'Meetings, meetings, meetings! How do they expect me to get anything done if I have to attend meetings all the time? I can't believe how many meetings they expect me to attend! Don't they have anything better to do around here than hold meetings all the time?'
These statements probably sound familiar-but if your agency plans to survive in these times, the principals need to hold meetings. Efficient meetings will secure continuity, keep goals in focus, improve efficiency, and increase overall revenue.
For a meeting to be productive, how often should they be held? Who should attend them? What should the agenda be? How can you make sure that everyone participates (not just attends)? Here are some answers:
WHO SHOULD ATTEND 'EM?
Every individual in the office should attend meetings, from upper management to CSRs to processors to the receptionist and file clerk.
WHEN SHOULD YOU HOLD 'EM?
If the agency totals five or fewer employees, hold weekly meetings. In larger, departmentalized agencies, meetings should still be held weekly by department (Commercial Lines, Personal Lines, sales, administration, accounting, and so on). Meetings should also be held between agency principals and management (office managers, departmental managers).
Since the departmental weekly meetings will focus mostly on their own areas, total agency staff meetings should be held monthly. These meetings will discuss overall goals and objectives for the staff. Holding these weekly and monthly meetings will keep all employees focused on the departmental and agency goals.
WHAT ABOUT AN AGENDA?
Employees in a small office communicate every minute of the day-but what are they talking about? Most of the time, it's the common questions and concerns that come up during the events of the day. Weekly meetings should focus on the agency's goals of increasing efficiency and revenue.
The agenda is an important part of a successful meeting. It should be concise and include all areas crucial to the running of the agency, such as:
- Company issues
- Progress of the agency
- Employee concerns
- Procedures
- Review of the marketing plan
When reviewing agenda areas, be sure to keep discussions to a minimum. Make sure you have a good facilitator to oversee the meeting. Often one person goes off on a tangent discussing one item, and then nothing is settled. If someone becomes too long-winded-even an agency principal-the facilitator should put an immediate stop to it. Give the speaker the option of discussing the matter at a later date, after more information can be researched in that area. Vote on the area to be discussed (majority rules!) or just have a totally separate meeting on the area to discuss and finalize that one issue. Don't get side-tracked. The meeting needs to keep going and issues need be reviewed and settled.
Long discussions are always a problem with agencies. Make sure to monitor the length of your meetings! Keep to your goal: to increase efficiency and revenue!
HOW CAN YOU MAKE SURE EVERYONE PARTICIPATES?
This is a fun area. How in the world can you get everyone to talk? You want to know what your employees are thinking about-so ask them. Go around the table and ask each person how he or she feels about an issue. Just by the way they answer the question, you can tell whether they understand the issue, have no idea what you're talking about, or have other questions.
At first, you might not get much of a response when you go around the table. If you're having difficulty, ask another question-or just wait until the next meeting and go through the process again. They'll eventually learn the importance of participation. Get every employee participating. Make sure that everyone understands the agency's issues and goals.
By the way, once you start asking questions, prepare yourself to hear answers that you might not like. For meetings to be productive, they have to be honest.