge), a video call can feel disruptive or frustrating. 

\n

Much of the way we communicate is non-verbal, and picking up on those cues is crucial to connecting effectively with teammates. Without video, it's impossible to read someone's body language. Make video calls the rule and an audio-only call the exception.

\n

Listen With Your Eyes

\n

Have you ever gotten halfway through a video call and realized you've been watching your own face the entire time? We all do it. While it's human nature to watch your own thumbnail on Zoom, try to resist the urge. Instead, watch other faces for reactions and nonverbal cues. That's the magic of defaulting to video: you have a way to see those nonverbal cues instead of just relying on tone (which can be misleading).

\n

Watching to see how your employees' faces change when things are discussed will help you understand where friction lies, what people are really excited about, and what could turn into a big problem down the line. If you're using Zoom, try switching to the Gallery View instead of Active Speaker View. You'll see more faces at once and will be able to \"read the room\" more quickly.

\n

Make Time to Check In

\n

When you're meeting in-person, there's time in the margins to chat about your weekends, talk about your lives, and generally catch up. It happens when people are milling about or walking to the conference room. While idle chatter can sometimes feel like it's delaying the important stuff, idle chatter has a crucial purpose: it warms people up to meet. 

\n

If you're meeting virtually, make time for some idle chatter. We recommend allotting 5 minutes to catch up at the beginning fo a meeting. Some teams have success sharing personal good news one at a time, and others do well just chatting for a little while before moving onto action items. Try a few formats and see what works best for your team -- but don't skip it.

\n

Follow Up Privately -- and Immediately

\n

If you noticed a nonverbal reaction from a team member that hinted at a potential issue, follow up after the call. Asking a team member about their body language outright during a video call can derail the conversation and potentially bring up resentment that someone might prefer not to discuss in front of everyone. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't talk about it at all -- it's just more effective to do so privately.

\n

Message your teammate privately after the call and leave it open ended. Vague is better; \"how are you feeling about X\" will go a long way.

\n

 

\n

Strety Users: if you're sensing unspoken issues during your virtual team meeting, add a private check in question for teammates to answer after every meeting. It'll prompt employees to answer automatically, saving you time and giving people a space to respond to top-of-mind issues they'd rather not discuss publicly. 

\n

We're Here to Help

\n

If you're ready to incorporate better virtual meetings into your continuous performance management system, contact Strety for a demo of our tool. We'll make this easy!

\n

 

","rss_summary":"

When you're meeting in person, you can read a teammate's body language, make eye contact, and connect more effectively. Face-to-face meetings are always better, but they're not always possible.

\n","rss_body":"

When you're meeting in person, you can read a teammate's body language, make eye contact, and connect more effectively. Face-to-face meetings are always better, but they're not always possible.

\n\n

When you have a distributed team, virtual meetings are a necessity. While meeting remotely provides a connection challenge (and not just because of spotty internet), it's still possible to have a great meeting -- from anywhere.

\n

How to Run a Virtual Meeting

\n

In a related post, we outlined a basic distributed team meeting template with principles on how to structure a virtual meeting. Here's the agenda we recommend:

\n

\n
1. Check in personally and professionally. If you're following the Level 10 Meeting methodology, this is known as the segue.
\n
2. Discuss each item on the meeting agenda. Ideally, everyone will be looking at the same list in a tool like Strety. To move through talking points more efficiently, ask all team members to review and contribute to the agenda before the meeting starts.
\n
3. When decisions are made and action items are assigned, check off the talking points and add tasks for the appropriate parties while still on the call.
\n
4. When you've checked off all your agenda items, ask everyone to rate how the meeting went. You're shooting for 10s all around but all feedback is worth knowing. If someone gives a low rating, that might be a cue that your meeting processes could be run more smoothly.
\n

\n

Strety Users: If you're using our Meetings tool and your meetings don't feel as efficient as you'd like, email our Success Team - We'd love to give you some customized advice on how to spend less time on the phone with your team and more time doing high-impact work.

\n

So: you have the structure down. You're tracking your goals, you're documenting action items, and you're taking notes in a centralized hub. That's a great start -- but if you're used to meeting in-person, it can still feel like something's missing. Using our template for virtual meetings will help you address existing pain points, but it can be trickier to read someone's body language to understand what's *not* being said.

\n

The best meetings preempt issues before they turn into problems. To do that virtually, you need a blend of communication best practices and the right systems for automated team management.

\n

How to Uncover Unspoken Issues in a Virtual Meeting

\n

Structuring a meeting is pretty straightforward -- if you're using a tool like Strety and have a set agenda, the meeting almost runs itself. (Almost.)

\n

Understanding team dynamics and preempting issues that employees haven't yet voiced is murky in any situation. Reading people can feel like a talent you either have or don't -- and, certainly, some are more naturally talented at it than others. Luckily, it's also a skill that can be learned. To have an effective remote meeting that preempts issues before they turn into problems, add some communication best practices to your software stack:

\n

Default to Video

\n

We'll get this out of the way: it can be annoying to hold a video call instead of a phone chat. If you're on the go, or multitasking, or just haven't showered (we won't judge), a video call can feel disruptive or frustrating. 

\n

Much of the way we communicate is non-verbal, and picking up on those cues is crucial to connecting effectively with teammates. Without video, it's impossible to read someone's body language. Make video calls the rule and an audio-only call the exception.

\n

Listen With Your Eyes

\n

Have you ever gotten halfway through a video call and realized you've been watching your own face the entire time? We all do it. While it's human nature to watch your own thumbnail on Zoom, try to resist the urge. Instead, watch other faces for reactions and nonverbal cues. That's the magic of defaulting to video: you have a way to see those nonverbal cues instead of just relying on tone (which can be misleading).

\n

Watching to see how your employees' faces change when things are discussed will help you understand where friction lies, what people are really excited about, and what could turn into a big problem down the line. If you're using Zoom, try switching to the Gallery View instead of Active Speaker View. You'll see more faces at once and will be able to \"read the room\" more quickly.

\n

Make Time to Check In

\n

When you're meeting in-person, there's time in the margins to chat about your weekends, talk about your lives, and generally catch up. It happens when people are milling about or walking to the conference room. While idle chatter can sometimes feel like it's delaying the important stuff, idle chatter has a crucial purpose: it warms people up to meet. 

\n

If you're meeting virtually, make time for some idle chatter. We recommend allotting 5 minutes to catch up at the beginning fo a meeting. Some teams have success sharing personal good news one at a time, and others do well just chatting for a little while before moving onto action items. Try a few formats and see what works best for your team -- but don't skip it.

\n

Follow Up Privately -- and Immediately

\n

If you noticed a nonverbal reaction from a team member that hinted at a potential issue, follow up after the call. Asking a team member about their body language outright during a video call can derail the conversation and potentially bring up resentment that someone might prefer not to discuss in front of everyone. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't talk about it at all -- it's just more effective to do so privately.

\n

Message your teammate privately after the call and leave it open ended. Vague is better; \"how are you feeling about X\" will go a long way.

\n

 

\n

Strety Users: if you're sensing unspoken issues during your virtual team meeting, add a private check in question for teammates to answer after every meeting. It'll prompt employees to answer automatically, saving you time and giving people a space to respond to top-of-mind issues they'd rather not discuss publicly. 

\n

We're Here to Help

\n

If you're ready to incorporate better virtual meetings into your continuous performance management system, contact Strety for a demo of our tool. We'll make this easy!

\n

 

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{"public_access_rules_enabled":false,"public_access_rules":[],"post_summary":"

Unless you’re a sales rep for Zoom, it's pretty safe to say that whatever goals you had at the beginning of the year now look like a stretch.  Now that the dust has settled from 2020’s rollercoaster first half, it’s time to climb up the tree to see if you’re still on the right path. It’s time for a midyear gut check. 

\n","post_body":"

Unless you’re a sales rep for Zoom, it's pretty safe to say that whatever goals you had at the beginning of the year now look like a stretch.  Now that the dust has settled from 2020’s rollercoaster first half, it’s time to climb up the tree to see if you’re still on the right path. It’s time for a midyear gut check. 

\n\n

This year more than ever, it’s vital to do a mid-year review with your direct report or manager. Reviewing the last 6 months worth of work and assessing what stays and what goes will yield one of the highest ROI's of any meeting on your Q3 calendar. It does not have to be a very long meeting, but it does have to be very intentional. 

\n

For starters it's a good time to check with your counterpart on how they're feeling about their progress this year. You may have done this more casually throughout the year already but it's important to give the discussion some structure, to record the meeting, and to assign and track any actions or to-dos that come out of it.

\n

To kick it off, review what was planned at the beginning of the year: What were the numbers or outcomes that were agreed upon to signal success on your yearly goals? You should both ask yourselves “are these still appropriate goals considering how the year has gone”?. Adjusting goal-targets is a huge key to keeping employee morale and motivation high.

\n

You should also ask yourself “Do we need to scrap any of these goals right here and now?”. Priorities change quickly and what was important or feasible in January may not be any longer. If a goal needs to be scrapped, mutually agree on new 2nd half goals that take the reality of 2020’s 2nd half expectations into consideration. 

\n

 

\n

\n

 

\n

Once you've agreed upon 2nd half numbers and/outcomes, put them in writing and break them down so they're more manageable. Plan out the next major steps (2-3) that will put you on the right track to hit that number or goal for the end of the year. The, most importantly, set a regular recurring time to check in with the goal owner and get updates on their progress towards the goal or KPI.

\n

With less opportunity for in-office face-time, it’s important to get more frequent updates without taking up any additional time. We have personally used Strety's Goals & Check Ins to get more consistent reads on how everyone is doing, feeling, and progressing towards their goals and we haven’t missed a beat; effectively replacing our need for a Daily Stand Up.

\n

Lastly, praise. Everyone has faced their own personal challenges and hardships adjusting their work around WFH and a global pandemic. Remember to use the meeting to also acknowledge and emphasize what’s been accomplished amidst such a tough year. Your team will thank you for it. 

\n

 

","rss_summary":"

Unless you’re a sales rep for Zoom, it's pretty safe to say that whatever goals you had at the beginning of the year now look like a stretch.  Now that the dust has settled from 2020’s rollercoaster first half, it’s time to climb up the tree to see if you’re still on the right path. It’s time for a midyear gut check. 

\n","rss_body":"

Unless you’re a sales rep for Zoom, it's pretty safe to say that whatever goals you had at the beginning of the year now look like a stretch.  Now that the dust has settled from 2020’s rollercoaster first half, it’s time to climb up the tree to see if you’re still on the right path. It’s time for a midyear gut check. 

\n\n

This year more than ever, it’s vital to do a mid-year review with your direct report or manager. Reviewing the last 6 months worth of work and assessing what stays and what goes will yield one of the highest ROI's of any meeting on your Q3 calendar. It does not have to be a very long meeting, but it does have to be very intentional. 

\n

For starters it's a good time to check with your counterpart on how they're feeling about their progress this year. You may have done this more casually throughout the year already but it's important to give the discussion some structure, to record the meeting, and to assign and track any actions or to-dos that come out of it.

\n

To kick it off, review what was planned at the beginning of the year: What were the numbers or outcomes that were agreed upon to signal success on your yearly goals? You should both ask yourselves “are these still appropriate goals considering how the year has gone”?. Adjusting goal-targets is a huge key to keeping employee morale and motivation high.

\n

You should also ask yourself “Do we need to scrap any of these goals right here and now?”. Priorities change quickly and what was important or feasible in January may not be any longer. If a goal needs to be scrapped, mutually agree on new 2nd half goals that take the reality of 2020’s 2nd half expectations into consideration. 

\n

 

\n

\n

 

\n

Once you've agreed upon 2nd half numbers and/outcomes, put them in writing and break them down so they're more manageable. Plan out the next major steps (2-3) that will put you on the right track to hit that number or goal for the end of the year. The, most importantly, set a regular recurring time to check in with the goal owner and get updates on their progress towards the goal or KPI.

\n

With less opportunity for in-office face-time, it’s important to get more frequent updates without taking up any additional time. We have personally used Strety's Goals & Check Ins to get more consistent reads on how everyone is doing, feeling, and progressing towards their goals and we haven’t missed a beat; effectively replacing our need for a Daily Stand Up.

\n

Lastly, praise. Everyone has faced their own personal challenges and hardships adjusting their work around WFH and a global pandemic. Remember to use the meeting to also acknowledge and emphasize what’s been accomplished amidst such a tough year. Your team will thank you for it. 

\n

 

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{"public_access_rules_enabled":false,"public_access_rules":[],"post_summary":"

All too often, agendas are made up on the fly, added last minute, or left unchanged from week to week. This renders the agenda lazy and hollow and leaves your team likely uninspired, or worse, wondering “What was the point of that meeting?”

\n","post_body":"

All too often, agendas are made up on the fly, added last minute, or left unchanged from week to week. This renders the agenda lazy and hollow and leaves your team likely uninspired, or worse, wondering “What was the point of that meeting?”

\n\n

When we put so little effort going into a meeting, we grow accustomed to very little coming out. A Harvard Business Review study supports this sentiment, reporting only 17% of executives agree their meetings are productive uses of group and individual time.

\n

This routine, err vicious cycle, perfectly sums up how & why (most) meetings are generally viewed as colossal wastes of time and disruptions to real work. There’s not enough time invested in pre-meeting prep work. No matter how familiar you are with leading meetings - whether you’re a first time manager or a seasoned pro - we want to make sure your meetings are set up for success, and that all starts with a meaningful agenda.

\n

In The Surprising Science of Meetings, Steven Rogelberg likens an agenda to an event plan. When planning an event, we think about the details, the flow, the experience, and the approach. We should apply that same mindset and process when planning a meeting. In fact, once you factor in attendee time, salaries, and time away from equally essential solo work, meetings can become fairly expensive events in their own right, further justifying careful planning.

\n

Think about showing up to a client without being ready to discuss their account, any services issues, or potential projects coming up.  That should never happen right? That same focus should be brought to your internal meetings!

\n

How to Prepare for Productive Meetings

\n

 

\n\n

1. Know Why You’re Meeting

\n

Meetings must have a purpose and a desired outcome. Before you begin creating an agenda, figure out if you need to meet by asking why. Do you need to solve a problem, make a decision, or do you just want to check in with a direct report? Meetings should be called to address issues that require genuine interaction and engagement amongst attendees. If the topic doesn’t require interaction, another communication medium, like an email or memo, will likely be more efficient. 

\n

Once you’ve decided a meeting is necessary, make the purpose known, even including it in the agenda, so everyone else explicitly knows why you’re meeting. 

\n

 

\n\n

2. Collaborate on the Agenda

\n

For meetings to be transformative, they need to be a shared experience. Ideas for your meeting agenda should bubble up from team members. Rogelberg agrees; “When your employees are encouraged to bring their thoughts and ideas to the table and to have them be truly heard, they tend to feel a greater sense of commitment to and identification with the team and organization”. This lends itself to meetings where attendees are actively involved and invested in the meeting, while increasing the chances of hitting topics of critical importance to all who are present.

\n

What employees propose should definitely be considered, but you, as the meeting facilitator have final say. Encourage attendees to submit topics for discussion 2-4 days in advance of the meeting. Ask them to include a 1-2 sentence reason for why they want a topic included in the meeting. If a topic doesn’t make the cut, privately give an explanation to the employee or move it to a more appropriate meeting, like your 1:1. Make sure to always close the loop, though. Your simple acknowledgement goes a long way.

\n

\n

Strety Users: Our agendas are shared and collaborative. No need to go back and forth about agenda construction. Encourage everyone to add leading up and you can be the gatekeeper for what makes it one. Just get more ideas on the table!

\n

 

\n\n

3. Curate Your Agenda

\n

Now that all the potential agenda items have been collected, it’s time to whittle the list down. Determine which topics will really add value to the meeting and drop any content that doesn’t contribute to the meeting’s purpose and desired outcome(s). 

\n

Studies from Rogelberg suggest that items early in an agenda receive a disproportionate amount of time and attention, so order your topics in order of importance. Know the difference between what’s essential to cover and what would be nice. 

\n

Next, look for agenda items that should be addressed in/around one another. This will help your agenda flow more smoothly.  If all else is relatively equal, prioritize employee-generated agenda items. This sends a strong message around voice, inclusion, and shared ownership. 

\n

Lastly, meetings should always start and stop in the same way. Open with a short ice-breaker or segue. Close with a summation of key takeaways and clarifying ownership of next steps/action items

\n

 

\n\n

4. Share Meeting Responsibilities 

\n

A meeting should always have a facilitator but that doesn’t mean they’re solely responsible for leading the discussion around every agenda item. Each agenda item should have it’s own clearly - and publicly - designated owner.  If an engineer on your team wants to talk about a specific services issue, they need to prep that agenda item and own the discussion. 

\n

Sharing responsibility will also provide an opportunity to develop meeting leadership skills for other team members and it will get more people - and varied voices - involved in the meeting.

\n

\n

Strety Users: Manage the work that results from your meetings with Action Items.  We allow you to assign to-dos and manage their progress from meeting to meeting, so there’s accountability and nothing slips through the cracks.

\n\n

5. Plan For Process

\n

Rogelberg says “planning a meeting is knowing not only what you want to cover but also how you want to go about doing it.” This final step in agenda creation is often ignored or assumed as obvious but it’s imperative you put some thought into the process to which you’ll address each agenda item. 

\n

There are plenty of tools and techniques to consider when discussing certain agenda items - we’ve even written about a few here. Consider the team, the task, and the desired outcome. For example, if your weekly team meeting has an agenda item to discuss KPIs (we love KPIs, we’re all BrightGauge alumni), the process would be “I’ll lead this topic off discussing my team’s KPIs and we’ll go around the room letting each team lead share theirs”..

\n

Leaders are uniquely qualified to attach process to agenda items given their big-picture understanding and their responsibility in ensuring there’s a positive return on time spent in the meeting.

\n

 

\n\n

Summary

\n

An agenda alone will not make your meeting great but putting a little effort into it definitely will. By establishing a purpose, opening it up for collaboration, thinking through flow & process, and divvying out responsibility you’ll change the attitude towards meetings in your company and you’ll increase the return on everyone’s time investment.

\n

If you want to see your meetings improve - and automate much of what you’ve read above - request a demo and let us show you the Strety solution!

","rss_summary":"

All too often, agendas are made up on the fly, added last minute, or left unchanged from week to week. This renders the agenda lazy and hollow and leaves your team likely uninspired, or worse, wondering “What was the point of that meeting?”

\n","rss_body":"

All too often, agendas are made up on the fly, added last minute, or left unchanged from week to week. This renders the agenda lazy and hollow and leaves your team likely uninspired, or worse, wondering “What was the point of that meeting?”

\n\n

When we put so little effort going into a meeting, we grow accustomed to very little coming out. A Harvard Business Review study supports this sentiment, reporting only 17% of executives agree their meetings are productive uses of group and individual time.

\n

This routine, err vicious cycle, perfectly sums up how & why (most) meetings are generally viewed as colossal wastes of time and disruptions to real work. There’s not enough time invested in pre-meeting prep work. No matter how familiar you are with leading meetings - whether you’re a first time manager or a seasoned pro - we want to make sure your meetings are set up for success, and that all starts with a meaningful agenda.

\n

In The Surprising Science of Meetings, Steven Rogelberg likens an agenda to an event plan. When planning an event, we think about the details, the flow, the experience, and the approach. We should apply that same mindset and process when planning a meeting. In fact, once you factor in attendee time, salaries, and time away from equally essential solo work, meetings can become fairly expensive events in their own right, further justifying careful planning.

\n

Think about showing up to a client without being ready to discuss their account, any services issues, or potential projects coming up.  That should never happen right? That same focus should be brought to your internal meetings!

\n

How to Prepare for Productive Meetings

\n

 

\n\n

1. Know Why You’re Meeting

\n

Meetings must have a purpose and a desired outcome. Before you begin creating an agenda, figure out if you need to meet by asking why. Do you need to solve a problem, make a decision, or do you just want to check in with a direct report? Meetings should be called to address issues that require genuine interaction and engagement amongst attendees. If the topic doesn’t require interaction, another communication medium, like an email or memo, will likely be more efficient. 

\n

Once you’ve decided a meeting is necessary, make the purpose known, even including it in the agenda, so everyone else explicitly knows why you’re meeting. 

\n

 

\n\n

2. Collaborate on the Agenda

\n

For meetings to be transformative, they need to be a shared experience. Ideas for your meeting agenda should bubble up from team members. Rogelberg agrees; “When your employees are encouraged to bring their thoughts and ideas to the table and to have them be truly heard, they tend to feel a greater sense of commitment to and identification with the team and organization”. This lends itself to meetings where attendees are actively involved and invested in the meeting, while increasing the chances of hitting topics of critical importance to all who are present.

\n

What employees propose should definitely be considered, but you, as the meeting facilitator have final say. Encourage attendees to submit topics for discussion 2-4 days in advance of the meeting. Ask them to include a 1-2 sentence reason for why they want a topic included in the meeting. If a topic doesn’t make the cut, privately give an explanation to the employee or move it to a more appropriate meeting, like your 1:1. Make sure to always close the loop, though. Your simple acknowledgement goes a long way.

\n

\n

Strety Users: Our agendas are shared and collaborative. No need to go back and forth about agenda construction. Encourage everyone to add leading up and you can be the gatekeeper for what makes it one. Just get more ideas on the table!

\n

 

\n\n

3. Curate Your Agenda

\n

Now that all the potential agenda items have been collected, it’s time to whittle the list down. Determine which topics will really add value to the meeting and drop any content that doesn’t contribute to the meeting’s purpose and desired outcome(s). 

\n

Studies from Rogelberg suggest that items early in an agenda receive a disproportionate amount of time and attention, so order your topics in order of importance. Know the difference between what’s essential to cover and what would be nice. 

\n

Next, look for agenda items that should be addressed in/around one another. This will help your agenda flow more smoothly.  If all else is relatively equal, prioritize employee-generated agenda items. This sends a strong message around voice, inclusion, and shared ownership. 

\n

Lastly, meetings should always start and stop in the same way. Open with a short ice-breaker or segue. Close with a summation of key takeaways and clarifying ownership of next steps/action items

\n

 

\n\n

4. Share Meeting Responsibilities 

\n

A meeting should always have a facilitator but that doesn’t mean they’re solely responsible for leading the discussion around every agenda item. Each agenda item should have it’s own clearly - and publicly - designated owner.  If an engineer on your team wants to talk about a specific services issue, they need to prep that agenda item and own the discussion. 

\n

Sharing responsibility will also provide an opportunity to develop meeting leadership skills for other team members and it will get more people - and varied voices - involved in the meeting.

\n

\n

Strety Users: Manage the work that results from your meetings with Action Items.  We allow you to assign to-dos and manage their progress from meeting to meeting, so there’s accountability and nothing slips through the cracks.

\n\n

5. Plan For Process

\n

Rogelberg says “planning a meeting is knowing not only what you want to cover but also how you want to go about doing it.” This final step in agenda creation is often ignored or assumed as obvious but it’s imperative you put some thought into the process to which you’ll address each agenda item. 

\n

There are plenty of tools and techniques to consider when discussing certain agenda items - we’ve even written about a few here. Consider the team, the task, and the desired outcome. For example, if your weekly team meeting has an agenda item to discuss KPIs (we love KPIs, we’re all BrightGauge alumni), the process would be “I’ll lead this topic off discussing my team’s KPIs and we’ll go around the room letting each team lead share theirs”..

\n

Leaders are uniquely qualified to attach process to agenda items given their big-picture understanding and their responsibility in ensuring there’s a positive return on time spent in the meeting.

\n

 

\n\n

Summary

\n

An agenda alone will not make your meeting great but putting a little effort into it definitely will. By establishing a purpose, opening it up for collaboration, thinking through flow & process, and divvying out responsibility you’ll change the attitude towards meetings in your company and you’ll increase the return on everyone’s time investment.

\n

If you want to see your meetings improve - and automate much of what you’ve read above - request a demo and let us show you the Strety solution!

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{"public_access_rules_enabled":false,"public_access_rules":[],"post_summary":"

One-on-one (1:1) meetings are an opportunity to discuss real-time performance, your career development opportunities, and to receive feedback and coaching from your manager.  It’s also a way for you and your boss to build or strengthen your professional relationship.  

\n","post_body":"

One-on-one (1:1) meetings are an opportunity to discuss real-time performance, your career development opportunities, and to receive feedback and coaching from your manager.  It’s also a way for you and your boss to build or strengthen your professional relationship.  

\n\n

Your one on one is one of the few moments where you, the direct report, are the main subject of the meeting.  The responsibility to bring relevant issues to the table and to make these an effective use of your time rests squarely on your shoulders. If you remain passive and allow your boss to drive the agenda, it’s unlikely all your needs will be met.

\n

“So, what do you want to talk about?” is the last thing you ever want to be asked during a one on one meeting. If you’re not invested in yourself and your performance, how can you expect your manager to be? If there was ever a time to selfishly prepare, it’s for your 1:1s…

\n

Own the Agenda

\n

To hammer this home: Effective 1:1s happen when you determine what you want to discuss. This is your one-on-one. Own the agenda! Throughout your week and between meetings, write down topics for discussion as they come to you. Potential topics include:

\n

\n
• Career development
\n
• Personal growth and self improvement
\n
• Suggestions for team improvement
\n
• Communicating your contributions
\n
• Aligning priorities
\n
• Personal issues that could impact work performance
\n
• Interpersonal issues with coworkers (the good and bad)
\n

\n

By the time your next 1:1 rolls around you should have a formidable list of topics to choose from. From there you should prioritize your list, create an agenda, and share it with your manager a couple days before meeting; giving your manager an opportunity to prepare and add their own topics.

\n

Strety Users: Our meeting agendas are collaborative. Leverage the agenda as an active list of topic ideas. This gives your manager an opportunity to offer guidance and advance the conversation within the comment thread, leading to more dialed-in discussion during the actual meeting.

\n

 

\n

12 Questions to Ask Your Manager

\n

So now you have a rough outline of what to do - what about actionables? I don’t want to provide you a list of uninspired suggestions or contextless questions to ask your manager; you can find those anywhere. I’d like to share with you a list of malleable starting points, with context, that you can bank-up and pull-out whenever you need more from your 1:1s…

\n\n

Team & Organizational Alignment

\n

1. What’s holding our team back from accomplishing [x] ?

\n

Identify the main problem or bottleneck in your team’s performance and get a better sense as to what management thinks will help overcome it.  Gaining insight to how management looks to solve performance issues is valuable knowledge for you to possess.

\n

2. What is one thing I can do to help improve our team’s performance?

\n

The exhibits your commitment to the team or organizational effort and can segue into a discussion about your own skill set.

\n

3. What’s one thing you think we should stop doing?

\n

Knowing which processes or projects that are failing to produce is valuable intel. You can re-prioritize your workload and/or see it as an opportunity to help improve inefficiencies.

\n

4. What factors led to us deciding [x]?

\n

You may not feel comfortable or be in a position to dig too deep as to why certain decisions are made but if you disagree with a decision or want to better understand why your team went a certain direction, it’s important to ask your superior.  Conversely, maybe you simply want insights to what goes into a decision making process within positions you aspire to be in one day. Both are perfectly valid and insightful reasons to ask for more.

\n\n

Professional Growth

\n

5. Do you have any recommendations for how I can improve [x] ?

\n

This question is about you and specific skill development. Managers have experience and connections and this is your opportunity to leverage those resources. Ask for recommendations for educational courses, training programs, reading material, or to make introductions to people in their network that can offer additional insights. 

\n

6. What do you see as gaps in my skill set?

\n

Learning where you have holes - or perceived holes - is critical knowledge for you to possess.  You can either acquire the skill or, if it’s only a perceived gap, begin to more visibly show it off. Don’t run from this question. Ask it. Learn from it. Grow because of it! 

\n

7. How do you see my role evolving over the next 12 months?

\n

You have your own ideas for what you want to accomplish - find out where your manager sees you going. Are your visions for you in alignment? If not, you have a lot to talk about in your next 1:1…

\n

8. What can I be doing now to put me in a position to be [x] in [y] time?

\n

Talk to your manager about where you want to go professionally. This does not have to be specific to the opportunities available within your current organization. These are your long-term professional goals. Have them help you lay out the steps, short and long term, to achieve your goals. DO NOT let your annual review be the only time you talk about your career aspirations.

\n

Strety Users:  Make this a recurring meeting agenda item so that this remains at the forefront of your 1:1 Meetings.  Use action items to hold you and your manager accountable for any to-dos (make a professional introduction, sign up for a training  course, etc) that come from your discussion.

\n\n

Building Professional Rapport

\n

9. What do you want to know about my work?

\n

Have empathy for your managers. It’s difficult for managers, especially first-time managers and managers of larger teams, to track the daily activity of each of their direct reports.  In asking this question, you’re being proactive in helping them fill-in their blind spots while giving you the opportunity to expound on work - progress & successes - that could be going unnoticed. Managers will appreciate this.

\n

10. How would you like to receive information/deliverables from me?

\n

Every organization has a process and structure for how information is disseminated, but each manager likely has their own personal preference for how they receive info, feedback, updates, or questions. Learn their style. Adapting your deliverables to fit their personal preferences will make their job a little easier and is a simple yet effective way to build rapport.

\n

11. What wins do you need?

\n

1:1s are a two-way street. Don’t shy away about asking your manager about their job. Their focus affects you directly or indirectly.  Learning what a manager’s priorities are is another valuable insight. It can also help you frame your work around larger team or organizational objectives.

\n

12, If I need something, what’s the best way to ask for your input?

\n

All managers manage and provide feedback differently. Learning how and where they feel most comfortable providing support - over email, in person, screen share - will increase the likelihood you get the help you need

\n

We're Here to Help

\n

Whether you can use these questions verbatim or if they need some refinement to fit your situation, I hope you leave this post seeing your one-on-one meeting as a huge opportunity...not just another meeting. 

\n

Remember: You’re in control of this one!. Be mindful and take your preparation seriously and you’ll leave each meeting better than when you entered it… if only we could say that about all our meetings :)

\n

 

","rss_summary":"

One-on-one (1:1) meetings are an opportunity to discuss real-time performance, your career development opportunities, and to receive feedback and coaching from your manager.  It’s also a way for you and your boss to build or strengthen your professional relationship.  

\n","rss_body":"

One-on-one (1:1) meetings are an opportunity to discuss real-time performance, your career development opportunities, and to receive feedback and coaching from your manager.  It’s also a way for you and your boss to build or strengthen your professional relationship.  

\n\n

Your one on one is one of the few moments where you, the direct report, are the main subject of the meeting.  The responsibility to bring relevant issues to the table and to make these an effective use of your time rests squarely on your shoulders. If you remain passive and allow your boss to drive the agenda, it’s unlikely all your needs will be met.

\n

“So, what do you want to talk about?” is the last thing you ever want to be asked during a one on one meeting. If you’re not invested in yourself and your performance, how can you expect your manager to be? If there was ever a time to selfishly prepare, it’s for your 1:1s…

\n

Own the Agenda

\n

To hammer this home: Effective 1:1s happen when you determine what you want to discuss. This is your one-on-one. Own the agenda! Throughout your week and between meetings, write down topics for discussion as they come to you. Potential topics include:

\n

\n
• Career development
\n
• Personal growth and self improvement
\n
• Suggestions for team improvement
\n
• Communicating your contributions
\n
• Aligning priorities
\n
• Personal issues that could impact work performance
\n
• Interpersonal issues with coworkers (the good and bad)
\n

\n

By the time your next 1:1 rolls around you should have a formidable list of topics to choose from. From there you should prioritize your list, create an agenda, and share it with your manager a couple days before meeting; giving your manager an opportunity to prepare and add their own topics.

\n

Strety Users: Our meeting agendas are collaborative. Leverage the agenda as an active list of topic ideas. This gives your manager an opportunity to offer guidance and advance the conversation within the comment thread, leading to more dialed-in discussion during the actual meeting.

\n

 

\n

12 Questions to Ask Your Manager

\n

So now you have a rough outline of what to do - what about actionables? I don’t want to provide you a list of uninspired suggestions or contextless questions to ask your manager; you can find those anywhere. I’d like to share with you a list of malleable starting points, with context, that you can bank-up and pull-out whenever you need more from your 1:1s…

\n\n

Team & Organizational Alignment

\n

1. What’s holding our team back from accomplishing [x] ?

\n

Identify the main problem or bottleneck in your team’s performance and get a better sense as to what management thinks will help overcome it.  Gaining insight to how management looks to solve performance issues is valuable knowledge for you to possess.

\n

2. What is one thing I can do to help improve our team’s performance?

\n

The exhibits your commitment to the team or organizational effort and can segue into a discussion about your own skill set.

\n

3. What’s one thing you think we should stop doing?

\n

Knowing which processes or projects that are failing to produce is valuable intel. You can re-prioritize your workload and/or see it as an opportunity to help improve inefficiencies.

\n

4. What factors led to us deciding [x]?

\n

You may not feel comfortable or be in a position to dig too deep as to why certain decisions are made but if you disagree with a decision or want to better understand why your team went a certain direction, it’s important to ask your superior.  Conversely, maybe you simply want insights to what goes into a decision making process within positions you aspire to be in one day. Both are perfectly valid and insightful reasons to ask for more.

\n\n

Professional Growth

\n

5. Do you have any recommendations for how I can improve [x] ?

\n

This question is about you and specific skill development. Managers have experience and connections and this is your opportunity to leverage those resources. Ask for recommendations for educational courses, training programs, reading material, or to make introductions to people in their network that can offer additional insights. 

\n

6. What do you see as gaps in my skill set?

\n

Learning where you have holes - or perceived holes - is critical knowledge for you to possess.  You can either acquire the skill or, if it’s only a perceived gap, begin to more visibly show it off. Don’t run from this question. Ask it. Learn from it. Grow because of it! 

\n

7. How do you see my role evolving over the next 12 months?

\n

You have your own ideas for what you want to accomplish - find out where your manager sees you going. Are your visions for you in alignment? If not, you have a lot to talk about in your next 1:1…

\n

8. What can I be doing now to put me in a position to be [x] in [y] time?

\n

Talk to your manager about where you want to go professionally. This does not have to be specific to the opportunities available within your current organization. These are your long-term professional goals. Have them help you lay out the steps, short and long term, to achieve your goals. DO NOT let your annual review be the only time you talk about your career aspirations.

\n

Strety Users:  Make this a recurring meeting agenda item so that this remains at the forefront of your 1:1 Meetings.  Use action items to hold you and your manager accountable for any to-dos (make a professional introduction, sign up for a training  course, etc) that come from your discussion.

\n\n

Building Professional Rapport

\n

9. What do you want to know about my work?

\n

Have empathy for your managers. It’s difficult for managers, especially first-time managers and managers of larger teams, to track the daily activity of each of their direct reports.  In asking this question, you’re being proactive in helping them fill-in their blind spots while giving you the opportunity to expound on work - progress & successes - that could be going unnoticed. Managers will appreciate this.

\n

10. How would you like to receive information/deliverables from me?

\n

Every organization has a process and structure for how information is disseminated, but each manager likely has their own personal preference for how they receive info, feedback, updates, or questions. Learn their style. Adapting your deliverables to fit their personal preferences will make their job a little easier and is a simple yet effective way to build rapport.

\n

11. What wins do you need?

\n

1:1s are a two-way street. Don’t shy away about asking your manager about their job. Their focus affects you directly or indirectly.  Learning what a manager’s priorities are is another valuable insight. It can also help you frame your work around larger team or organizational objectives.

\n

12, If I need something, what’s the best way to ask for your input?

\n

All managers manage and provide feedback differently. Learning how and where they feel most comfortable providing support - over email, in person, screen share - will increase the likelihood you get the help you need

\n

We're Here to Help

\n

Whether you can use these questions verbatim or if they need some refinement to fit your situation, I hope you leave this post seeing your one-on-one meeting as a huge opportunity...not just another meeting. 

\n

Remember: You’re in control of this one!. Be mindful and take your preparation seriously and you’ll leave each meeting better than when you entered it… if only we could say that about all our meetings :)

\n

 

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{"public_access_rules_enabled":false,"public_access_rules":[],"post_summary":"

The way teams work and collaborate has changed, and not just in response to COVID-19.  A study released by Zug in 2018 found that 70% of professionals worked remotely at least one day per week. An Owl Labs study from last year shows 20% of respondents would take a pay cut of more than 10% to work remotely. We all know it, distributed teams are the new norm, even beyond the post COVID-19 world. 

\n","post_body":"

The way teams work and collaborate has changed, and not just in response to COVID-19.  A study released by Zug in 2018 found that 70% of professionals worked remotely at least one day per week. An Owl Labs study from last year shows 20% of respondents would take a pay cut of more than 10% to work remotely. We all know it, distributed teams are the new norm, even beyond the post COVID-19 world. 

\n\n

Jason Fried, cofounder/CEO of Basecamp, has been advocating on behalf of remote work for 20+ years. “The beauty of remote working is the opportunity to improve the way you work, to cut way back on meetings”.  Though we know Jason Fried and his company really, really dislike meetings, you notice he doesn’t say “eliminate all meetings”...

\n

Team meetings are vital for all teams, but especially for distributed teams.  Weekly team meetings are one of the few opportunities managers have to communicate with everyone all together and ensure alignment.  Plus they’re great for a little [awkward] virtual bonding! Therefore these meetings need to be effective, efficient, and well thought through ahead of time. And realize it’s okay if you’re not there yet.  Jason Fried said it best: 

\n

\n

“If you threw a guitar at me, and I’ve never played a guitar before, everyone would understand that I’m going to suck,” Fried says. “It’s the same thing for remote work. If people haven’t practiced before, they’re going to suck for a little bit.”

\n

\n

So you may be asking yourself how you can make your remote meetings more efficient. What do you need in your tech stack? How should you prepare for a remote meeting versus an in-person one? How do you ensure attendee participation and engagement? 

\n

We’ve learned that the distributed teams that are most successful at running their team meetings remotely are those that:

\n

\n
• Are intentional about why they’re meeting
\n
• Put extra effort into meeting preparation
\n
• Understand how to apply tools to maximize the effectiveness of the remote meeting 
\n

\n

We’ve pulled from our collective past experiences leading and working on distributed teams to run Strety as a 100% remote company. We’ve learned what works for us through trial, error, and iteration - It will be the same for you.  Use our experience as guide rails and start learning what works for you and your distributed team

\n

 

\n

Pre-Meeting Preparation

\n

Establish Meeting Guidelines

\n

Team meetings can drastically differ in size and scope. Whether it’s a decision-making meeting, a problem-solving meeting, a standup, or an information-sharing meeting, some universally understood decorum is necessary to ensure your meeting operates smoothly. 

\n

Some questions to think about: What is the protocol for speaking out? Can anyone speak? Should they wait to be called on by the meeting leader? Does everyone need to have their camera on? Do you want non-speakers to be muted? 

\n

Write these guidelines up and disperse them to your team ahead of any remote meetings so everyone is on the page and you’re not using up valuable time to address breaches of etiquette.

\n

Find a Time

\n

I worked from Lisbon last year and had meetings with teams and accounts scattered throughout the US, Europe, and Australia. If your team is distributed throughout different time zones, you’ll have to put some thought into the best time for everyone to attend. 

\n

There are plenty of tools to help you speed up the process of finding acceptable time zones for your team. I loved worldtimebuddy, which lets you add the locations of multiple team members and quickly compare what time it is - or will become meeting time - in any part of the world.

\n

Tech Stack

\n

Lifted straight from Slack’s Ultimate Guide to Digital Meetings: First ask yourself: What is the key functionality you need for your remote team meeting to be successful? Do you need to be able to see everyone’s reactions as you share new product ideas?. Do you need everyone to be able to work on a press release collaboratively? Do you need everyone to watch a demo in real time?

\n

The key here is what are your needs. While each team within an organization is different, every remote team meeting needs to leverage, at the very least, an online meeting tool with both audio and video. 

\n

Now that you know what you need, do your research! Find tools that fill your conferencing, communication, project management, meeting agenda, and documentation gaps. We mostly use Zoom, but here’s a list of Owl Labs 10 Best Video Meetings Apps so you can see what may work best for you.

\n

One last thing: Everyone should arrive a few minutes early just to make sure their tech is set up and functioning correctly. Trust us :)

\n

Shared Meeting Agendas

\n

You know that universally applicable, but often misattributed, Abe quote “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe”? Well, I love it. I apply it to everything, and it applies to meeting preparation, too.

\n

Preparedness doesn’t pertain solely to the meeting organizer, it applies to the entire team.  How do you control the preparedness of your meeting attendees? Shared, collaborative meeting agendas - that’s how! If your meeting doesn’t have one, you can easily spend 5-10 minutes on each topic catching everyone up to speed. 

\n

By creating a shared, collaborative meeting agenda and giving everyone access in the days leading up to the meeting, you give all attendees time to:

\n

\n
• Contribute to the agenda
\n
• Ask for additional context or resources
\n
• Organize and prepare their own thoughts around agenda items
\n

\n

A shared meeting agenda gives an opportunity for all attendees to be heard and to be fully prepared for an effective meeting. Zero downsides to that!

\n

 

\n

Running a Distributed Team Meeting

\n

Agenda Must-Haves

\n

I say must but I really mean should - you run your own show - but from our experience, these are must-haves for any remote team meeting:

\n

\n
• Key talking points\n
  \n
  • List in order of importance.  Items near the top of the list usually receive more floor time
  \n
  \n
\n
• Quick check-in\n
  \n
  • Open the meeting by asking how everyone is feeling. Extra important for distributed teams
  \n
  \n
\n
• Responsibilities\n
  \n
  • Don’t let people check out.  Construct your agenda so everyone has something they’re responsible for
  \n
  \n
\n
• Relevant Resources \n
  \n
  • Docs, links, etc that support agenda items
    
  \n
  \n
\n

\n

The Meeting Itself

\n

You and your team have curated a collaborative agenda, now follow it! Throw the agenda up on a screen-share and run through each item, one by one. Running through the agenda together ensures everyone stays on point and gives you a re-centering point if you veer off on tangents.  If you find your meetings are routinely running long, we suggest including a timer for each agenda item to help you stay on track.

\n

Notes

\n

Take notes as you go. Designate a primary note taker for the meeting and have them summarize any key takeaways or decisions made from each agenda item.  Before you close out the item, have the note-taker read the summary to the group to ensure everyone is on the same page. If you aren’t, this gives people an opportunity to voice that NOW. Now is better than later.

\n

Action items

\n

Meetings often lead to more work. Hold people accountable by assigning follow-ups, deliverables, and next steps including due dates during the meeting. If it’s a multi-person effort, assign ownership of the follow-up to one person. Make it clear who is responsible.  This will reduce the likelihood of someone saying “I thought you were gonna do it”. 

\n

Strety Users:  Assign an Action Item with a due date within your Meeting Agenda and all the context around the topic will be visible for the Action Item owner. You'll be reminded of your Action Items from your Strety homepage

\n

\n

 

\n

Post Meeting

\n

Share Notes

\n

Those notes you took? Hopefully you have an effective way to share them! If you can attach the notes to the meeting agenda itself, even better. Again, that context will be critical for anyone who wants to look back at the meeting, allowing them to self-serve themselves the answer versus distracting someone with a, “Hey, what did we decide to do about the overdue accounts?”.  

\n

Feedback & Adjustment

\n

We believe you should always ask for meeting feedback, but doubly so if you’re running remote meetings.  Ask open ended, guided questions. You need continuous feedback to learn whether a meeting was viewed as effective/productive and if attendees saw it as a valuable use of their time. 

\n

It’s okay if you get negative feedback, that can lead to open discussion about how you can improve.  A few sample questions you can ask to get quality feedback:

\n

\n
• Are there any improvements we need to make around the tools we use (tech stack) for our meetings?
\n
• Do you think any changes need to be made around the structure of our team meetings?
\n
• Are we meeting enough/not enough?
\n

\n

We’re Here to Help

\n

We encourage you to look at your remote team meetings as a job in and of themselves.  To reiterate, you need to get these right. We’ve been running remote team meetings for years and we’re still improving our processes.  Hopefully this gives you some structure which you can iterate from and, as always, reach out if you’d like our help!

","rss_summary":"

The way teams work and collaborate has changed, and not just in response to COVID-19.  A study released by Zug in 2018 found that 70% of professionals worked remotely at least one day per week. An Owl Labs study from last year shows 20% of respondents would take a pay cut of more than 10% to work remotely. We all know it, distributed teams are the new norm, even beyond the post COVID-19 world. 

\n","rss_body":"

The way teams work and collaborate has changed, and not just in response to COVID-19.  A study released by Zug in 2018 found that 70% of professionals worked remotely at least one day per week. An Owl Labs study from last year shows 20% of respondents would take a pay cut of more than 10% to work remotely. We all know it, distributed teams are the new norm, even beyond the post COVID-19 world. 

\n\n

Jason Fried, cofounder/CEO of Basecamp, has been advocating on behalf of remote work for 20+ years. “The beauty of remote working is the opportunity to improve the way you work, to cut way back on meetings”.  Though we know Jason Fried and his company really, really dislike meetings, you notice he doesn’t say “eliminate all meetings”...

\n

Team meetings are vital for all teams, but especially for distributed teams.  Weekly team meetings are one of the few opportunities managers have to communicate with everyone all together and ensure alignment.  Plus they’re great for a little [awkward] virtual bonding! Therefore these meetings need to be effective, efficient, and well thought through ahead of time. And realize it’s okay if you’re not there yet.  Jason Fried said it best: 

\n

\n

“If you threw a guitar at me, and I’ve never played a guitar before, everyone would understand that I’m going to suck,” Fried says. “It’s the same thing for remote work. If people haven’t practiced before, they’re going to suck for a little bit.”

\n

\n

So you may be asking yourself how you can make your remote meetings more efficient. What do you need in your tech stack? How should you prepare for a remote meeting versus an in-person one? How do you ensure attendee participation and engagement? 

\n

We’ve learned that the distributed teams that are most successful at running their team meetings remotely are those that:

\n

\n
• Are intentional about why they’re meeting
\n
• Put extra effort into meeting preparation
\n
• Understand how to apply tools to maximize the effectiveness of the remote meeting 
\n

\n

We’ve pulled from our collective past experiences leading and working on distributed teams to run Strety as a 100% remote company. We’ve learned what works for us through trial, error, and iteration - It will be the same for you.  Use our experience as guide rails and start learning what works for you and your distributed team

\n

 

\n

Pre-Meeting Preparation

\n

Establish Meeting Guidelines

\n

Team meetings can drastically differ in size and scope. Whether it’s a decision-making meeting, a problem-solving meeting, a standup, or an information-sharing meeting, some universally understood decorum is necessary to ensure your meeting operates smoothly. 

\n

Some questions to think about: What is the protocol for speaking out? Can anyone speak? Should they wait to be called on by the meeting leader? Does everyone need to have their camera on? Do you want non-speakers to be muted? 

\n

Write these guidelines up and disperse them to your team ahead of any remote meetings so everyone is on the page and you’re not using up valuable time to address breaches of etiquette.

\n

Find a Time

\n

I worked from Lisbon last year and had meetings with teams and accounts scattered throughout the US, Europe, and Australia. If your team is distributed throughout different time zones, you’ll have to put some thought into the best time for everyone to attend. 

\n

There are plenty of tools to help you speed up the process of finding acceptable time zones for your team. I loved worldtimebuddy, which lets you add the locations of multiple team members and quickly compare what time it is - or will become meeting time - in any part of the world.

\n

Tech Stack

\n

Lifted straight from Slack’s Ultimate Guide to Digital Meetings: First ask yourself: What is the key functionality you need for your remote team meeting to be successful? Do you need to be able to see everyone’s reactions as you share new product ideas?. Do you need everyone to be able to work on a press release collaboratively? Do you need everyone to watch a demo in real time?

\n

The key here is what are your needs. While each team within an organization is different, every remote team meeting needs to leverage, at the very least, an online meeting tool with both audio and video. 

\n

Now that you know what you need, do your research! Find tools that fill your conferencing, communication, project management, meeting agenda, and documentation gaps. We mostly use Zoom, but here’s a list of Owl Labs 10 Best Video Meetings Apps so you can see what may work best for you.

\n

One last thing: Everyone should arrive a few minutes early just to make sure their tech is set up and functioning correctly. Trust us :)

\n

Shared Meeting Agendas

\n

You know that universally applicable, but often misattributed, Abe quote “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe”? Well, I love it. I apply it to everything, and it applies to meeting preparation, too.

\n

Preparedness doesn’t pertain solely to the meeting organizer, it applies to the entire team.  How do you control the preparedness of your meeting attendees? Shared, collaborative meeting agendas - that’s how! If your meeting doesn’t have one, you can easily spend 5-10 minutes on each topic catching everyone up to speed. 

\n

By creating a shared, collaborative meeting agenda and giving everyone access in the days leading up to the meeting, you give all attendees time to:

\n

\n
• Contribute to the agenda
\n
• Ask for additional context or resources
\n
• Organize and prepare their own thoughts around agenda items
\n

\n

A shared meeting agenda gives an opportunity for all attendees to be heard and to be fully prepared for an effective meeting. Zero downsides to that!

\n

 

\n

Running a Distributed Team Meeting

\n

Agenda Must-Haves

\n

I say must but I really mean should - you run your own show - but from our experience, these are must-haves for any remote team meeting:

\n

\n
• Key talking points\n
  \n
  • List in order of importance.  Items near the top of the list usually receive more floor time
  \n
  \n
\n
• Quick check-in\n
  \n
  • Open the meeting by asking how everyone is feeling. Extra important for distributed teams
  \n
  \n
\n
• Responsibilities\n
  \n
  • Don’t let people check out.  Construct your agenda so everyone has something they’re responsible for
  \n
  \n
\n
• Relevant Resources \n
  \n
  • Docs, links, etc that support agenda items
    
  \n
  \n
\n

\n

The Meeting Itself

\n

You and your team have curated a collaborative agenda, now follow it! Throw the agenda up on a screen-share and run through each item, one by one. Running through the agenda together ensures everyone stays on point and gives you a re-centering point if you veer off on tangents.  If you find your meetings are routinely running long, we suggest including a timer for each agenda item to help you stay on track.

\n

Notes

\n

Take notes as you go. Designate a primary note taker for the meeting and have them summarize any key takeaways or decisions made from each agenda item.  Before you close out the item, have the note-taker read the summary to the group to ensure everyone is on the same page. If you aren’t, this gives people an opportunity to voice that NOW. Now is better than later.

\n

Action items

\n

Meetings often lead to more work. Hold people accountable by assigning follow-ups, deliverables, and next steps including due dates during the meeting. If it’s a multi-person effort, assign ownership of the follow-up to one person. Make it clear who is responsible.  This will reduce the likelihood of someone saying “I thought you were gonna do it”. 

\n

Strety Users:  Assign an Action Item with a due date within your Meeting Agenda and all the context around the topic will be visible for the Action Item owner. You'll be reminded of your Action Items from your Strety homepage

\n

\n

 

\n

Post Meeting

\n

Share Notes

\n

Those notes you took? Hopefully you have an effective way to share them! If you can attach the notes to the meeting agenda itself, even better. Again, that context will be critical for anyone who wants to look back at the meeting, allowing them to self-serve themselves the answer versus distracting someone with a, “Hey, what did we decide to do about the overdue accounts?”.  

\n

Feedback & Adjustment

\n

We believe you should always ask for meeting feedback, but doubly so if you’re running remote meetings.  Ask open ended, guided questions. You need continuous feedback to learn whether a meeting was viewed as effective/productive and if attendees saw it as a valuable use of their time. 

\n

It’s okay if you get negative feedback, that can lead to open discussion about how you can improve.  A few sample questions you can ask to get quality feedback:

\n

\n
• Are there any improvements we need to make around the tools we use (tech stack) for our meetings?
\n
• Do you think any changes need to be made around the structure of our team meetings?
\n
• Are we meeting enough/not enough?
\n

\n

We’re Here to Help

\n

We encourage you to look at your remote team meetings as a job in and of themselves.  To reiterate, you need to get these right. We’ve been running remote team meetings for years and we’re still improving our processes.  Hopefully this gives you some structure which you can iterate from and, as always, reach out if you’d like our help!

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{"public_access_rules_enabled":false,"public_access_rules":[],"post_summary":"

Daily standup meetings have become a ritual for many teams, especially those using the Scrum methodology. Daily standups can help everyone stay on the same page and communicate more effectively—but these types of team meetings can quickly turn into a time drain if they aren’t run effectively. 

\n","post_body":"

Daily standup meetings have become a ritual for many teams, especially those using the Scrum methodology. Daily standups can help everyone stay on the same page and communicate more effectively—but these types of team meetings can quickly turn into a time drain if they aren’t run effectively. 

\n\n

So, here are some standup meeting best practices so you can lead your team’s daily standups with confidence!

\n\n

What is a Daily Standup Meeting?

\n

A daily standup meeting, also known as a scrum meeting, is a daily get-together that helps teams sync up and prepare to have a productive day. This type of team meeting is typically capped at 15 minutes (although this may need adjusting depending on the size of the team). 

\n\n

What are the Benefits of Daily Standups?

\n

There are many benefits to daily standup meetings, which is why they’ve become so popular amongst modern teams! Daily standups can create higher performing teams by making it possible to: 

\n

\n
• Track each team member’s progress on their list of priorities 
\n
• Identify obstacles to productivity 
\n
• Clarify objectives and goals
\n
• Ensure that everyone is working towards those same goals together
\n
• Stay focused on a shorter window of time, preventing employees from feeling overwhelmed 
\n
• Encourage team communication
\n
• Foster collaboration  
\n
• Empower team members to feel comfortable bringing up issues and asking each other for support
\n

\n\n

Example of a Daily Standup Agenda

\n

The great thing about daily standup agendas is that they’re short and dialed-in. In fact, only three core topics should be discussed at your daily standup meetings. Your daily standup agenda should include asking participants to go around and answer the following questions:

\n

\n
1. What did I do yesterday? Have each team member share their progress on what they worked on the day before, focusing on the activities that are relevant to the overall goals and initiatives of the team.
   
   
\n
2. What am I doing today? Next, each team member should cover all the things they plan to accomplish that day—knowing they’ll be held accountable to give a progress report on those tasks in tomorrow’s daily standup meeting.
   
   
\n
3. Are there any obstacles impeding my progress? Each team member should voice if they have any concerns about their task list for the day. This includes any cross-departmental dependencies, technical limitations, and lack of resources. 
\n

\n

Yup, that’s it! Any items that will take longer than a few minutes to discuss should be addressed after the daily standup meeting.

\n\n

How Can You Run More Effective Daily Standups? 

\n

There are clearly many benefits of daily standups—but there can also be some pitfalls, too. 

\n

In our digitally-driven, hyper-connected world, the way we work has changed. More and more companies offer remote work policies, which means employees are often working on the go.

\n

With this working model, daily standups can easily become a waste of time. When everyone has to stop what they're doing and get on a live call or meet live, it can quickly become distracting. It’s even more challenging to get everyone together for a live daily standup if team members are off-site in client meetings, living in different time zones, getting work done on a flight, etc. Plus, if someone is off for the day or out sick, they won’t get a chance to hear what was talked about in the daily standup meeting.

\n

So, how is it possible to lead daily standups that are actually effective—rather than distracting—in our modern working world? By going digital! You can make the most of your team’s daily standups by using a reliable team meeting software, and Strety is the solution you’ve been looking for. 

\n

Instead of having live daily standups that interrupt the flow of people's workday each and every day, you can ask those three questions from our daily standup agendas via a virtual check in within Strety. Through our all-in-one performance management and people management product, you’ll also be able to: 

\n

\n
• Set up the questions you want to ask and send them to your whole team at once 
\n
• Store and send notes on each employee’s responses from your virtual daily standup meeting 
\n
• Track progress and goals
\n
• Use team message boards to make virtual communication simple
\n
• Create discreet automated reminders for recurring tasks and questions
\n
• Keep all your notes, action items, and progress benchmarks in one organized place 
\n
• And more! 
\n

\n\n

Keep Track of Your Standups in Teams

\n

Daily standup meetings are designed to be short, focused, and engaging—resulting in more seamless team cohesion and project management. If you're collaborating with your team in Microsoft Teams, shouldn't standups live there, too? Strety is the team meeting software that can make this possible.

\n

With Strety, you can collaborate on agendas, make note of decisions, and add context to goals -- all within Microsoft Teams.

\n

Contact us to book a tour or to ask any questions you may have about our performance management product for modern teams!

\n

","rss_summary":"

Daily standup meetings have become a ritual for many teams, especially those using the Scrum methodology. Daily standups can help everyone stay on the same page and communicate more effectively—but these types of team meetings can quickly turn into a time drain if they aren’t run effectively. 

\n","rss_body":"

Daily standup meetings have become a ritual for many teams, especially those using the Scrum methodology. Daily standups can help everyone stay on the same page and communicate more effectively—but these types of team meetings can quickly turn into a time drain if they aren’t run effectively. 

\n\n

So, here are some standup meeting best practices so you can lead your team’s daily standups with confidence!

\n\n

What is a Daily Standup Meeting?

\n

A daily standup meeting, also known as a scrum meeting, is a daily get-together that helps teams sync up and prepare to have a productive day. This type of team meeting is typically capped at 15 minutes (although this may need adjusting depending on the size of the team). 

\n\n

What are the Benefits of Daily Standups?

\n

There are many benefits to daily standup meetings, which is why they’ve become so popular amongst modern teams! Daily standups can create higher performing teams by making it possible to: 

\n

\n
• Track each team member’s progress on their list of priorities 
\n
• Identify obstacles to productivity 
\n
• Clarify objectives and goals
\n
• Ensure that everyone is working towards those same goals together
\n
• Stay focused on a shorter window of time, preventing employees from feeling overwhelmed 
\n
• Encourage team communication
\n
• Foster collaboration  
\n
• Empower team members to feel comfortable bringing up issues and asking each other for support
\n

\n\n

Example of a Daily Standup Agenda

\n

The great thing about daily standup agendas is that they’re short and dialed-in. In fact, only three core topics should be discussed at your daily standup meetings. Your daily standup agenda should include asking participants to go around and answer the following questions:

\n

\n
1. What did I do yesterday? Have each team member share their progress on what they worked on the day before, focusing on the activities that are relevant to the overall goals and initiatives of the team.
   
   
\n
2. What am I doing today? Next, each team member should cover all the things they plan to accomplish that day—knowing they’ll be held accountable to give a progress report on those tasks in tomorrow’s daily standup meeting.
   
   
\n
3. Are there any obstacles impeding my progress? Each team member should voice if they have any concerns about their task list for the day. This includes any cross-departmental dependencies, technical limitations, and lack of resources. 
\n

\n

Yup, that’s it! Any items that will take longer than a few minutes to discuss should be addressed after the daily standup meeting.

\n\n

How Can You Run More Effective Daily Standups? 

\n

There are clearly many benefits of daily standups—but there can also be some pitfalls, too. 

\n

In our digitally-driven, hyper-connected world, the way we work has changed. More and more companies offer remote work policies, which means employees are often working on the go.

\n

With this working model, daily standups can easily become a waste of time. When everyone has to stop what they're doing and get on a live call or meet live, it can quickly become distracting. It’s even more challenging to get everyone together for a live daily standup if team members are off-site in client meetings, living in different time zones, getting work done on a flight, etc. Plus, if someone is off for the day or out sick, they won’t get a chance to hear what was talked about in the daily standup meeting.

\n

So, how is it possible to lead daily standups that are actually effective—rather than distracting—in our modern working world? By going digital! You can make the most of your team’s daily standups by using a reliable team meeting software, and Strety is the solution you’ve been looking for. 

\n

Instead of having live daily standups that interrupt the flow of people's workday each and every day, you can ask those three questions from our daily standup agendas via a virtual check in within Strety. Through our all-in-one performance management and people management product, you’ll also be able to: 

\n

\n
• Set up the questions you want to ask and send them to your whole team at once 
\n
• Store and send notes on each employee’s responses from your virtual daily standup meeting 
\n
• Track progress and goals
\n
• Use team message boards to make virtual communication simple
\n
• Create discreet automated reminders for recurring tasks and questions
\n
• Keep all your notes, action items, and progress benchmarks in one organized place 
\n
• And more! 
\n

\n\n

Keep Track of Your Standups in Teams

\n

Daily standup meetings are designed to be short, focused, and engaging—resulting in more seamless team cohesion and project management. If you're collaborating with your team in Microsoft Teams, shouldn't standups live there, too? Strety is the team meeting software that can make this possible.

\n

With Strety, you can collaborate on agendas, make note of decisions, and add context to goals -- all within Microsoft Teams.

\n

Contact us to book a tour or to ask any questions you may have about our performance management product for modern teams!

\n

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{"public_access_rules_enabled":false,"public_access_rules":[],"post_summary":"

Did COVID-19 just make you a newly minted Work From Home (WFH) manager? Welcome to the club of remote leaders, there are a ton of us now! Though at Strety we’ve been working remotely for nearly two years, I asked Todd Kaufman who is the CEO of a 50 person remote software agency (TestDouble) to share his advice. This is what he said:

\n","post_body":"

Did COVID-19 just make you a newly minted Work From Home (WFH) manager? Welcome to the club of remote leaders, there are a ton of us now! Though at Strety we’ve been working remotely for nearly two years, I asked Todd Kaufman who is the CEO of a 50 person remote software agency (TestDouble) to share his advice. This is what he said:

\n\n

\"You will need to focus and prepare more as a remote manager than an in-person one. You won't be able to rely on body language and the stronger relationship that comes from working side by side with your direct reports, so you'll need to up your game.\"

\n

He’s right and we want you to help you up your game. Here are 5 tips to implement right now for your new “Work From Home” team:

\n

1. Start from a place of Trust & Compassion (i.e. do not micro-manage)

\n

Everyone will be going through an adjustment period right now, even you. Deep down you may be experiencing the thought of “when the cat’s away, the mice will play” and have the urge to micromanage your team all day. Especially now with 24/7 online and tv coverage of COVID-19. Stop yourself and start your journey as a remote team manager from a place of trust and compassion.

\n

Your team is full of good people (that’s why you hired them) and they will settle into this new normal and get their work done just as they had done in the office sitting near you. Micromanagement and distrust is a surefire way to add more stress and less focus to this transition. Even if you can’t see them, they will get their work done and you can keep the team humming, focused, and accountable.

\n

2. Set up Daily Check In Process

\n

Once #1 is done, you can now put the processes in place to keep your fears at bay of whether someone is working or not AND provide a lightweight way for employees to feel connected to you and the team. Two ideas to implement:

\n

\n
1. Team Morning Check in Call - This may feel heavy to start (it is) but during the transition it will be helpful. After a few days, move this to a check in via email, slack, or a people management product. This simple check is where everyone shares what they’re up to for the day and gives a general vibe check in.
\n
2. Daily Summary Write Ups - Have your direct reports write up a quick blurb of how they felt today, including what they accomplished and what they struggled with. It will give you peace of mind knowing what happened each day and provide a daily incremental coaching and course correction opportunity. And it gives your direct report the opportunity to reflect on their day.
\n

\n

These two simple daily check ins will give your direct reports a sense of normalcy; a feeling of a start and end to the day and a cadence to check in with you so you know how and what they’re doing.

\n

3. Schedule 1:1s Weekly Over Video Call

\n

1:1s are important always but during a transition like this, they’re critical to do weekly! We suggest doing them over a video call (Zoom is the clear winner as a tool). This is your informal catch up to see how remote work is going, what can they be doing better, what you can be doing for them, etc. Stick with consistent and simple agenda items that you share ahead of time. This is a learning experience for everyone so encourage collaboration and transparency about everything going in the lives of your direct report.

\n

4. Feed the FOCUS!

\n

Your job as a remote manager (heck, as any manager) is to ensure your team stays focused. Do your part by limiting instant messages to your direct reports and remove pointless meetings (great sketch The New Yorker put out). Some of your direct reports will have major distractions at home during this crisis and you can help them by being supportive and giving them time to adjust. For others, you will likely hear “I get so much more done remote” so don’t be surprised. That means you’re hitting the sweet spot!

\n

And lastly….

\n

5. Watch for Burnout

\n

This is a stressful time for everyone. Working from home is going to bring enormous challenges for many workers, especially those with kids or elderly parents. You need to manage everyone’s emotional state, be extraordinarily supportive, and help avoid burnout. Not only for their mental state, but for that of your teams.

\n

 

\n

If you read our blog, you already know: It starts with you. Make sure you're adjusting well, communicating frequently, and protecting your own distractions. 

\n

There are lots of resources out there for remote work. We found these two resources most aligned with our beliefs and success in working remotely.

\n

https://www.helpscout.com/playlists/working-remotely

\n

REMOTE Livestream Q&A with Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson

\n

 

","rss_summary":"

Did COVID-19 just make you a newly minted Work From Home (WFH) manager? Welcome to the club of remote leaders, there are a ton of us now! Though at Strety we’ve been working remotely for nearly two years, I asked Todd Kaufman who is the CEO of a 50 person remote software agency (TestDouble) to share his advice. This is what he said:

\n","rss_body":"

Did COVID-19 just make you a newly minted Work From Home (WFH) manager? Welcome to the club of remote leaders, there are a ton of us now! Though at Strety we’ve been working remotely for nearly two years, I asked Todd Kaufman who is the CEO of a 50 person remote software agency (TestDouble) to share his advice. This is what he said:

\n\n

\"You will need to focus and prepare more as a remote manager than an in-person one. You won't be able to rely on body language and the stronger relationship that comes from working side by side with your direct reports, so you'll need to up your game.\"

\n

He’s right and we want you to help you up your game. Here are 5 tips to implement right now for your new “Work From Home” team:

\n

1. Start from a place of Trust & Compassion (i.e. do not micro-manage)

\n

Everyone will be going through an adjustment period right now, even you. Deep down you may be experiencing the thought of “when the cat’s away, the mice will play” and have the urge to micromanage your team all day. Especially now with 24/7 online and tv coverage of COVID-19. Stop yourself and start your journey as a remote team manager from a place of trust and compassion.

\n

Your team is full of good people (that’s why you hired them) and they will settle into this new normal and get their work done just as they had done in the office sitting near you. Micromanagement and distrust is a surefire way to add more stress and less focus to this transition. Even if you can’t see them, they will get their work done and you can keep the team humming, focused, and accountable.

\n

2. Set up Daily Check In Process

\n

Once #1 is done, you can now put the processes in place to keep your fears at bay of whether someone is working or not AND provide a lightweight way for employees to feel connected to you and the team. Two ideas to implement:

\n

\n
1. Team Morning Check in Call - This may feel heavy to start (it is) but during the transition it will be helpful. After a few days, move this to a check in via email, slack, or a people management product. This simple check is where everyone shares what they’re up to for the day and gives a general vibe check in.
\n
2. Daily Summary Write Ups - Have your direct reports write up a quick blurb of how they felt today, including what they accomplished and what they struggled with. It will give you peace of mind knowing what happened each day and provide a daily incremental coaching and course correction opportunity. And it gives your direct report the opportunity to reflect on their day.
\n

\n

These two simple daily check ins will give your direct reports a sense of normalcy; a feeling of a start and end to the day and a cadence to check in with you so you know how and what they’re doing.

\n

3. Schedule 1:1s Weekly Over Video Call

\n

1:1s are important always but during a transition like this, they’re critical to do weekly! We suggest doing them over a video call (Zoom is the clear winner as a tool). This is your informal catch up to see how remote work is going, what can they be doing better, what you can be doing for them, etc. Stick with consistent and simple agenda items that you share ahead of time. This is a learning experience for everyone so encourage collaboration and transparency about everything going in the lives of your direct report.

\n

4. Feed the FOCUS!

\n

Your job as a remote manager (heck, as any manager) is to ensure your team stays focused. Do your part by limiting instant messages to your direct reports and remove pointless meetings (great sketch The New Yorker put out). Some of your direct reports will have major distractions at home during this crisis and you can help them by being supportive and giving them time to adjust. For others, you will likely hear “I get so much more done remote” so don’t be surprised. That means you’re hitting the sweet spot!

\n

And lastly….

\n

5. Watch for Burnout

\n

This is a stressful time for everyone. Working from home is going to bring enormous challenges for many workers, especially those with kids or elderly parents. You need to manage everyone’s emotional state, be extraordinarily supportive, and help avoid burnout. Not only for their mental state, but for that of your teams.

\n

 

\n

If you read our blog, you already know: It starts with you. Make sure you're adjusting well, communicating frequently, and protecting your own distractions. 

\n

There are lots of resources out there for remote work. We found these two resources most aligned with our beliefs and success in working remotely.

\n

https://www.helpscout.com/playlists/working-remotely

\n

REMOTE Livestream Q&A with Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson

\n

 

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