Effective leadership and good communication are both key ingredients to a successful team, but it’s so easy for the day-to-day to get in the way of this.
Regular meetings can be a great way to stay in touch with your team, ensure everyone is working towards the same goals and knows what is expected of them.
Without an effective structure though, team meetings can quickly go off track. How many times have you sat in a meeting in quiet frustration feeling that nothing is being achieved and your precious time wasted?
If you want to avoid this, and make your team meeting count, we have the perfect format for you. LION is not just the king of the jungle, it’s also going to transform your meetings in just four easy steps, giving you control of the session to maximum benefit for all.
The LION meeting format is based on the four simple steps of:
Last week…
Improvements…
Opportunities…
Next week…
Get started on your effective team meeting
Before you can get going with LION, you need to establish a regular weekly meeting with your team, ensuring everyone understands the need to attend and the requirement to contribute individually.
Setting it as an ongoing regular event in your digital diaries and inviting all team members can help build the consistency you need for LION to work.
Start by explaining the concept and highlighting some parameters for the meeting; primarily that everyone has to contribute and that it should stick to the LION format where possible.
Creating accountability for your team
The aim of LION is to focus the minds and actions of team members to encourage accountability and ensure everyone knows what is expected of them individually and as a team. It’s also a great opportunity to identify issues which could otherwise spiral out of control if not addressed, and, crucially, to give praise where it’s due. With busy working schedules it can be easy to take people for granted and neglect to reward or acknowledge success.
So, let’s have a look at the LION process in more detail.
Last week…
This asks everyone what they did last week, or what they said they were going to do, and what happened with that. Did they deliver or progress? If yes, what was the outcome, if not, then why not? Everyone should be encouraged to answer individually.
Improvements…
This asks what went well over the last week and why, and whether there are lessons that can be learned by the wider team.
Obstacles…
This asks everyone what obstacles they have faced over the last week, or if there is anything they need help with. The meeting should look to see how challenges can be addressed and assign it to someone as an action if needed. This is a crucial part of the LION meeting as it can help to ensure potential challenges or issues are identified and tackled wherever possible, before they become a bigger problem.
Next week…
This sets the agenda for the coming week and the next LION meeting by asking everyone what they will be doing for the coming week. Rather than citing everything they do on a day-to-day basis, this could highlight a key project target or goal and is that person’s commitment to a particular activity.
Go through section by section, listening to your team members first, then offering your input at the end of each step, before moving on to the next stage.
For more tips on how to run an effective team meeting, contact Gary Wagstaff, your local ActionCOACH.
