6 Types of Team Meetings You Need (And 3 You Don't) (2023)

If you've ever witnessed an overly long/boring/pointless team meeting, you know that a meeting is just as likely to be a total killer as it is a productive thought meeting. According to a recent survey byHarvard Business Review,71% of executives said meetings are unproductive and inefficient.

Meetings are an essential part of doing business. But with so many types of meetings – be it an onboarding meeting, a brainstorming session or a status update – it can be difficult to figure out which ones are really productive and which ones aren't.

We asked two experts - DavidChaudron, organizational psychologist and managing partner of a consulting firmOrganized Moving, e Erin Baker, opPsychologist, leadership coach and former corporate executiveto brands like Facebook - for their insights into which team meetings are most effective and how to ensure the time spent in them resonates with youmoreproductive, no less.

Here are six types of meetings you need to maximize employee productivity and get more done, along with three you definitely don't.

Types of Team Meetings Everyone Needs

Let's start with the meetings that will get the most out of your meetings - the team meetings you really need to get things done.

integration meetings

When you hire someone new, that person has a lot to learn if they want to be a key player on your team andintegration meetingsare a solid place to facilitate that training.

„Once an employee comes on board, there's a lot to learn about the company and their role,” says Baker. “Breakthrough meetings can be great for helping people understand the structure of the organization, what projects are coming up, how their role and work fits into the big picture, and for setting expectations ahead of time about what the person will be doing in the first few weeks and months should do.”

Onboarding meetings not only help new team members learn how they fit into the big picture, but also help to start the relationship with their managers and the entire company on the right foot.

"[Onboarding meetings] send a signal to the new hire that the company cares about them and is interested in making sure they have a smooth transition into the workplace," says Baker. "It's also a great place for a manager to share what makes their relationship effective in the long run."

Updating New Hires: The Important Onboarding Meetings

Onboarding your new hires is a must - but you'll likely need more than one meeting to bring them up to speed. Here are some team meetings to schedule for new team members to ensure they have everything they need to be successful in their new role:

• 1 contra 1:On your new hire's first day, schedule one-on-one meetings with all key team members they'll be working with, including line managers, team leads, and internal subject matter experts.
• Meet the team:In the early days it is also important to set up a meeting for your new employees to meet and greet your new team. While any meeting format will work, a more casual setting like a team lunch can make new team members feel more welcome.
• tool training:Schedule time to train new team members on whatever tools, systems, or software they need to know to do their jobs.
• Personnel, operations and facilities:It's important to get new hires on the logistical side of your business, including human resources, operations and facilities, as quickly as possible.

brainstorming meetings

Businesses thrive on new ideas. If you want to keep ideas flowing, brainstorming meetings are a must.

"Brainstorming meetings are designed to generate a lot of ideas in a short amount of time—and they're critical when you're trying to solve a problem or reach a goal," says Chaudron.

The key to successful brainstorming meetings? holding thefocus on ideas, not the result.

Chaudron says brainstorming meetings should welcome ideas "without having to immediately judge them. Find out what works and what doesn't after brainstorming. It's important that you have a separate [meeting] just for the brainstorming itself."

initial meetings

When you launch a new project or initiative, your team needs to know about it. A team kick-off meeting is a great place to fill them out.

Kickoff meetings are effective for several reasons, says Chaudron. “People need to know what the long-term goals of the [project] are going to be so they can align accordingly. They really need to know what part they have in this, [and] you need to get their approval. The buy-in is especially important so they can get excited about everything.”

feedback and retrospectives

It's important to hold a kickoff meeting when you start a project, but if you want your team to truly learn from their experiences, it's just as important, if not more important, to hold a retrospective team meeting when the project is complete.

“No project is perfect,” says Baker. "Retrospective meetings are a great opportunity to come together and talk about what went well, what didn't, and what will be changed for the next project."

Budget and finance meetings

There can be a lot of miscommunication when it comes to money, which is why it's important to make finance team meetings a regular part of your rotation.

"[Finance is] often where the real tension is," says Chaudron. "They've already agreed on what to do - now you have to figure out who's going to pay for it and when."

For budget and finance meetings to be effective, it is important that everyone understands:

• How much money are you going to spend
• What the money is spent on
• What return can you expect on your investment?

Having everyone on the same financial page will minimize future conflicts, keep expenses in check, and keep surprises to a minimum.

Types of Team Meetings Your Team Definitely Doesn't Need

OK, now that you know which meetings get results, let's talk about meetings that can do the opposite - leaving you spinning your wheels without really getting anywhere.

status update meetings

For teams to be successful, it's important that everyone knows what everyone else (and the team as a whole) is working on. But thanks to technology, there's no need to get everyone in the same room at the same time to talk about it.

Status updates are ineffective team meetings, says Baker. "A circular flow of what people are working on can be managed via email or a collaboration tool."

Because status updates can provide important information about where projects are, where they are going, and potential issues that need to be resolved, they are an important part of any team's workflow - but rather than spending time and energy gathering everyone's updates in person sharing, it's much more effective to set up a digital channel for regular check-ins.

Meetings without agenda

"A lot of times people plan meetings but aren't sure what they want out of them," says Baker. Scheduling a meeting without an agenda or clear expectations is a surefire way to waste your time and everyone else's.

If you want oneefficient team meeting, you need to know exactly what you will cover during the meeting and what you want at the end. Ideally, meeting outcomes should be tangible and measurable; For example, if the agenda for a meeting is to discuss potential new product launch ideas, the outcomes (or in other words, what you want to get out of the meeting) might be:

• A list of top 10 potential product ideas;
• A list of research assignments for each of these product ideas (and who is responsible for them on the team) AND
• Expirations of research contracts

And that goes fornosessions. It's equally important to make your agenda and expectations clear when you're heading into a 50-person brainstorming session or a one-on-one meeting with your manager or the CEO.

Personal meetings as standard

When most people think of team meetings, they envision a group of people sitting around a table in a conference room. While face-to-face meetings still have their place in a productive meeting rotation, many meetings don't have to be face-to-face.

Instead of forgoing face-to-face meetings, look forWays to make meetings virtual. Virtual meetings not only consume less time and energy, but also make them more accessible and inclusive for team members who cannot be physically present, such as B. Remote workers or team members working in other offices.

Going virtual also allows the entire team meeting to be recorded, which can be useful in a number of situations, such as: B. if a key team member is unable to conduct the meeting in real time or if the meeting includes training that you want to share with new team members in the future.

The right kind of meetingsave not computerTempo

Team meetings can be a waste of time, but as long as you stick to the meetings you really need, you can minimize wasted time and get more out of your meetings as a result.To ensure your meeting is productive, it's best to:

• Set a clear agenda for the meeting– and make sure everyone is on board. What are the main conversation topics? What are you planning to discuss? Is there any prep work the team needs to do first? Knowing ahead of time what you'll be covering at the meeting can help ensure that everyone is prepared and that you're using your time efficiently and not getting sidetracked.
• Know the desired result.Do you want to collect ideas? Need a budget to be approved? Need to assign a month's worth of projects to key team members? Be clear about what you want to get out of the meeting, and then make sure you don't leave the meeting without it.
• Find the right medium for your meeting.Determine if the meeting should be face-to-face or if you canManage all (or most) meetings virtually.
• Clearly define next steps and responsibilities.Distribute an appropriate summary right after the meeting that clearly outlines the next steps and who is responsible for them, with details of what they need to do, when they need to do it, and how this contributes to the overall project.

May these tips help you find yourself with more purpose and inspire you to be more productive in your daily work.