The Power of Weekly Meetings
I know, the last think you need is another meeting. Well, listen up, because this meeting is worth having! What is it?
- The Weekly Project Meeting!
Got a large project you’re managing? Maybe a series of smaller projects, all for the same goal/Client/etc? Just schedule 1 hour, once a week, to meet with the appropriate stakeholders involved. This is your time to shine, your time to show how much you’ve completed, and your time to present new ideas and get buy-in!
If you think about your work in terms of the priorities I’ve outlined previously, then you inevitably have Clients (internal or external to your organization) that you have to work with. Here are some examples:
- You work at a consulting firm, and you have Clients who pay you for your expertise (this is the most obvious)
- You are a mid-level manager at a corporation, and your Clients are the senior level executives who are setting goals you need to achieve.
- You work at a non-profit, and your Clients are the people you are trying to help, as well as your board of directors
You see, wherever you work, you’re bound to have Clients.
Now, to manage and complete successful projects for your Clients, you need to foster accountability to each other. A weekly meeting does this for two major reasons:
- Neither party wants to look unprepared for the meeting, so you spend time working on the project(s) and making tangible progress (I always smile when I see a great deal of work completed just before a weekly project meeting!).
- Quite often, this is the only “face-time” all stakeholders on the project(s) have with each other. So, it’s a great time to get lingering issues resolved, to get questions answered, and to solicit opinions and buy-in for ideas in the project.
I know this is a simple idea, but it’s a powerful one. One of the first things I do when assessing a project that has gone off course is see what type of weekly meetings are in place. Typically in these situations, there are none. And, once this sort of meeting is implemented, many project issues tend to go away!
Weekly meetings are a great step toward successful completion of your project. Try them, you’ll see!
See also:Posted in: Personal Development, Project Management
I completely agree with this post. I have found that so many times when I am leading a project people within the team think they know what they are supposed to be doing, but really don’t.
Another issue that can be avoided with weekly meetings are the hidden problems. A lot of times people won’t bring up an issue because they think it’s no big deal. Then when you start talking in an update meeting they just share the issue because they are there and then everyone finds out it is a big deal and needs a lot more attention.
Communication is key.
[...] 4. The Power of Weekly Meetings [...]
I love our weekly meetings. It helps us focus and get all our minds thinking in the same direction. Since we started having weekly meetings a few months ago, we have seen a tremendous growth in our business
[...] 4. The Power of Weekly Meetings [...]
[...] Some are great, some are horribly bad. Some are required, while others are ad hoc events. Weekly project team meetings can be a useful tool in managing projects. One-on-one meetings can help leaders dig deep using [...]