Build A Better Staff Meeting

When you hear the words "Staff meeting today", what comes to mind?  "Ugh, another boring hour to sit through."?  "Yay, if he finishes early we'll get a longer lunch!"?  Or maybe, if you're leading the meeting, "Oh, this is agony.  They all just sit there while I talk."  Well, here's the good news, staff meetings don't have to be boring ordeals that one person leads while everyone else examines their fingernails or doodles flowers on their notebooks.

I remember the first staff meetings I attended.  Before the dentist ever entered the room, one staff member laid down the law.  "Don't ask any questions so we can get out of here early and go out to lunch!"    You didn't mess with that chick so nobody said a word.  For his part, the poor dentist was obviously anxious and basically rattled off dull information as fast as he could.  "Any questions?  No?  Ok, I guess we all get a long lunch."  I have to admit, I welcomed the long lunch, but I also wondered at the huge waste of time that was occurring.  Why couldn't staff meetings be fun and interesting?  Well, they can, you just have to build them that way.

When I became the office manager, I was handed the responsibility of developing and running staff meetings.  The first few didn't seem much different than they did when the dentist ran the meeting.  I understood his anxiety as I talked through the hour with little to no response or input from the staff.  One day I said, "Ok, this is not an office manager meeting, it's a staff meeting, so you guys need to get in on this."  Rather than making statements and rattling off information, I started introducing question marks into the meeting.  I would talk about whatever topic was at hand and then say, "What do you think?" or "How can we improve that?", etc.  Then I would just wait.  Now, here's where you have to discipline yourself because people like to fill the silence.  You have to wait them out so it's not always you filling it.  I also had a bag full of Hersey's miniatures ready to reward anyone daring enough to put forth a thought or opinion.  At long last, one brave staff member verbalized a thought.  She got three chocolates and was automatically happy she had spoken up.  You could also see a little pride there.  When people receive a reward, no matter how insignificant or small, they understand they have done something worth merit.  Little by little, others started earning their candy, too and we finally, at long last, had a discussion going.

Your job as the meeting leader is to get the ball rolling.  You don't want to kick the ball to yourself and then run it all the way to the goal.  You want to get your team involved.  You build it and let them in.  So, how do you build a good staff meeting?  First, make an agenda, print it out and distribute it the day before the meeting.  If anyone wants to add something, they must let you know by the morning of the meeting.  If time will allow, add it.  If not, put it on the agenda for the next meeting or handle it separately if it can't wait.  Start with a review of old business from the last meeting.  Where there any action items that need to be revisited?  Next, go over new business.  This is the time to discuss new procedures, new products, or new protocols.  Ask the hygiene department to give a hygiene report.  Have a section on trouble-shooting.  This can be anything from equipment that needs work, problems with running behind schedule, or communication issues.  Finally, have a main topic that you will spend most of the meeting on.  This is a time for team building and increasing patient service.  You will be amazed at the way you can increase team solidarity and patient care by taking the time to develop this part of your staff meeting.  I will be following this post up with a series of staff meetings that have greatly improved our team and that you can adapt to work with yours.  I think you'll be surprised to find that staff meetings can actually be fun and exciting.

Comments

[Edward]

These are great ideas for staff meetings. I believe it is important to value and include the thoughts and opinions of staff members, something that is all too often overlooked in most staff meetings. Morning huddles can achieve most of your goals and provide efficient handling of daily issues as well. Get your team involved, not bored.

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Staff meetings should always begin with a positive note even when the agenda is rather grim. meetings should also be well structured and planned to eliminate unnecessary topics.

great post, by the way!