The Five Purposes of Meetings

One of the greatest tools you have to build a “Killer Team” and then leverage their talent is… meetings.

That might sound like an overstatement. But, once you understand what happens in healthy meetings, you begin to crave placing them on your calendar.

Here are the five purposes of meetings.

1. Community

Bad leaders say, “Do we need to meet today? We don’t have anything we need to talk about, do we…?”

(Insert shoulder shrug.)

Good leaders do the opposite.

They say, “Oh, let’s get together!”

Sure, there are tasks that need to get done. But, the best leaders realize that the greatest asset is the people you’re meeting with.

2. Communication

It’s easy to assume everyone else just “knows” what happening in the organization.

But do an honest assessment.

You probably don’t even remember what you ate for breakfast yesterday, do you?

There’s NO WAY everyone knows everything. Meeting create open space for people to share, as well as make sure everyone keeps moving forward together.

3. Collaboration

Speaking of not knowing everything, the best meetings provide time for the team to cross-pollinate, swap ideas, and exchange mental collateral….

A great meeting moves your strategic vision forward because it provides unfiltered space where some of the best, unscripted ideas can flow.

By the way, this is a great way to keep your best leaders around.

Someone has said it well: “Leaders won’t buy-in, unless they first get to weigh-in.”

Give them a shot. Some of the people you already have probably possess the keys you need to unlock some of the doors to where you want to go!

4. Coaching

Meetings provide regular opportunities to lead your MVPs forward.

Whereas you should correct people privately, use the meeting to provide alignment into how your organization wants to do things. Train your team on your systems.

5. Cheering

Truett Cathy said, “No one ever died from too much encouragement.”

And, you may have heard the phrase, “People work harder for praises than they do for raises.”

Breathe life into people.

Infuse them with hope.

Make sure your people know you SEE them by telling them in front of others.

I talk more about the five purposes of meetings as well as provide downloadable templates in my latest book, Building a Killer Team. Provide your shipping address at killerteambook.org, and I’ll send you a free copy.