Meetings are the best way to communicate with your entire team at once. They get everyone together, engage them and provide you with the opportunity to motivate them to do their best work, and to get them all on the same page.
However, sometimes meetings don’t quite go to plan, and instead can result in wasting everyone’s time.
So how can you ensure your team meetings are successful?
This article covers how to hold effective team meetings for your salon, spa or clinic with tips you can implement right away.
Create an agenda and stick to it
Decide what the goal of the meeting is and create an agenda listing all the important topics that need to be covered. If necessary, ask other attendees if they have any items to add to the agenda. When the agenda is finalised, send it out to everyone well in advance of the meeting so they know what the meeting will cover.
Remember to list the items in priority order when creating an agenda. That way you can be sure the most important things won’t get rushed or missed out if the meeting runs longer than anticipated.
Use your time wisely
No one wants to sit in a long meeting. It’s harder to stay focussed and people may choose not to contribute in an attempt to reduce the time they have to be there, so try to keep them short and sweet. Having shorter meetings more frequently tends to be easier to schedule in a salon, spa or clinic environment, and can also yield better results.
It’s also important to stick to the agreed upon timeline for the meeting, that means starting on time, and finishing on time. You may need to stop conversations if they go off on a tangent or are unrelated to what needs to be discussed. A good way to do this is to offer to take these conversations “offline” and have them at another time.
Keep it positive
While a common goal of meetings is to discuss improvements that need to be made and goals that need to be met, make sure you also take time to focus on what’s going well.
Team meetings are also a great time to recognise both individual and team successes, so when your team members meet their goals, or do something great, celebrate them! It’ll make your team feel good and motivate them to continue working hard for your business.
Get your whole team involved
Encourage your staff to actively contribute and participate in discussions. Everyone has something to add to the business and it’s important they feel comfortable to share their thoughts and opinions. They may have a great idea to share and their feedback could lead to an initiative that really helps to improve your business.
You need your salon, spa or clinic to succeed, and you can’t get there alone. Explain your business goals to your team, and help them to understand how they fit into the overall strategy and its success.
Set achievable goals for the team and decide which tasks should be completed before the next meeting. Make sure you check in at the next meeting to see if everyone is still on track and decide which tasks to tackle next.
For more tips on how to achieve this, read How to bring your team on your journey to success.
Make meetings fun
When people have a chance to laugh together and learn together, they’re better able to work together as a supportive, cohesive team. Team meetings are a great time to incorporate fun team building and learning activities. Another way to ensure everyone is excited to come to meetings is to bring baking or other treats along.
Discover more tips for managing your team
Meetings are great for keeping your team and your business on track and on the same page. Use the tips above to make sure you’re holding effective team meetings, and also check out our blog about making the most of your one-on-one meetings, to ensure your meetings are the best they can be!
Free e-book: How to create your dream team!
If you’d like more tips for effective team management, download our free guide on how to create a motivated, engaged and high performing team for your salon, spa or clinic. It contains tips for creating your dream team that you can action immediately.
The free e-book covers how to:
- Create a high performing team culture
- Motivate your team for success
- Use targets and training for growth
- Communicate effectively with your team
- Increase staff retention and loyalty
Read next:
- How to introduce targets to your team
- Staff management guide for salons, spas and clinics
- Tools to help manage your team
Editor’s note: This article was originally published on 17 October 2019 and has been updated for relevance and comprehensiveness.
