"The more important the issue, the more vital it is to communicate." Linda Case, Founder

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Involve Everyone in Staff Meetings

Boost the productivity of your staff meetings by having attendees report on their respective departments. When Jan Jacome, owner of Crossroads Contracting in Londonderry, N.H., implemented this practice early in 2007, she discovered a great side benefit: enhanced communication throughout the company.

Jacome meets weekly with Crossroads’ office manager, production manager, and sales staff. Attendees prepare for the meetings by developing summaries of the items they will report on. The written summaries also include topics for discussion and are distributed to the other attendees at the beginning of the meeting.

The office manager discusses the weekly change order log and reports on weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual proposal, sales, and lead statistics.

The production manager provides a brief update on the progress of ongoing jobs and trade contractors schedule for the upcoming week, reviews the start dates and the schedule for all pre-construction meetings on sold jobs, and reports on jobs scheduled to be completed in the upcoming week.
 
Each salesperson informs the others about any sales made in the previous week—to the accompaniment of clapping, cheering, and foot stomping. The salesperson then familiarizes the staff with the scope of work for each new job, the proposed start date, and any special considerations or long lead times anticipated. Afterwards, he or she reviews all presentations made during the previous week and informs the staff on next steps.

When it’s her turn to report, Jacome mentions upcoming meetings, issues reminders as necessary, and discusses surveys received from customers. She also informs her staff about business development issues, community and charity events, upcoming home shows, and any other relevant issues, concerns, or news. Together, the staff then selects a procedural topic to discuss in the next staff meeting.

The interactive meetings benefit the company in several ways. “Hearing everyone’s review of what is happening today, tomorrow, and next week keeps everyone in the loop on critical dates, from scheduling  trade contractors to material special orders to keeping up-to-date with the production schedules,” says Jacome. “This has saved us on several occasions.”

In addition, the pass from sales to production is much smoother because the sale has just occurred and the sales staff may receive information during the meeting that may not be part of the contract but is valuable for pre-production purposes.

There’s also the teamwork aspect. “Having each person accountable for informing staff members has been a great team building exercise,” says Jacome. “Everyone is involved, rather than having me do all the talking. That’s huge!”

Here are some pointers from Jacome on conducting weekly staff meetings:

• Hold the meetings at the same time every week to avoid scheduling conflicts.
• Lead by example; be prepared for the meeting. “It is very obvious when someone has not planned ahead,” says the remodeler. Knowing that advance preparation is required makes everyone accountable.

Encourage your staff to report on information that is important to everyone, not the day-to-day details that don’t need to be discussed. This helps keep the length of the meeting manageable. Crossroads Contracting’s staff meetings typically last 1 to 2 hours.

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