As an organization grows in complexity, so too does its need for structure to keep the complexity from turning into chaos. One important way organizations add structure is through Meeting Models.
As we described in a recent blog post, Meeting Models are organization-specific templates that define a meeting’s purpose, outcomes, protocol, and positions/roles involved. This structure reduces variance between meetings of the same type within the company and provides clear expectations to those leading and participating in the meetings. This reduction of variance results in higher-quality, more effective meetings that can scale with an organization.
This chart shows the minimum Meeting Models that an organization needs to have in place based on its Stage of Growth.
In general, smaller organizations are less complex than larger organizations, and necessitate fewer Meeting Models. As an organization grows, it should steadily add structure to more of its meetings.
In all organizations, beginning in Stage 1 (1-10 employees), it is important to have a Meeting Model for Daily Check-In Meetings. Daily Check-In Meetings are used to keep teams aligned towards a common goal, to keep everyone informed, and to ensure work momentum.
Beginning in Stage 2 (11-19 employees), the organization needs to incorporate structure for One-to-One meetings. One-to-One Meetings are used to offer support, develop relationships, and ensure mutual accountability between employees and supervisors. Focused time spent between employees and supervisors is invaluable to building a strong working relationship that is mutually beneficial.
Stage 3 (20-34 employees) marks an important change in an organization, where it moves from Owner-Centric to Enterprise-Centric. At this Stage, it’s critical for an organization to effectively assimilate new people, which is why a Meeting Model for training—including an effective onboarding process—is required. Employee Training Meetings are used to transfer knowledge from one person or group to another.
The next Meeting Model addition comes in Stage 5 (58-95 employees) with Quarterly Leadership Team Meetings. Quarterly Leadership Team Meetings are used for strategic oversight for an organization. At this Stage in an organization’s growth, incorporating a structured rhythm for Interdepartmental Planning is key for continued growth.
Finally, in Stage 6 (96-160 employees) an organization needs to formalize a structure for its Company Town Hall Meetings. Town Hall Meetings are used to share information with a large group. Effectively gathering and communicating with all employees becomes a critical way to maintain organizational cohesion in Stages 6 and 7.
It’s important to clarify that the above graphic shows when an organization needs a Meeting Model for a specific meeting type. It indicates when an organization needs to create greater structure for a given meeting type due to reaching a threshold—due to the frequency of the meeting, the amount of organizational time spent in the meeting, or the significant impact of the meeting’s outcomes.
This chart does not show when the organization should start holding a given meeting type. Many of these meetings will be held by an organization in stages prior to when the need for a Meeting Model has been reached. For example, Town Hall Meetings in the form of an All-Employee Meeting could be held as early as Stage 1. However, by Stage 6 it becomes imperative to have a Meeting Model for Town Hall Meetings because the level of importance and number of people involved in these meetings has risen to a higher threshold.
Further, an organization may have more Meeting Models than those suggested by this graphic, depending on which meetings are important enough or held frequently enough in their organization that consistent structure is beneficial.
The concepts from this article were taken from Meeting Structure: Achieving meeting effectiveness through structure. Available through The ReWild Group and Amazon, the book explores in-depth this and other concepts while providing illustrations to help business leaders incorporate the ideas into their organizations. Get your copy today to start benefiting from Meeting Structure in your company.