by Sarah-Jane Dale
The extent to which team members are able to regularly interact together as a team is a key predictor of team effectiveness and innovation. The more complex the team task and environment, the more often the team should meet.
Meetings of the whole team are important for:
- developing a shared understanding of the work in hand
- enabling constructive debate about alternative working practices
- bringing together different perspectives and experiences
- enabling a climate of trust and safety which underpins innovation
However, without regular review, team meetings become less relevant and less valuable, leading to falling attendance, poor decision making and declining levels of motivation.
How can we help to ensure our meetings are high quality, full of energy, full of purpose, engaging and enjoyable?
Be curious! Ask team members about their sense of the meeting, their understanding of the preparation needed ahead of the meeting, if time was well managed, if they were clear of their role and the role of others in the meeting. This might be a whole team conversation or incorporated into a meeting ‘check-out’.
AOD provides a team meeting evaluation as part of the Affina Team Journey, an evidence-based toolkit for any team at any level.
Team members are invited to give their views on a specific team meeting by completing a short questionnaire.
The results are presented in a report (extract below) which automatically averages participant responses and also indicates the range of scores. Effective teams score an average of 4 or above and have short range lines.
The report can be used as a prompt for team discussion and to develop an action plan to improve the value of the meeting.
Extract from the Team Meeting Evaluation report – one of 13 reports you can generate within the Affina Team Journey
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