How to Conduct Successful Staff Meetings

In order to establish a positive team culture within your aesthetic practice, employee engagement is key. Improving employee engagement is proven to enhance productivity, efficiency, accountability, morale, and retention.

Engaged employees are more likely to be self-motivated; have a clear understanding of their roles; recognize the significance of their contribution; have better job satisfaction; and according to the Corporate Leadership Council, are 87% less likely to leave their jobs. 

While there are many ways to create an engaged team, regular, routine staff meetings are critical to the foundation of your aesthetic practice.

Why Staff Meetings Are Essential

The objective of staff meetings is to build interpersonal relationships. They help promote teamwork, and collaboration, and can also reduce the potential for miscommunication and misunderstandings. Holding regular, routine staff meetings can help ensure that everyone is in the know and updated on critical business issues.

Checklist for Conducting Effective Staff Meetings 

Here are some tips to make your staff meetings effective:

• The entire team must attend, no excuses.
• Start your staff meeting in a positive way - recognize the team or a team member for exceptional performance, share a positive review or testimonial, congratulate a team member on completing a certain project or training certification, etc.
• They must be held consistently on the same date every month (ex. The last Monday of the month). Some practices choose to have them bi-weekly or weekly.
• Create an agenda to keep the meeting structured, and send the agenda out prior to the meeting. Send out a reminder at least a week prior to the meeting, and an additional reminder the day before.  Post a notice in the employee breakroom or a central location.
• Assign someone to take minutes.
• Have a sign-in sheet. 
• Have relevant handouts copied and ready to go.
• Keep a binder or notebook with all meeting notes in it for reference.
• Use an icebreaker (motivating quote, sharing a win, or asking a question to get the meeting off to a positive start).
• Introduce new team members.
• Establish ground rules or meeting etiquette (respect meeting start and end times; show respect for colleagues, come prepared with completed action items, no phones, stay solution-focused, etc).
• Allow for open discussion, new ideas, and collaboration with your team at the end (Remember, this is a meeting with your team, not a speech at them).

What NOT to do at a Staff Meeting: 

• Don’t address specific issues with an employee during a staff meeting or single any one team member out unless it is to give kudos or recognition
• Don’t make disparaging remarks or veto ideas – get curious and ask them how they envision their idea working 

Sample Staff Meeting Agenda

The following is a sample staff meeting agenda that you can take and personalize to your practice:

Staff Meeting Agenda (Weekly/Monthly)

Purpose of the Staff Meeting - to discuss accomplishments, review any ongoing projects or introduce new projects, encourage team commitment to support each other, create awareness and company alignment. 

Previous Meeting Review

Review the following topics from the previous meeting:

1. Any action items completed
2. Any action items still in progress
3. Any follow-up items that need adjusting

Performance

Take time to recognize accomplishments or successes exhibited by team members.

1. Recognize team members who consistently meet or exceed their daily goals
2. Acknowledge team members who exhibited exceptional customer service, achieving excellent patient satisfaction
3. Recognize team members who may have received a testimonial or review, mentioning their name

Projects

Discuss ongoing projects with status updates and/ or any changes, and introduce new or upcoming projects. 

1. Project [NAME] that started on [DATE] has been completed and share the results - recognize team members involved. 
2. Project [NAME] that started on [DATE] is ongoing, share results thus far, share ongoing action items, next steps, and updates on deadlines - remind involved team members of what’s expected.
3. Project [NAME] is a new project that we plan to start on [DATE], share the purpose, expected results, and deadlines - assign team members expected involvement. 

Industry News

Review any industry-relevant news, updates, press releases, etc. 

1. Is there any local news or updates worth sharing? (i.e.: updates to laws or regulations that may affect practice, new competitor opened, competitor is now offering xyz, there’s a new business opening nearby that may be a good partner, etc.)
2. Is there any industry-relevant news worth sharing? (i.e.: updates on procedures offered, procedures receiving FDA approval, vendors launching large new media campaigns, procedures or products that may no longer be available, etc.)

Events

Review any past or upcoming events, share updates, progress, etc. 

1. Event [NAME] held on [DATE] was completed, share the results - recognize team members involved. 
2. Event [NAME] planned for [DATE] is coming up, share results thus far, share ongoing action items, next steps, and updates on deadlines - remind involved team members of what’s expected.
3. Event [NAME] is a new event that we plan to hold on [DATE], share the purpose and expected results, and deadlines - assign team members expected involvement. 

Process Updates

Are there any updates to SOPs, employee handbook, team compacts, lead management, the consultation process, the follow-up process, etc. 

1. New or updates to policies
2. New or updated Standard Operating Procedures  (SOPs)
3. New or updates to processes

Patient Feedback

Has there been any patient feedback that should be shared with the team, good or bad? 

Team Training 

Review any past or upcoming training, share updates, progress, etc. 

1. Training [NAME] held on [DATE] was completed, share the results - recognize team members involved. 
2. Training [NAME] started on [DATE] is ongoing, share results thus far, share ongoing action items, next steps, and updates on deadlines - remind involved team members of what’s expected.
3. Training [NAME] is a new training that we plan to start/ hold on [DATE], share the purpose and expected results, and deadlines - assign team members expected involvement. 

Financial Overview with Goals

Review current business financial overview, progress made since last meeting, projections (forecast) for upcoming time frame, adjustments to team goals, etc. 

1. The current state of affairs for the business financials (high level, perhaps in percentages compared to benchmarks)
2. Past, ongoing, or upcoming initiatives to improve financial performance
3. Adjustments to individual or team goals

Next Staff Meeting Topics

Potential next agenda items for the next meeting, with expected time frame and/or date (next week, next month).

We hope you found this helpful. If you have any questions about how to optimize your operations or want to learn more about our comprehensive training, book a discovery call today. We are always happy to help.