How did our all-hands end-of-week meetings begin?
These meetings were the last of the day to signal that the workweek was over. The founders would bring in beers, popcorn, and chips, and everyone would toast our successes and enjoy catching up. Afterward, we would often continue socializing in a nearby bar or head out for dinner.
How did our end-of-week meetings evolve?
The slides we present have come a long way! The speakers control their design, and we encourage teams to get creative and put their best foot forward. We also offer our presenters a trial run if they want to practice their talking points, and as the Community Team, we give feedback and guide teams on capturing and keeping everyone's attention.
Why do we continue to include everyone in our end-of-week meetings?
1. They prove we are a team.
2. We ask our newbies to introduce themselves!
3. They prove our employees are owners in the business.
4. It strengthens our culture.
For us, it's crucial that everyone leaves the office with a sense of fulfillment. At the end of the week, we take this time to celebrate our wins and, more crucially, the teams who make them happen. It gives the entire organization insight into how each department contributes to our goals and helps our employees feel secure about their role in our joint mission.
In our experience, the social aspect has proved every bit as important as the meeting itself. To this day, teams still go out and continue socializing after our in-house drinks. Chatting over a few beers has been a great way to build esteem and create a fantastic sense of camaraderie, which is vital for employee motivation.We moved to a hybrid model and allowed employees to decide when they want to work from the office. To make working smoother, we started streaming our end-of-week meetings online, so we could extend a virtual hug around team members who can't join us in person. We dedicated serious resources to this, hiring a filmmaker and using a dedicated streaming service to ensure a glitch-free experience for our viewers.We found that our end-of-week meetings were a big draw for people to come back into the office. On an average weekday, we would have around 30 colleagues in the office. On Fridays, this would almost triple, with 80 team members coming in for some in-person interaction.
How can I establish a weekly all-hands meeting?
10 tips for organizing a successful all-hands meeting
1. Designate someone to head up organizing your weekly all-hands meeting
2. Find a few colleagues who have a natural charisma to act as a host
3. Create slack channels dedicated to the all-hands meeting to make communication easier
4. Don't force anyone to present who doesn't want to
5. It's important to note that presenters don't need to be department heads
6. Set parameters for your content
7. Encourage as much participation as possible and create two-way communication and interaction opportunities
8. Our average all-hands meeting lasts around an hour
9. As your capacity increases, aim to keep things fresh and fun by trying new things regularly
10. Take time to follow up and evaluate the results
If you are setting up your organization's all-hands meeting and would like to reach out to share notes or advice, I would love to hear from you! Feel free to drop me an email at oriol@travelperk.com.