{"id":4297,"date":"2019-06-27T14:13:34","date_gmt":"2019-06-27T21:13:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/knowyourteam.com\/blog\/?p=4297"},"modified":"2025-02-13T20:15:59","modified_gmt":"2025-02-14T04:15:59","slug":"what-to-put-on-your-team-meeting-agenda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/2019\/06\/27\/what-to-put-on-your-team-meeting-agenda\/","title":{"rendered":"What to put on your team meeting agenda"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Here’s the #1 thing your team meeting should be focused on \u2013 and exactly how you should structure your team meeting agenda.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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\u201cWhat should I put on our team meeting agenda?\u201d I asked myself this question recently because\u200a\u2014\u200afor the first time in our small team\u2019s history\u200a\u2014\u200awe\u2019re starting to hold monthly team meetings!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bear with me here. I know it sounds preposterous to just<\/em> be starting to run regular team meetings in our company, given that if you were to peek at the calendar of any working person, \u201cTeam Meeting\u201d would likely be the most frequently slotted event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet here at Canopy<\/a>, we\u2019ve always been skeptical of the monthly or weekly team meeting. Trade-offs come with every meeting scheduled, and as a small company, we didn\u2019t see a regular team meeting as a high-leverage use of time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, though, we do. So what\u2019s changed?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First is that our growth as a company has dictated a need for team meetings. And the second, is, after talking with tens of CEOs, surveying hundreds of managers, and pulling insights from 1,000+ managers in our leadership community, I recognize how powerful a tool a team meeting can be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And so, the question, \u201cWhat do you put on your team meeting agenda?\u201d has become ripe for me. But before answering it, let\u2019s take a step back to define the purpose of an effective team meeting\u200a\u2014\u200aand why we here at Canopy decided to introduce them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The purpose of team meetings<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, a team performs well if it is aligned<\/a>. Surely, this is intuitive, but it\u2019s interesting how research shows this to be true. A 2014 McKinsey Quarterly report<\/a> cited a study where \u201cwhen people understand and are excited about the direction their company is taking, the company\u2019s earnings margin is twice as likely to be above the median.\u201d In short, as a leader, if you want your team to produce exceptional outcomes, you have to find ways for (1) people to know what the team\u2019s direction is, and for (2) people to feel compelled to contribute to that team direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How do you create this alignment<\/a>? This is where the team meeting comes in. An effective all-team meeting is dedicated, committed time for alignment: To both explaining the direction and<\/em> giving people reasons for why they might want to be excited about that direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Specifically, an effective team meeting can help you get aligned on several areas of the business:<\/p>\n\n\n\n