We were all in this together. Since covid is almost bidding us goodbye, offices are getting resumed and starting to get hybrid. We’ve come a long way- from figuring out how to make virtual team meetings fun to acing every meeting.
However, there is a new puzzle to solve: hybrid team meetings. Working in a hybrid work environment is considerably superior to working remotely. This working style makes your workplace more flexible and dynamic, as well as more comfortable and enjoyable to work in. With its upgradation it lets employees and the employers a better perspective towards their work.
One thing is for sure: in-person meetings have a lot more infectious enthusiasm than zoom call remote meetings. There are, however, several ways to at least mimic the enthusiasm of in-person gatherings.
If you have team meetings on a regular basis, you must be in a dilemma about how to run effective team meetings in a hybrid work model. Well! You may try out different approaches to get more people involved and make the meetings more productive. Fortunately, this blog has explored a variety of ways for energizing your hybrid team and making meetings more exciting, along with stating the importance of fun meetings.
Purpose Of Team Meetings?
Meetings are vital for exchanging information, providing updates, addressing problems, assessing performance, making decisions, and planning initiatives in order to move your company ahead. They can also aid in the development of teamwork and inclusion.
Working in a team isn’t always simple as it seems, but when done correctly, it may help you move your business forward. With said that- meetings can also be a way for your employees to spend some informal time together. Plus, a place to express what’s on their minds.
So, what is the purpose of a team meeting? In a nutshell,
- Ensures a Secure Sharing Environment
- Provides a place for team members to express their fears.
- Creates bonds and supportive relationships by providing a space for receiving feedback.
- Allows for an open discussion to take place.
What is the importance of making meetings fun?
Before we get into the crux of the situation, let’s have a look at some of the stats.
- 86% of employees blame a lack of teamwork or inefficient communication for workplace failures.
- 75% of teams think that fun meetings and cooperation have helped them be more productive at work.
- 62% of employees globally said they would consider switching from a co-located firm to one that enables remote work.
- 56% of team members believe that everyone in their businesses can contribute and provide value.
From the statistics above, having a flexible working culture that encourages fun meetings is a win-win situation for all parties concerned. Employees benefit from the flexibility of hybrid working models, having a better work-life balance, higher morale, and less stress.
And as a matter of fact, there is nothing wrong with working solely or independently, but the situation would have been much different if we were in the office. We would be interacting with one another a lot more. Collaboration is crucial because listening to and comprehending other ideas, points of view and perspectives broadens our understanding and gives possibilities for learning.
Therefore, fun meetings that span teams and bring together people who may not work closely together are an impactful way to share ideas and information while also ensuring that work is worthwhile. Team-based work, such as the strategies outlined in this blog, leads to increased organizational efficiency and quality. As you use these best practices for more fun meetings, you will see your team thrive.
Top 05 Meeting Activities to Energize your Team
Kickstart with an icebreaker
No matter what icebreaker activity you choose, there is one thing you should give special attention to; organizing your icebreaker thoroughly. And to ace it, all you need to do is rehearse it with several willing employees before the real online meeting, and be very precise about how you will conduct it because it all depends on how you start your session. It sets the tone for the remainder of the event.
Ice breakers assist individuals in loosening up, allowing for more informal discussion and involvement. Here are some great 5-minute ice breaker questions for team meetings to try: Which marvel character is your favorite? If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would you want to be? Who was your celebrity crush when you were a teenager? Which team member do you find the most assertive? When did you ever feel you are now a grown-up? Short activities like this create amusing discussions among coworkers and help them discover mutual interests.
Dress up & have fun
What better way to start a meeting than with a few giggles and a wild costume? Go over the board with fancy sunglasses, marvel dress code, or turn into a zombie for a cultural reset. After all, the idea is to keep your employees full of positivity and look forward to meetings so they can participate in all of the enjoyable activities rather than staying formal in a boring meeting. You can also plan a few fun games for team meetings because employees working from the office will have a quick refreshment and will help clear their minds to work to their full potential.
So, what is the next theme for your effective team meeting? Well! The drill does not end here. There is a pro tip coming your way.
Pro Tip: How about a surprise video call when you randomly show up to a video chat dressed in costume? It’s better to do this drill on Mondays to make Mondays a bit more interesting.
Keep it not-so-formal
Gone are those days where you literally had to stay intact without cracking any jokes or saying what you truly wanted to say. To have effective meetings, young offices are shifting away from limiting bland conference rooms and toward fancy tables or cafes. So why not do the same for our hybrid team meetings. Well! We can’t bring cafes into our homes, but we can be liberal and upfront with our coworkers to increase productivity.
Being said that, There also has to be a clear line that employees should not cross in the name of Informal. After all, meetings are an integral part of every organization, and just because leniency is appreciated, employees should use considerable action in their activities.
Celebrate & relish team wins
Celebrating a win at work is one in a million ways to congratulate yourself and your coworkers on a job well done. You must emphasize your team’s successes and demonstrate to your coworkers how vital their contributions are to the company, no matter how small a win you and your team achieved.
This does not always imply individual praise because achieving goals frequently necessitates teamwork. Although, there is nothing wrong with appreciating a well-deserved employee with a heartfelt congratulation!
Make a list of the team’s victories, analyzing and stressing metrics. It also leads you to a perfect timing to discuss the upcoming milestones that you are working toward as a team.
Encourage shoutouts
I have saved the best for last. Recognize your team members for the exceptional work they have put over the previous week. Make their day by devoting a chunk of the meeting to individuals giving them shoutouts. This will cheer them up, lift their spirits, and, more importantly, inspire them to perform better in the future.
If you are a manager, you can talk about the win and how the team made their way and contributed to it. If you are not a manager, you can always ask for time to highlight the many ways in which different people contributed to a special project.
It is essential to make team members feel seen and heard (especially when working remotely) because they can not understand the magnitude of their effect and efforts. It is altogether another approach that will motivate team members to continue going overhead and beyond for their coworkers, creating greater communication, cooperation, and overall workplace connections.
EmpMonitor- A Better Way To Understand Your Employees
It is essential to be clear about the expectations you have with your team and be as outspoken as possible about the outcomes you want in team meetings. It can be a tough nut to crack especially for remote employees to conclude since there is no visual context. It is, for this reason, that it is vital to maintain track of your team performance.
EmpMonitor– A one-way solution to manage your employees with its seamless and robust features. It presents you with complete insight into the user screen of employees & also extensive monitoring options. Furthermore, it includes built-in features that allow companies to analyze high-performing staff and remunerate them appropriately if you wish to acknowledge them.
It includes all of the monitoring features you would require. EmpMonitor’s free edition is accessible for 15 days for up to five people without removing any premium features from your monitoring experience.
With EmpMonitor, you can get access to the following features.
Time management: Believe it or not, there are a lot of times that you waste your valuable time doing unnecessary team meetings. Therefore, track and remove any time wasted, as well as the presence and activities of your employees.
Robust Productivity Reports: With EmpMonitor, you get detailed reports on employee productivity metrics using a variety of filters and algorithms.
Real-time information: Keep track of the actions of your remote employees in real-time, and easily manage multiple levels of departments.
Attendance Management: With EmpMonitor, you can track the attendance of a whole department and receive automatic, ready-to-use reports for log hours and staff attendance every 30 days.
Employee Management: Easily manage many systems and users from a single centralized network monitoring dashboard.
Organizations should leverage employee monitoring tools not just to keep track of the employees but also to give employees a reward that they deserve for the hard work they have been putting in. It is simple for organizations to actively follow and assess the performance and activities performed by their remote employees using automatic screenshots and recording of every keystroke and activity.
So, what’s stopping you from using EmpMonitor? Try out its 15 days free trial right now!
Also read,
06 TIPS FOR CREATING A FEEDBACK CULTURE FOR REMOTE WORKERS
BUILD COLLABORATIVE SKILLS IN THE WORKPLACE WITH 08 VITAL STEPS
Make your next team meetings more fun.
It’s normal for you to run out of ideas for creative team meetings. After all, every day it’s the same group with the same session and frequently at the same time. So bring out a change in your team meetings with a lot of twists and turns mentioned in this blog.
So, what are you waiting for? Go get your costume and have some fun with your employees and make their day with a lot of giggles and laughter.
If there’s anything we’ve missed or if you have any queries, please let us know in the comments section below. I’d love to hear how you engage with your team during team meetings, as well as any advice you have for running the most effective team meetings possible!
