1 Forms of Team Meetings Let's look at the forms of team meetings: 1) Morning/Evening Meetings. The morning meeting can be scheduled before employees go to the market, typically lasting 10-20 minutes. Each member reports on the completion of key tasks from the previous day and the key tasks for the current day. After each individual report, the supervisor should comment on their work and follow up on previously assigned tasks. To save time and prevent disputes or digressions, the content of the morning meeting should follow (preferably using a unified morning meeting form): do not report on normal content, only report results, and keep it concise; issues that employees can resolve among themselves should not be brought up; the morning meeting is not a discussion meeting, so do not dwell on any single issue; anything involving only a few people or taking a long time should be resolved after the meeting. 2) Monthly Meetings. Monthly meetings generally analyze and summarize the work of the previous month and plan the goals for the next month, usually held at the end of the month or the beginning of the next month. 3) Quarterly Meetings. These are held once per quarter, typically analyzing the achievement rate of quarterly goals. This prevents employees from taking short-sighted actions to meet monthly goals at the expense of long-term objectives. 2 Purposes of Team Meetings I have summarized eight purposes for holding team meetings. 1) Market (Customer) Analysis. This is often one of the main contents of every meeting. Employees analyze the basic situation of their market (customers), raise existing problems, and the company provides solutions around the issues raised. 2) Policy Implementation. This involves checking whether previously set policies have been implemented. If implemented, what effects have been achieved? If not, what are the reasons? Is the policy unsuitable, or is it a personnel issue? It must be clarified to provide guidance for future policy-making. 3) Experience Exchange. This is common in meetings. Employees who perform well share their successful "experiences" with colleagues so that team members can follow the same "successful" path. They also share "lessons" to help others avoid mistakes. 4) Information Sharing. This involves sharing and exchanging information that each person knows. With the advent of the internet, this aspect seems to have weakened in sales meetings because information spreads quickly online, and people generally know about it the same day, so there is no need to wait until the monthly meeting. 5) Work Assignment. This mainly involves assigning work for the next month or the next phase, including work goals, content, and methods. 6) Setting Examples. Recognizing and commending "typical" good performers to motivate others to work hard or learn from role models. The power of role models is infinite; in popular terms, it spreads positive energy. 7) Helping the Underperforming. For those lagging behind, we analyze the reasons for their underperformance and see how to help them improve. Especially those who work very hard but achieve unsatisfactory results are the primary targets for assistance. 8) Problem Solving. The so-called "problem solving" mainly involves clarifying which problems can be solved and which cannot. For solvable ones, a deadline should be given; for unsolvable ones, the reasons must be noted so that employees no longer have "expectations." 3 Three Stages of Team Meetings 1) Stage One: Guiding Entry For new employees within 6 months of joining who have never attended formal team meetings, guide them to align with the meeting's goals. Think about common problems in team meetings: new employees talk eagerly but off-topic, while veteran employees remain silent and sneer inwardly. Isn't that typical of most meetings? Our approach to guiding new employees is "directive" plus "interrogation." Directive means providing specific guidance on market issues; interrogation means having them stand up one by one to "report" after returning, like a county magistrate hearing a case. We mainly guide employees to do things correctly through analysis of individual behavior. Note: doing the right thing is the boss's job; doing things right is the employee's job. That is, if you follow the correct steps but the direction is wrong, that's the boss's responsibility. So, guide employees to do things right. 2) Stage Two: Focusing on Key Points For employees with 6 months to 2 years of tenure, help them figure out the key paths and methods to achieve goals. We adopt a "process supervision" plus "behavioral norms" approach. Process means following my steps; supervision means both monitoring and guiding. Managers in our industry generally know how to supervise but not how to guide. The purpose of this second stage, "focusing on key points," is to create standardized processes and methods. Standardization means that regardless of the employee, following the same operational steps yields similar results. Whether you know how to do it or not, if you are given the standard, it becomes simple. 3) Stage Three: Forming Norms This is for employees with more than 2 years of tenure. Through "demonstration analysis" and "experience summarization," we form standard work processes and norms. Employees should work according to processes and norms, not based on experience. Since everyone's experiences, backgrounds, or skills differ, working based on experience leads to varied results. Only by following processes and norms can a unified standard be formed. 4 Organizational Principles of Team Meetings There are roughly six organizational principles: 1) Determine the theme in advance. The theme of the meeting must be decided beforehand. The meeting must revolve around the predetermined theme, not be arbitrary, to increase the likelihood of success. 2) Notify participants in advance. This includes who will attend, the time, whether there are keynote speeches, etc. 3) Set a time limit. The purpose is to allow participants to prepare in advance to improve meeting efficiency. Setting a time limit includes two aspects: one is the total duration of the meeting (one day or two days?); the other is the duration of keynote speeches (15 minutes or 30 minutes?), if any. 4) Clarify specific requirements. For example, unified dress code, unified time, and precautions during the meeting. If the meeting is at 8:00, participants should arrive at 7:50. 5) Organize theoretical assessments. This must be done, especially for policy explanations or knowledge/skill learning sessions. After the meeting, an assessment is necessary, whether theoretical or practical. Without assessment, the meeting's effectiveness will be very poor. 6) Penalty for absence. Many companies find it hard to get people to return for month-end meetings. This is very common. Therefore, for meetings, those who are absent without reason should face penalties. Of course, it is better to attract them back through the effectiveness of the meetings. 5 Turning Team Meeting Procedures into Systems (Conventions) The best way to sustain standardized team meeting procedures over the long term is to form management systems. By using management systems to require employees to follow various procedures or processes, there is no need to remind employees constantly; instead, under the constraints of the system, employees spontaneously follow certain rules and processes. Before turning excellent processes into systems, efforts should be made in four directions. 1) Continuously repeat strengths. Repeatedly emphasize and explain recognized "strengths" so that everyone knows what they are and their benefits. 2) Continuously improve weaknesses. Obvious weaknesses must be continuously improved, with the ultimate goal of eliminating them. 3) Create standard models. Turn some work processes into standard processes that everyone should follow, rather than relying on personal "experience." 4) Form institutional norms. Establish the formed standards and processes through institutional means, which becomes the final operational norm. Ge Junzhen, MBA from Guanghua School of Management, Peking University; founder of technical marketing model in the animal protection industry; practical expert in agricultural and animal husbandry marketing management; chief consultant of Zhenmou Junlue Consulting; vice chairman of Hebei Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Society; chief consultant of China Poultry Health Network; editorial board member of Today's Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine; chief trainer of Layer Qiaoqiao Meeting. Source: Zhenmou Junlue (ID: gejunzhenygzt) -END-