If you’re wondering how to hold meetings with your team, the answer is simple. It starts with understanding their needs. Whether they prefer videoconferences, in-person meetings, or hybrid work, your team should be able to find a way to work together. Once you’ve identified what they prefer, it’s time to adjust your approach to their preferred style of collaboration. Before holding your first meeting, set goals and priorities for each member of your team, and rotate responsibilities among the executive team.

Adapting the approach to your team’s preferred collaboration style

In today’s world, collaboration is more than a buzzword. Rather than treating collaboration like a game of tag, you should think about it as a process, with an ultimate authority that makes decisions and resolves disputes. You can do this by setting ground rules for the collaboration style and hiring a leader who understands the nature of work. Collaborations should push deliverables to the next level, encourage learning from other’s experiences, and push deliverables to be innovative.

The best collaboration styles have clear rules that encourage communication and team innovation. Make sure everyone knows what their roles are, what they expect from each other, and how they plan to meet those goals. Make sure you build trust between teammates and get to know each team member’s strengths and weaknesses. Once you have established these guidelines, it’s time to put in place the conditions that motivate your team members to work together. Developing a collaborative culture requires shared goals, clear roles, and a positive attitude.

Outlining goals in advance

The best way to prepare for a meeting is to outline goals in advance. This is especially helpful for guest speakers, who will be required to submit a pre-read 24 hours before the meeting. Outlining goals in advance can help the team stay on track, provide executive level context, and help everyone make a decision. If you are the guest speaker, be sure to bring items prepared. Here are some tips to get you started.

Prioritizing the meeting topics

There are three major types of agendas: urgent, important, and nice to discuss. Using an agenda will save time and effort for both the agency and the team. The most important thing to remember when making a meeting agenda is to prioritize the items by importance and urgency. An overly ambitious agenda may lead to a long meeting, which will only result in unnecessary stress and wasted time. Instead, plan your meeting to cover the most important topics first and leave room for other items. If no other items are added, the meeting can end early.