Teamwork is the essence of any organization because no business venture can exist in isolation. An organization is a joint venture with every member contributing to their fullest potential.
Wherever teamwork comes into play, team meetings are part and parcel of its outcome. The only way to gather all members on the same page, create unity, exchange ideas, and get feedback is to conduct frequent team meetings.
Unfortunately, for some organizations, not all team meetings are up to par and don’t yield actual benefits. In fact, team members dread attending such meetings. A well-organized and purposeful meeting, however, can reap significant advantages, not only for the organization but also for each member.
Most team meetings are held with information exchange, problem-solving, brainstorming, and decision-making in mind. Well-conducted team meetings can help achieve these benefits and more.
How important are regular team meetings for your organization? Let’s find out.
1. They foster stronger relationships
How can individuals that don’t have any cooperation and interpersonal understanding perform well as a team? It’s not possible. Why? Because strong relationships form the foundation of any workspace, and team meetings are the perfect place to strengthen these ties of kinship.
When team members understand one another and relate well, they can promote a free-flowing exchange of views and reach joint decisions well.
Unfortunately, smaller companies do not have enough office space to conduct company-wide team meetings, and smaller-scale meetings don’t yield similar results. But, there is always a solution.
Service providers like The Executive Centre allow you to rent event spaces where you can conduct company-wide meetings on a large scale, in halls with professional equipment and an appealing interior aesthetic.
2. They encourage successful communication
Communication over emails or text messages cannot have the same impact as one-on-one, face-to-face interaction. A study done in the 1960s revealed that only 7% of the information communicated with another person is done via verbal exchange. The rest is done through non-verbal channels like body language and gestures, which emails and text messages fail to capture.
On the other hand, team meetings allow for effective, all-round communication that covers both verbal and non-verbal channels. Emails might successfully communicate the core message, but much is left out in the process.
In both virtual face-to-face and in-person meetings, people are better able to communicate openly. While emails and text messages are indispensable because of their convenience, they shouldn’t be the only means of communication in an organization. Regular team meetings are critical in all aspects.
Nowadays almost all businesses use different tools such as an AI meeting assistant to hold virtual meetings, this tool helps employees be attentive and work faster at the same time.
3. They facilitate decision-making and problem solving
Teams that make decisions and practice common problem-solving tactics reach the most effective solutions. Collective decisions are effective because you get to brainstorm ideas and combine wisdom to get the best possible solution. It also brings in a range of information that not every member might know.
While it might be true that sometimes team decision-making can result in conflicts and contradictions, the benefits surely outweigh the drawbacks. To avoid conflict and ensure the discussion goes smoothly, team leaders must learn to intervene and reach the final decision if necessary.
4. They boost productivity
Team meetings boost team productivity by encouraging each member to perform to their fullest while ensuring everyone is on the same page.
Team meetings are effective because they allow members to provide safe feedback and receive acknowledgment for their work. Research shows that 67% of the employees who received positive feedback became more involved in their work.
Secondly, meetings are known to keep everyone on the same track and divide up work so that individual members don’t suffer burnout.
5. They encourage inclusion
It is one thing to receive orders and instructions over text messages and emails. It is an entirely different experience interacting with every member one-on-one. The need for such personal interaction became evident during the COVID-19 pandemic when employees working from home reported feelings of isolation and loneliness. In fact, a study revealed that 19% of workers felt disconnected and lonely when working from home.
Employees can experience such loneliness and exclusion even when working from their offices. Team meetings provide a reasonable solution to this dilemma; they make each employee feel included, allow for rapport building, and promote a culture of support and friendliness.
6. They enable team alignment
One of the essential components of regular meetings in big organizations is an alignment meeting. In all organizations, active collaboration between individual members is necessary, and everyone must work towards the same goal to ensure success.
Similar to planning sessions, alignment meetings outline goals and ensure everyone understands what needs to be done and why.
These meetings are typically held at the start of a new project and include allocating roles and responsibilities. When everyone understands the goal, it allows for better and effective communication and understanding.
Successful team alignment meetings consider everyone’s opinion, follow a specific structure and schedule, and outline a clear purpose.
7. They promote employee engagement
Authoritarian leadership with little involvement of employees cannot yield results as good as those that inclusive work environments can. Research reveals that highly engaged employees give better outcomes than uninvolved employees.
Such employees also are better motivated to continue working with the organization and are less likely to experience burnout.
Every employee should feel that their membership in an organization is essential and that they contribute to the overall outcome. Employees feel that their participation is valued when consulted for their opinion and input on matters that concern the organization. To encourage such involvement, team meetings are crucial.
8. They promote team unity
On the one hand, employees must have the opportunity to develop rapport with higher authority figures. On the other, it is equally essential that the team members feel a bond of unity and understanding. A culture of togetherness promotes better teamwork and encourages loyalty.
Employees will inevitably have to work together on projects, so why not do it in a good spirit of unity? Team meetings allow employees to get together every once in a while and develop personal ties.
Such team unity boosts morale, prevents employees from resigning, and encourages creative development. This will also reduce conflicts, which are often part and parcel of teamwork, and promote healthier collaboration.
In all, such team unity will positively influence the productivity of the organization as a whole.
9. They help managers pinpoint blind spots
Wherever individual decision-making is in process, biases are inevitable. Managers who make decisions independently and don’t consider outside opinions often experience disobedience. To make effective decisions, one must be able to look at their blind spots and avoid such personal biases. Team meetings help you do just this.
Research has shown that 95% of people believe themselves to be self-aware, while no more than 10 to 15% are. You might fail to look at things from one particular angle, and your team members can help you identify and overcome this blind spot.
Final words
From this discussion, it is pretty apparent now that team meetings are an indispensable part of an organization. Regular meetings are necessary to build strong interpersonal relationships, improve decision-making, increase productivity, encourage inclusion, promote team alignment, boost unity, and more.
