What Do Your Team Meetings Make Your Employees Feel?
We all know that feeling- the Sunday night feeling. As your weekend draws to a close and you are gearing up for the work week- what do you feel? Is your stomach twisted in a pit of anxiety, stress, and dread? Or do you feel excited and motivated at the prospect of going to work?
Bill Marklein said “Culture is how employees’ hearts and stomachs feel about Monday morning on Sunday night.”
That quote has always stuck with me.
I worked at one company where our weekly team meetings were on Monday mornings and I remember having that pit in my stomach every Sunday night as I thought about them.Why? My boss was always in a mood Monday mornings and brought that mood to our team meetings.
He constantly focused on the negative, rarely smiled, made snappy comments, and communicated with sarcastic looks and a frustrated demeanor. His attitude rubbed off on the team and set the tone for the week. We all left the meetings feeling more stressed, frustrated, unmotivated, and just downright grumpy. I always felt like I was starting the week in a hole of negativity and spending the rest of the week trying to climb my way out.
Even if your meetings aren’t run by a Grinch who woke up on the wrong side of the bed, boring and unproductive meetings can also have a negative effect on culture. When people feel like their time is being wasted, they become frustrated and disengaged.
So, how can you make your team meetings something employees don’t dread?
Here are a couple of suggestions.
Give your team a reason to enjoy being there.
Before jumping into numbers, problems, or lectures, take some time to celebrate wins, recognize hard-working employees, review progress and mix in some fun. I am not saying to ignore problems and pretend everything is all sunshine and roses. Every team has challenges that need to be addressed. But if the only things discussed in your meetings are what’s going wrong, you’re missing an opportunity to reinforce what’s going right.
People want to feel like their hard work is noticed and appreciated. A meeting doesn't have to be all business all the time. A little recognition and fun can go a long way toward creating a positive culture.
Make an environment where team members feel comfortable sharing honest thoughts and opinions.
Team meetings should be a place where employees can share honest thoughts and opinions, solve problems, and bounce ideas off one another.If new thoughts, ideas, and suggestions are constantly shut down or dismissed, your employees will clam up and eventually stop sharing.
I'm not saying you have to adopt every idea that is suggested. You won't—and you shouldn't. But you can create a culture where employees feel comfortable bringing their ideas to the table without worrying about being criticized, embarrassed, or immediately shut down.
You never know what great idea a team member might have if you give them the opportunity to share it. Maybe an employee has an idea that could improve the customer experience. Maybe they have noticed an inefficiency in the wash process. Maybe they have a simple solution to a problem that management hasn't noticed.
If you constantly shut down discussion because of negativity, defensiveness, or ego, you're missing out on the thoughts, ideas, and suggestions that could seriously improve your car wash.
Your meetings are a chance to shape your culture every week and they can either add to that Sunday-night pit in your employee’s stomachs, or they can give them something to look forward to.
Ask yourself: What do our team meetings make our employees feel?
Because if you want your employees to feel excited, motivated and proud to be a part of your car wash, it starts with the culture you create and your team meetings are a great place to start. Your employees should leave meetings feeling better- not worse- about the week ahead.
