How To Energize Your Team

Imagine: Your entire team knows exactly what your company's top priorities are.

As a result, they're more focused and they make better decisions, and they're more productive.

In addition, they're also inspired, they're motivated, and they're genuinely proud to be a part of this team.

And you're going, "Yeah, how do we accomplish that?"

Well, my answer is probably going to surprise you.

If you want to keep your company moving really quickly, scaling up without creating chaos or losing control, you need to be really, really good at this one thing.

Running meetings.

"Meetings!?

Surprised? Did you think my answer would be more sophisticated.

If you hate meetings - that's because you're probably doing them wrong.

I am focused on one type of meeting, and that's your "All Hands Meeting", or what some might call a "Town Hall Meeting".

But first, let's talk about what most companies do, and see if you can figure out where you might be going wrong.

Most companies have one meeting per week, and attempt to cram everything into that meeting.

Well, this is impossible.

As a result, this leads to a few things happening.

One, is that meetings run over, or you don’t get through your full agenda, and that results in additional side conversations and a stream of emails that take place throughout the week.

It is not unusual, people leave these meetings more overwhelmed than when they walked in.

When a meeting is unproductive, they tend to go long, nobody has time for a two-three hour meeting, which results in the meetings frequently getting postponed or canceled and no one looks forward to them.

By now, you are probably asking, how do you fix this?

The answer: good meeting rhythm. Communication needs to have a cadence.

There are actually lots of types of meetings that you need throughout your company to really be efficient and more enjoyable ranging from a daily huddle all the way through to your Annual Strategic Planning Retreat.

I’m focused on the All Hands Meeting, because that's your opportunity to really impact the entire organization at once.

If you are not already doing an All Hands Meeting, you might be thinking, we can't pull our entire workforce off of the job at the same time and bring them all together.

That will cost us a fortune. Yes, you can. And the best companies do.

Remember the purpose is to get everyone on the same page, so they are more focused and more productive and more inspired.

And they get more done.

Isn't that worth investing a little time in?

While the All Hands Meeting should include some updates on important projects, the driving question for you to ask yourself before this meeting is, how do I want people to feel?

What do I want them to think?

How do I want them to feel at the end of this meeting?

And then design your agenda to deliver that outcome.

So here are a few things that an All Hands Meeting could typically include.

First celebrations. Good news?

Next are updates on company and team goals, results, and performance.

Then you might cover high-level status of big projects or maybe even some sneak peeks into things that are coming, business improvements that you're working on making.

But the most important part, that really weaves folks together, and will get you the desired outcome is storytelling.

As a CEO, you are the chief storytelling officer.

It's what moves people.

It’s what really connects people to the day-to-day tasks, maybe even the mundane of what they're doing, and how it impacts the big picture.

That's best relayed through story.

For more information about How to Build a High Performance Team check out my video for more details.

I have a client who is very, very structured by nature, and even the type of business that they run tends to attract the structured type of people.

So their meetings are very efficient.

They have all the meetings they're supposed to have, and they get through it all very quickly.

Meaning they're efficient, they're precise, but they're probably not very inspirational.

Your employees should leave those meetings energized, excited about what has been achieved and the plans.

Does your team go home and rave about your meetings?

If not, the key is to tell better stories.

Did someone have a big win?

Is there an employee or two that just really exemplify a core value?

What kind of impact did somebody have on a customer?

What feedback did a client share with you about the impact that you made on their life, or on their business that might bring people back to the reason why everything you're doing matters in the first place?

Your team wants to know how what they're doing is making a difference on the team, on the company, on the clients, even in the community.

And when you can connect these stories to your company goals, your meetings come to life and so do your results.