Small but mighty - team meetings

We are a small team, 4 of us in the office full time, 1 maintenance guru and 1 part time office employee. 

But don’t let our size fool you.  Within our 6 person team we do it all but the key to our success is in communication. 

Since we work so closely together (both in proximity and in our processes) it could be easy for us to take for granted our communications. 

One way we combat this is through our team meetings.  We are a small team, but we hold weekly meetings, these meetings have evolved over time and are ever changing but the essence of team work and communication are at the heart of them.

There are different schools of thought on team meetings:

They can be seen as too time consuming or as busy-work;
or they can be seen as a way to make decisions faster or strengthen team bonds. 

Whatever your view, some things are clear:  without a set agenda and a clear purpose, team meetings can run off track pretty quickly.  That’s why team meetings have gotten a bad rap, and why you probably groaned when I mentioned it. 
Most employees find team meetings not only a waste of time but they tend to have bad timing or are mismanaged.  But imagine if your team meetings became not only routine but a welcome part of everyone’s week?! 

Proper handling of team meetings generally leads to enhanced performance, increased customer service, and cost reductions – if you knew you could achieve just one of those, then isn’t it worth a try? 

There are many ways to properly run a team meeting, but what’s important is to find the right one for your team.  Is it weekly? Daily? Half day?  Stand-up? All employees?  By project? 
And if you are going to take the time to do it, then you should do it right – prepare questions like:

“are you overwhelmed?”
or
“what information or resources do you need to perform better”?
Having all team members be engaged and productive is the key to success.