Meetings are essential to coordinate the efforts of a team, but keep in mind; the “less is more” principle applies. Ideally, there would as few meetings as possible and they would be as brief as possible.
What really matters is the accountability that follows. Will people actually do anything as a result of the meeting? Or as I have had the misfortune to witness, are people allowed to spend time excusing non-completion of assigned tasks or distracting on to other topics? Some keys to success with accountability and thus high performance culture are:
Goals given to team members should be specific, objective and measurable. It is then clear to each party to what extent a goal has or has not been achieved. Clear priorities ensure that the most valuable/important tasks are completed first versus what the team member finds easiest or most enjoyable. It also removes emotion from the equation, meaning you and the team member can feel one in working towards your goals. Part of communicating goals to team members is getting their full agreement that they know what is expected of them. More importantly, do they believe it is reasonable and possible for them to deliver the outcome requested by the date required? Without their buy-in, it’s unlikely that you’ll engage their discretionary effort.
In order for team members to be accountable they must have the information they need to know how they are performing in relation to their goals. This feedback must be updated regularly, highly visible and easy to understand so team members can quickly and easily modify their efforts to achieve their agreed goals. This feedback is ideally from the team member to the leader, i.e. the team member takes ownership of it. Feedback should cover critical key performance indicators selected whether they are statistics of “results” achieved or the “drivers” leading to results. For example, sales made is a “result” and outside of our direct control for any one given sales...