Human Resources

Alignment, culture, performance best when built together

Company meetings can be some of the best time invested with your team to ensure alignment, build culture and improve performance.  Or they can be a complete waste of time, energy and money.  

The outcome is determined by how well you follow these best practices.

Let’s start with identifying the type of meetings that many home service companies may utilize.

Daily Standup: Check in first thing in the morning and discuss the plan for the day, plus any issues from the previous day.  This meeting is beneficial for most all departments to ensure alignment and proper communication.

Manager/Leadership Meeting: A weekly meeting to discuss key issues, KPIs, financials, and planning. This twenty-to-forty-five-minute meeting is also used to educate the leaders on leading their respective teams.

Department Meeting: Sales, Service, Install & Office teams should meet at least bi-weekly.  Technicians, sales and office staff are involved in choosing training topics. Topics are assigned for them to study and teach their peers.  Role playing is highly encouraged in these meetings.   Housekeeping items are also discussed.  It also is a best practice to invite people from other departments to attend to ensure cross company alignment.

Company-Wide Meeting: Often held on the first working day of each month, this meeting is a celebration and the company’s most important meeting. Praise and recognition are doled out in each key performance area by department leaders. The company's vision, mission, and core values are always reviewed. This time is also used for a fun team game or activity to reinforce a point.

Additional meeting best practices:

• Never have a meeting unless you can have the meeting before the meeting. John C. Maxwell, a top leadership thought leader, encourages this in his leadership training.  It’s proven highly effective in running meetings and rallying support for change. Before any major meeting or announcement that involves some sort of change management, meet with the influencers. Rallying the support of those with influence increases the odds of success.   

• ALWAYS have an agenda and do your best to stick to it.  If you don’t have an agenda with a goal for the meeting, don’t have it.

• Put away devices that may be a distraction.  No one in or out once the meeting starts.  

• Encourage participation and feedback from others. 

• Praise in public, criticize in private.

• Always have clear takeaways and action items.

• Respect people’s time. 

• Always close on a high note.

• Send a meeting recap to all participants.  

Sample Company Meeting Schedule

Sample Service Department Agenda

Sample Manager/Leadership Meeting Agenda for the month:

Week 1:

• Set the goals for the month

• • Install

  • Service

  • Maintenance

  • Memberships

  • Other Key KPIs or departments

• How are we going to meet them? 

• How are we trending for the quarter?

Week 2:

• Previous month’s average ticket

• • Average install invoice

  • Average service invoice

  • Average maintenance invoice

  • Totals for everything

• Team engagement and motivation

Week 3: 

• Costs control

• • Gross margins for each department

• Update on goals

Week 4:

• Summary of the month

• Pre-plan for the next month

Week 5:

• Open discussion on any issues

Best practices for training or meeting virtually

If there is one thing to remember about training virtually, it’s that you have to redefine your “normal meeting.” For example, the organic small talk that happens before a normal meeting or training is absent. People might feel shy about interrupting or asking questions. And, most obviously, it’s harder to hold people accountable to being present when they’re not actually in the room. 

Here are 7 things to think about as you start meeting and training remotely:

1. What are your rituals?

2. What are your rules?

3. What is the participation level you expect?

4. What responsibilities do participants have?

5. How will you keep people on track?

6. How will you check for understanding along the way?

7. How will you keep people engaged?

We’ve put together a guide that goes in-depth on each of these questions and provides sample activities to help make your meetings and training more impactful.