Stop your meetings becoming moaning sessions with careful planning and preparation. Mary Evans shows how
Are your staff meetings a forum for sharing innovative ideas and exchanging observations about working practices in a constructive way? Or do they degenerate into a 'staff moan?'
A good meeting can boost staff morale, with people going away feeling positive about their work, while a bad meeting can damage relations, with people feeling resentful at having their time wasted.
Managing an effective meeting divides into three parts: preparation in setting the time, venue and agenda; chairing the meeting; and then follow-up procedures of issuing the minutes and checking that decisions are implemented.
Jacintha Wake, proprietor of the Bolland Hall Day Nursery in Morpeth, says, 'We have two different types of meeting. We have a small, five-minute meeting at the end of the day when we look back and see if there have been any problems. We also meet before work for 15 minutes to go through what is happening that day. People are fresh and so come up with ideas.
'At the end of the week we meet for half an hour on Friday afternoon when we discuss our aims for the following week and if there is anything we need to buy for the topics.'
Ms Wake says any niggles or complaints can be aired and dealt with at the daily meetings, which means when the team sits down for one of its formal six-weekly planning meetings, there is little likelihood of the atmosphere being soured by gripes and grumbles. 'We have certain conditions: we don't make issues personal; we try not to be judgmental and we don't like negative attitudes towards other people's opinions.'
Gemma Rolston, operations manager for the Devon-based Puffins group of nurseries, says another way to avoid meetings being negative is to have a moans box. 'Staff can write down on a piece of paper the things that annoy them most and put it in the box anonymously. The moans are then written up on the staff noticeboard and everyone is invited to add their suggestions as to how the issue can be improved or resolved, so the matter does not have to turn up at the staff meeting.'
Jacintha Wake explains that when she is planning one of the six-weekly staff meetings, she writes down what she wants to get from the meeting, what she wants her staff to gain from it and what she wants them to bring to it. In this way she can ensure the meeting is focused and productive.
Even if she does have to raise a problem, she tries to do it in a positive way. 'I'll say this has not been a success, how can we improve it? I won't say it is a person's fault. We are a team and we have joint responsibility.
'Staff meetings give me the opportunity to highlight staff achievements. If someone has not really taken part in a topic, I might turn to them and say, "You are good at such and such, would you like to do something more specific on the next topic?"'
Gemma Rolston adds that staff, particularly the younger, less confident members, may try to avoid meetings because they feel uncomfortable or they think they are going to be told off. 'We try to make sure they do not have convenient excuses not to attend, because every time they do not go to a meeting their fear is only going to increase. When the agenda goes up the nursery officer includes an item that is to be the focal point of the meeting, for example meal times, and the staff will be asked to bring their ideas.'
Jane McKeown, manager of the Kids & Co Nursery in Darlington, says because her team includes full- time and part-time staff, it is important to ensure the communication system works well. She uses meetings to encourage team building, sometimes getting the staff to work through an issue at a meeting in their sections.
'When we are planning, say, the fun day, I'll ask them to work together in their sections to agree their activities. So everyone who works in the baby section will get together, the people working with the four-year-old section will get together and so on. For about 30 minutes they will discuss their ideas and plans.'
