The Complete Guide: The Perfect Team Meeting

While you already have 1:1 meetings with your team members, you should also include a weekly team meeting. It’s an opportunity for team members from different disciplines to see the full picture of the team’s work, collaborate and share their work. It’s also a great way to share news from the top and make sure the whole team is aligned. Depending on the size of your team and the maturity of your company you may need to make a few tweaks, but this is the template I’ve been using as a VP of Marketing at a fast growing startup. I use a simple Google doc to allow my team to collaborate on the agenda, but you can use any format that works for you. Setting up the process: 1. Set up a weekly team meeting (ideally the day after you have a management meeting so you can always deliver fresh updates).

2. Create the weekly team meeting doc (create a copy of this template and make it your own).

3. Add this doc to your standing weekly team meeting so everyone has easy access.

4. At the beginning, remind your team to add agenda items 24 hours before the weekly meeting (after a few weeks people will get used to it and start adding their items throughout the week, so you always have topics for discussion).

5. Update the “leadership updates” section before the meeting. Include updates and highlights from the management weekly meeting that your team should be aware of. Opt for sharing more, not less. Things that seem trivial or uninteresting to you (we are starting to plan the yearly offsite!) could be meaningful for your team.

The Agenda items:

Mood check-in: this is a game changer. Instead of starting the meeting by asking “how is everyone doing” and getting quiet nods, allow people to articulate what they really feel. This simple template had transformed our team meetings and helped build trust amongst team members. It takes time for people to open up and share so lead by example. “Today I’m somewhere between yellow and green. I feel calm and motivated. Our latest campaign launch was very successful and I’m really proud of this team”. “I’m a bit nervous because we are behind schedule. I know everyone is doing their best and pulling together, but I’m wondering if we should discuss pushing back the launch date”. “I am a bit tired, I actually didn’t get much sleep last night because my dog is sick. I’m probably going to be a bit grumpy so please excuse me”
Leadership updates: this section includes any updates from the management/executive team that your team should know about. For example: business and finance updates, new customers or partners, company events or big campaigns coming up, cross functional projects, new hires, etc.
Metric overview: a quick overview where every team member shares an update about the top 3 metrics they track. Metrics can be tracked in a shared doc, or on separate platforms, but team members should come prepared to present the data and explain progress or lack of progress. The goal is not to spy on your team, but rather create opportunities for collaboration and support. If a team member reports on a drop in performance, they can ask the team for advice.
Team member agenda items: this is an open section where anyone can add agenda items they want to discuss. Topics can vary and include things like sharing a personal win, discussing team morale day, planning a volunteering event or asking for advice.