Hi,

Just wondering. How many of you guys have open meetings with staff? how often do you go for a conference? And what software do you use to make interaction with the staff a whole lot easier? Like what should be done should not etc...

There probably has already been a thread on this but I would like to ask and find out. Will be interesting to find different techiniques/software etc.

Matt

It depends on how many people/staff you have in your company. If you have 50 staff members, then an "open" meeting is likely very difficult.

Also, who is going to be answering the phones and support tickets during the meeting?

Generally, we have staff meetings that involve only the people who "need" to be involved. Why? Because people hate meetings.

My only advice is:

Bring donuts and beer.

Wether you have 5 employees or 50 employees, it is, IMHO, better that everyone be on the same page as to corporate goals and progress. However meetings can be a ROYAL WASTE OF EMPLOYEE TIME.

As a management consultant, I always encourage my clients to set a policy and corporate culture that encourages open communications between departments on an ongoing basis. This is far more effective than the weekly company meeting. People come in, listen, contribute, finish and go back to "Their World". You dont want that.

Have department level meetings mostly. Though a general meeting is a good idea at times but make sure to have an agenda and distribute it ahead of time so people don't think it will be a waste of time. Also, of course, make sure people are free to speak their minds.

. . . However meetings can be a ROYAL WASTE OF EMPLOYEE TIME.
Back in '96 when I ran a building company, we used to have Friday morning meetings in our Display (model) home. We'd meet there at 7:30am, and spend an hour or so going over things, all seated in the lounge room. It was also a nice time for some socialising too, as we'd have cups of tea/coffee and biscuits. It was nice. :)

It was me, my business partner, the office manager (secretary), the draftsman, the purchasing office, the onsite supervisor and 2 sales ladies. We'd discuss all aspects of the operation, from and each section got to see into the other sections etc. I looked forward to those weekly meetings, and they were beneficial, even though the company hit the wall shortly thereafter.

I do miss those days. It was fast paced and full on. The pressure was extreme. I was at my entrepreneurial peak back then. :erm:

I plan to have general meetings discusing the progress of employee's and any issues they would like to bring up, via Internet Chatroom (for right now ;)).

I personally, that its a great idea to have staff meetings! Its a good time for staff to meet each other, and get to know each other :).

Cheers,
-- Tim

A meeting of the entire staff hasn't been possible for us.. Mainly because we have staff working in 3 different shifts each day. And really, I have not found any need for that..

Instead, we send emails out to all the staff regarding policy changes or the sort.. If we need the opinion of the team, we talk to them during their hours. For example, we implemented a health insurance policy and we did engage our staff in that, but we didn't have one large round-table meeting.. as someone said.. that's a waste of time and not feasible for a 24x7 company

Instead, we have implemented managers for core departments in the company. We have 3 managers in the technical team (including myself) and have detailed discussions at least once a week from everything related to hardware purchase, to equipment/software issues to ip/network management....
Then we have a small meeting of 2 or 3 once in a while for sales/billing, to make sure things are on track and are moving forward nicely.. These sort of meetings are done over Chat.. not physically.

Once the managers get the general picture of how we want things to proceed, they convey it to the entire staff

We are a small company though, have a team of about 12 to 13 in technical... A few guys in sales/billing.

Thanks for the input guys. I was thinking of using some form of groupware to communicate. Is it worth it? phpgroupware or something similar.

Thanks for the advice we are a small growing company with about 7 in Tech and a few others :). I will put some of what I learn and see here into practice.

Good luck :)