Are your staff meetings a drag? Something you dread? I’ve been there! 

When I took a good hard look at what was going on, I realized that I wasn't engaging my team. So, I learned more about engagement and started applying new ideas. Suddenly staff meetings became more energized. I realized I had the team’s attention, they were having conversations, and I saw an increase in their commitment to the work and each other. 

Engagement plays a critical role in team morale, managing turnover rates and individual performance. 

Gallup is the leading researcher on engagement. They define employee engagement as:

The involvement and enthusiasm of employees in their work and workplace. The big problem is that only 20% of employees fall in the “engaged” category in Canada.

 Gallup says eight in 10 Canadians are either watching the clock, doing the bare minimum to get a paycheck, or worse, actively working against their employer. 

 Eeek! Does that convince you to create more engagement when the team is together for meetings? If so, here are 3 C's to help you get started:

 1 - Connect

 The first thing you need to do at a staff meeting is connect to one another as human beings. We are not job descriptions that meet contract targets. We are people who serve other people. Thus we need to connect as people.

To make sure that everyone feels connected in the first 5 to 10 minutes of the meeting, make sure that everyone has an opportunity to share their voice in the conversation. For example, start with a one-word check-in, a team-building activity, a gratitude sharing exercise or an acknowledgement of each other. 

 2 - Contribute

 Engaged employees feel that they are contributing to something bigger than themselves. Therefore, the bulk of the staff meeting must meet that requirement.Meetings should not be strictly information sharing. If your employees ask themselves or their teammates why they are there or what's the point of the meeting, they've not had a chance to contribute, and you're not engaging them.

During the meeting, gather people's ideas, contributions, and challenges. Ensure that everyone contributed to the meeting in a meaningful way. To make this easier, ask staff to contribute agenda items, topics and projects ahead of time.

3 - Commit

Commitment is twofold; it's about commitment to tasks and commitment to each other.

First, make sure you know what each person is committing to complete as a result of the conversations during the meeting. Identify, in writing:

Who

Said they would do what 

By when

The second part of commitment is to make sure you end the meeting with a commitment to each other. Once again, we are people; humans in relationships. That means we have to continue to strengthen those relationships.

As you end the meeting, provide space for each person to engage. If time permits, this can be done as a roundtable, allowing everyone to contribute one word to the question: 

• What part of this meeting did you appreciate?
• What excites you most for the rest of your week?
• How will you stay engaged with your teammates this week?

If you are having a meeting, ensure to create connection, opportunities for contribution and a level of commitment to each other. Because when you connect, contribute and commit with a team, you will have an engaged team. 

Leadership Development Coach Kathy Archer helps women develop confidence, maintain their composure and lead with integrity! She is the author of Mastering Confidence and the host of the Surviving to Thriving podcast. Kathy blogs for women leading in nonprofits at www.kathyarcher.com/blog

Home page photo by Dylan Gillis on Unsplash.