Spice Up Your Team Meetings

Team meetings serve a vital role in the health of any organization. We primarily think of them as action planning spaces, in which we exchange information and make decisions about how to proceed. But team meetings also provide opportunities to engage your staff by demonstrating their value to the organization, soliciting new ideas, and breaking up the monotony. Here are some ideas to take to your next staff meeting to spice things up.

Two smiling women facing a man having a conversation in an office setting.

Demonstrating Value

• Kudos icebreaker: Each person in the group names something they would like to give themself praise for and one thing they would like to praise someone else for. (This is a great way for your unsung heroes to receive appreciation.)

• Mission statement review: Read your organization's or team's mission statement together. Then, give everyone 2-5 minutes to write down how they see themselves fitting into that mission. After, have everyone pair off and share their reflections for another 5-10 minutes. (Follow up with your team members individually in one-on-ones.)

Soliciting New Ideas

• Tiered brainstorming: When brainstorming ideas or solutions, get your team involved. Set a timer for 2-5 minutes and have everyone write down their ideas on sticky notes. Then, as a team, go through all the notes and organize them by category. Once all the notes have been organized, work together to condense the notes into one or two main ideas for each category.

• Current events: Give one or two staff members a week to find something to bring to the next staff meeting that is relevant to your team's work. It can be a news article, competitor's annual report, book, podcast, or even a TV show. They will lead a discussion (5-10 minutes) about how that item relates to your work and what lessons they can learn from it. Cycle through team members until everyone has had a chance to share.

Breaking the Monotony

• Today I Learned: Select in advance one or two staff members to teach your team a new skill. It can be something relevant to your team's work, or something fun. For example, learning helpful phrases in a new language, basic lanyard weaving patterns, how to sketch, how to insert GIFs in Emails and messages, or a new web integration. Activities should be accessible to everyone on the team. Help your team members obtain any items they may need for their lesson.

• Improv: There are a plethora of improvisation (improv) activities that are perfect for inspiring collaboration while having fun. My favorite is Storytelling. The group tries to tell a cohesive story (you can give the group a theme to work with) one word at a time. The story ends with the words "the end." Not only is this a silly break from the norm of talking business, but it also emphasizes listening to each other and cooperating for a greater goal.

Has your team tried any of these activities? How did it go? I'd love to know!