Yes, you’ve read the title right. Remove the notion that a meeting must be in-person or face-to-face or even sharing ideas at the same time. That’s right. Think about it differently. Here at RainKraft, we actually love our meetings. As a small yet distributed and growing team, it is safe to say that we’ve figured out how not to waste time with the single greatest time-consuming endeavour invented by mankind.
Here, we list out the top seven reasons why we love to e-meet, get together, have con-calls and just find a way to collaborate. Having seen how the other half lives, with packed Outlook calendars and back-to-conference calls, we now know that there’s a lot to learn from small teams too.
We work on the big picture. Even though every single team member at RainKraft works remotely, all of us see where we’re going with each endeavour. The context is set when the project kicks off. The aim is to garner opinions and ideas from every member of the team because we know that they have immense value to add. Throwing open the floor brings out skills and strengths we sometimes didn’t know existed. A brief stint in retail adds to the fashion client’s project. A parallel engagement mentoring business school students adds to the writing for a management firm. Value comes to light in many ways.
We know exactly what we’re doing. At any given point in time, every member of the team knows what they are and will be working on. This gives people a chance to come prepared with questions and allows us to focus the discussions on a few issues at a time. A lot of this is thanks to Trello. You can look at the myriad online collaboration tools available to make this possible. A tool should replace and not add to your engagement channels. For us Trello replaces email, Whatsapp and calls.
We love talking to each other. Our meetings aren’t done in boardrooms over endless cups of tea. We meet wherever we can, discovering new cafes, and we discuss business and our role in it over good food and a stunning view.
We plan everything. The team here has a bit of an OCD about planning stuff out (hello Trello!) We love our deadlines (or should we say timelines?), and we’re proud of being able to stick to them. The same goes for meetings too- we always begin with the end in mind.
We give people space. Our team is very particular about not doing meetings on the weekends, or on holidays. We do our best to accommodate each other, and the same goes for meetings too. We give priority to the client and understand that sometimes, we may need to push things around to accommodate them, and each other. Feel free to take a day or days off. Just let everyone know and get the work reallocated in time.
Our meetings are about sharing and learning. Our team members work on other training, teaching, writing, advertising, marketing and technology projects on the side. When we get together, we share stories and learn from all these areas of work.
We keep it short. The longest con-call we have ever had lasted no more than fifteen minutes, as we were setting goals for the rest of 2018 way back in January. Once we discuss and delegate, we understand that there is no constant need to micromanage.
To be sure, we’re no masters of meetings, but we think that if we can make work happen and do it as a team with no lapses in communication, we’re doing something right.
In the corporate scenario, meetings are inevitable. That’s not all, though. All meetings can be made worthwhile by not straying from the agenda, gathering all possible information beforehand and ensuring that every attendee comes prepared, and with an open mind.
Follow us on LinkedIn as we celebrate the #monthofmeetings (yes, really!) and visit our blog for updates on interesting topics.
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Tip 1: DON’T call too many people. If you feel like the list of attendees is growing steadily, ask yourself: a. Why is this person relevant to this meeting? b. Will the discussion be stalled by their absence? c. Can I send this person an update after the meeting instead? d. What are three core areas this person can address in the meeting? So, whom are you calling to that Monday morning review meeting? #meetingmadness #meetingmeeting #rainkraftblogs