No one wants to attend a meeting that could have been summed up in an email.
As a team leader, you must host meetings that cultivate the team’s culture, communicate important information, and motivate everyone in attendance.
Here’s how to host monthly meetings your team will actually look forward to:
Get Organized
Planning is essential for delivering meetings that matter. And it starts with securing dates.
At the end of each year, we send out all the dates for team meetings for the upcoming year. This way, every team member (including myself) can plug team meeting dates into our calendars.
Once everyone has the dates, it’s time to organize the actual meeting. Simplicity is key here. Every month, structure your meetings around the same format, allowing you to plan and duplicate every month, and giving your team an understanding of what to expect.
Then, before meeting day, send a one-page agenda to the entire team 24 hours in advance. Don’t add specific details; simply lay out the main points you will cover in the meeting. And be sure to use the agenda during your meeting! As team leader, you should have your agenda in front of you to keep you on track and take notes.
You also need to create an expectation for how long your meetings will run, and start and end on time, every month. No one likes to have their time wasted. Set the tone that meetings are laptop free and (as much as possible in the real estate world) phone free.
Start Every Meeting the Same
Begin every meeting by speaking to the core of your team. Briefly review your mission statement and core values. These values are what your team culture is built around—so it’s essential to speak about them every time the team gathers.
From there, we head into ‘Values Highlights.’ Two members of the team each highlight one colleague who has showcased the core values over the past month. The new ‘winners’ are assigned the task of choosing another team member for the next. The ‘Values Highlights’ is one of my favorite parts of the team meeting. It is a great way to acknowledge members of the team and get an insight into what is happening when you aren’t around.
Year to Date Numbers
The next step is to review the team’s year-to-date numbers and the end-of-year goal. Discuss whether the team is on track to meet goals. If not on track, determine what needs to be done to course correct.
Top Achievements
Next, recognize agents for the work they are doing. We give gift cards to top achievers in six categories:
- Most Under Contract
- Most Closings
- Highest Under Contract Sale
- Highest Sale Closed
- Most Team Generated Deals Under Contract
- Most Recruiting Appointments
After each meeting, all the scores are wiped clean, and we start tracking deals for next month’s meeting.
Around the Horn Housekeeping
This is rapid-fire, with a two-minute update from each team leader. Each leader shares something vital for their team sector over the next 30 days.
Visionary Changes
Finally, pick two to three visionary or exciting changes coming in the future. This will be the meat and potatoes of your meeting. Keep it to three so you don’t overwhelm or lose the attention of people in attendance.
Sometimes you do need to add in an important, but not-so-exciting change, such as an update to the MLS. But for the most part, be sure to bring excitement and motivation by sharing visions for the expansion of the team or resources to generate each team member’s personal wealth.
End your meeting on a positive note, with a quick reminder of the next month’s meeting date.
Once you’ve repeated this structure a few times, planning will become easier, and everyone on the team will know what to expect.
