Meetings maximize collaboration, reinforce company culture

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The topic of meetings is the issue of the day here at ABC Home & Commercial Services in Austin, Texas. We have a very diversified workforce and offer a wide variety of services, and the meeting structure we have been following since COVID-19 is something we are looking at to see if we can improve upon it.

There is a very fine line when it comes to meetings. We’ve all heard the term “death by meetings,” but I believe it’s imperative that everyone on our team meet collectively — in small teams and individually — to maximize everyone’s understanding of what is going on, and what is important to each employee and the company.

I’m particularly focused on meetings because I believe they are extremely important to maintaining the culture of the company. I also believe we can conduct meetings better than the way we currently do.

Company-wide meeting. Our premier meeting is and always has been our monthly company meeting. We call this our Ownership Dashboard and everyone who works at the company attends. In the past, this monthly meeting was held in person at the Austin office and broadcast live to our branches. As we have grown, we can’t all gather at one time thanks to a lack of meeting room space and parking limitations. So now, we record the meeting and replay it to smaller groups. This process is just OK, because attending live and in-person is just better.

For the past 41 years, I have conducted the monthly company meeting. I feel it’s very important for everyone to hear from the owner as to the status of the company, and how we have performed each month and year-to-date.

We currently are considering holding our monthly meeting six times over three days each month. The idea is to present the meeting to a live audience to help ensure we all are marching to the same drumbeat. I’m very excited about changing how we conduct our monthly company meeting and making sure everyone has a live, interactive experience.

Team meetings. We also have weekly company team meetings. As with our monthly meeting, we are trying to improve this weekly meeting and make it more of a live experience, as opposed to watching a recorded meeting.

Individual meetings. We are in the process of implementing a new meeting structure for our one-on-ones. These are individual meetings that managers have with each employee on a weekly or biweekly basis. These meetings offer a great opportunity to check in with everyone on the ABC team. It’s not really about the business or the employee’s performance. Instead, the one-on-one meetings are a personal check-in to get to know employees and understand them better.

Division leadership meetings. On a monthly basis, I meet with the division leadership teams for pest, lawn, mechanical and home improvement. For each division, we all meet as a group that consists of the division manager, service managers for both residential and commercial services, the commercial manager and the sales manager. These meetings are extremely productive; we focus on how we are doing from a personnel and revenue standpoint. In addition, we discuss challenges and opportunities, and plan for the upcoming months.

Quarterly sales meetings. I always look forward to these because we bring our entire sales team to the Austin office to celebrate and discuss current sales successes. It’s always a fun and exciting meeting as we work hard to drive sales success here at ABC.

Quarterly meetings. In addition to the home office in Austin, we have four branches. On a monthly basis, the vice president and I travel to each branch to meet with the branch managers and their leadership teams. These meetings also give us an opportunity to get to visit with many of the folks in each branch. In addition, we hold a quarterly branch manager meeting where each branch manager comes to Austin to meet as a group with the company leadership team.

Senior management meetings. Our weekly senior management meeting is held virtually. It brings together me, the vice president, the four division managers, the sales manager and the managers of marketing, human resources, IT, office operations, accounting and customer service. Branch managers also participate in the call. We hold this very important meeting every Tuesday at 8:30 a.m., and it usually lasts 90 minutes.

We have found this meeting is a great way to keep everyone informed about what is going on in the company.

Training meetings. We regularly conduct manager training meetings that impart knowledge and leadership skills. We also hold technical training meetings for our field staff, regardless of the division they work in. These are generally held monthly and cover a wide variety of topics.

Emerging leaders meeting. This biweekly meeting is proving to be very successful at helping develop and train many of our employees who want to move up in the company. It’s a great example of a couple of the other meetings we hold for specific groups that offer great value to the company.

Each of the meetings discussed occur on an ongoing, regular basis. Each one is critical to keeping everyone who works at ABC on the same page, and instrumental in continuing to reinforce our company culture. There is one final meeting I would like to share, however:

Ownership meeting. This meeting consists of me, my wife, and my three adult children and their spouses. I have transferred a significant amount of the ownership of the company to my children, and I feel it’s critical that we meet at least twice a year. I report to the ownership team on how the company is doing and discuss with them the opportunities and challenges we face. I love this meeting and value my family’s input and counsel.

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from Pest Management Professional https://www.mypmp.net/2024/09/21/meetings-maximize-collaboration-reinforce-company-culture/
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