Mastering the 15 Minute Stand-Up Meeting

Ready to get your team excited about meetings again? Try out the 15 minute stand-up meeting and use our specific tips to make it a success!

Meetings — You either love them or you hate them. And long meetings... no one likes those.

The good news is that we have an idea for a meeting that will be fast, productive and informational.

We've taken all that we've seen about how to make meetings work well and put it into practice with these tips for the 15 minute, stand-up meeting.

So, here's what you need to know.

What is a 15 minute stand-up meeting?

Here's what the focus of your stand-up meeting will be:

Educational opportunity to improve your team
Time to review TEAM performance and correct where necessary
A chance to celebrate successes and highlight team members’ contributions
Time to identify barriers and find solutions

Remember — you only have 15 minutes, so you must focus on getting to the core of projects, issues and successes. This meeting setup will help keep you on track, as opposed to you pushing an agenda on anyone.

What are they not?

Keep in mind that the 15 minute stand-up meeting is not the following:

A status meeting about EVERY SINGLE WORK ORDER
A “whine tasting” – keep it constructive
Time to name and shame
Micro-management session – let the team come up with solutions

Again, this meeting can help you focus your time on positivity and productivity.

How often should you have a stand-up meeting?

This will vary by department and your unique needs, but the standard is twice a week (suggested for Monday and Thursday). Put a 15 minute time slot on your team's calendar to recur every few weeks so you can prioritize the meeting moving forward.

Keep in mind that large departments may split stand-ups between teams, if necessary. For example, maybe you need a specific stand-up for the refurb team or the reactive maintenance team, or maybe you can divide meetings by certain shifts. Make sure it's efficient for your team members however you slice it.

How do you format the meeting?

Stick to the following subjects and you'll find that your meetings are short yet information-packed.

1. TOPIC OF THE WEEK/MONTH

An organization created or department created topic
Introduce the topic and talk for a few minutes about the team's goals around it
This is a training opportunity for the team

Examples of this could be Safety, Resident Satisfaction, Proper Work Processes, Personal Improvement, and Campus Improvement. Ask for examples on how the team can incorporate the learning into their daily routines.

2. REVIEW PERFORMANCE

Take a look back at the team's performance and discuss the highs and lows, including:

Standard KPIs (key performance indicators)
Completion rates
Overdue work orders
Workload
Response time
Review metrics that focus on the weekly topic

3. SUCCESS STORIES

Don't forget to share the good parts of the week and highlight your team's work at this all-hands meeting.

Ask the team to share any stories that they had themselves or saw other team members accomplish
Highlight any stories that are department successes
Make sure over the course of the month that everyone is celebrated
By looking for success people will see success

4. BARRIERS TO SUCCESS

Make this meeting a safe space to share challenges that need attention.

Ask team to highlight issues that need intervention
Ask what the team member needs to succeed rather than telling them what you will do
Look at key overdue work orders and determine what the delay is and how the issue can be solved
Use your mobile devices to quickly move work orders between staff as needed

5. RECAP AND NEXT STEPS

Wrap everything up by ensuring everyone understands the high points of the meeting.

Summarize the success
Make sure that all problems have an owner
Ask if there are any last questions or issues that need to be resolved

Tips for managing the meeting

The manager's role is as facilitator not as tyrant, and it's important to make sure that all voices are heard. Make this meeting productive for all parties by creating an environment that encourages dialogue and new ideas.

Some additional tips to help things go smoothly:

Overcome unwillingness or discomfort in a one-on-one meeting, not in front of the team
Shut down any negative comments about the meetings' content or about each other
Deal with individual performance issues one on one

Now go and schedule your 15 minute stand-up meeting or encourage your team leader to do so. It's a simple way to open the lines of communication within your team on a regular basis.