Communicating with Employees

4. Meetings

4.1 Use meetings to keep your teams informed and motivated.

• If you employ less than ten or 12 people, consider holding a short weekly meeting for the whole company. Use this to review progress and problems and to build a sense of team identity.
• Make sure information flows both ways during meetings by actively listening during discussions. Ask open questions to encourage employees to participate.

4.2 Organise meetings efficiently.

• Make the objective of each meeting clear and circulate an agenda in good time.
• Keep discussions focused on the agenda. After discussing each point, assign responsibility to an individual to complete the agreed action by a certain date.
• End by summing up the important points.
• Circulate minutes within two days.
• If people are absent, make sure they are copied with any relevant information. Inform any other people affected by decisions taken at the meeting.