Just to clarify ‘networking’ meetings are never a waste of time.
But it may feel that internal company meetings can drag on and aren’t productive use of time.
Alongside that, if your organisation operates with a hierarchy rather than an accountability structure it may seem pointless.
Simply report on your KPIs and speak when spoken too…
There are two main issues here
- The Culture and or
- The Structure
When you have an accountability structure, where people are responsible and accountable to each other and permission is granted to communicate openly, it keeps the whole team moving and focused. When reassessing the leadership team’s approach across Marvel & The Business/Construction Catalyst recently we came up with some very simple rules of play;
• Follow and respect the system
• Act Free *
• Circle of Safety
• Constant Communication
• Total Integrity
Very simply
If we don’t follow the systems, process and regulations of our own business, every time, not only does it set a poor precedent, but it also hinders our collective progress as a team.
Being free from your “Act” * – your act is often a role you play, a personality trait you go to when triggered. It could be ‘I’ll do that when I’m ready, not when I’m told to’. Being in this Act rather than leading as a whole person creates breaks in performance.
So, we create a Circle of Safety** where there is constant communication and permission to call people out, when they are not in their integrity or are playing up in their act.
There are ongoing triggers, distractions and delays and these are everywhere.
It’s not about right or wrong – or good or bad.
It’s simply a case of saying – “I can see where your heads at, what can I do to help get you back on track? “
As a leader this is much more empowering than berating a colleague or someone in the team for the sake of being right or leading because your job position is higher up the hierarchy. It also removes all fear that often occurs when you have a senior boss questioning performance vs recognising someone’s Act or the original trigger, and managing them through it – that’s what a leader does!
The other side of this is the meeting itself.
Everyone should contribute evenly. Too much detail and you lose the room.
The main focus should be on identifying issues and solving them as a team. There maybe issues within operations but having everyone in that leadership team contribute to the solution. You’ll be surprised what the marketing guy will do with a finance issue and vice versa. That type of thinking is essential for growth as a company but also continued culture development – a leadership team leads and solves company issues together, even though they are individually responsible and accountable for their own section and KPIs.
Implementation of systems that develop culture and even a very straightforward meeting agenda and being led through are all part of the going business development we support our clients with.
Remember to be aware of your own communication style when motivating and developing your team. You can see more on this on our blog here
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*Act – is terminology used in the Landmark Education curriculum – for when we react / are triggered by something and behave in a disruptive way as a result
- Act. An act is an inauthentic way of being that you project to others to make yourself look good; or that, motivated by being right, you take on for yourself in furtherance of your own desired self-image or as part of your strong suit. Many guys, for example, think of themselves as “tough guys”, and perhaps should take a closer look at ways in which they really are not. True tough guys don’t need to prove it by treating badly because they can, or by bullying waitresses in diners. Truly wealthy people don’t need to prove it by ostentatious lifestyles. You may like to think of yourself as a responsible person, or as a generous person, but are you? You may like to show up for others as an extroverted or outgoing person, but if you’re always feeling a need to prove it . . . Source https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Landmark_Education/Abd/Glossary
** Circle of Safety as defined by Simon Sinek