Stand-up meetings can be effective if done correctly. Get the most out of them with these effective stand-up meeting tips.
What is a Stand-Up Meeting?
Stand-up meetings are typically daily meetings meant for brief status updates. This type of meeting is conducted so that employees can share status updates on their work to their department without taking too much time. Attendees stand to ensure that the meeting remains short rather than a lengthy discussion. Often 15 minutes or less, stand-up meetings identify challenges and encourage a follow up discussion to resolve them.
Consider the appropriate frequency for meeting
Some teams meet once a day while others meet once a week. Schedule meetings with availability, workload, and deliverables in mind. To better get a sense of what would be an appropriate cadence, seek input from the team.
Set up a recurring time
Scheduling the meeting at the same time every time makes it so that your team can plan around it and make themselves available. Many teams prefer to have their stand-up meeting first thing in the morning but it’s better to request feedback from the team first.
Give all team members a good opportunity to participate
There may be days when members are working from home or travelling. To ensure that your distributed team members don’t feel left out, give them the option to join via telephone or video call. If you have difficulty doing this, you can try hosting meetings online through a digital platform like @work.
Designate a leader
All attendees should be able to easily identify who the leader of the group is. Rotating leadership can be great for exchanging different perspectives and increasing engagement. The topic of structing the group’s leadership can be openly discussed in a stand-up meeting itself.
Keep it brief
As mentioned, stand-up meetings are typically no longer than 15 minutes, with each member speaking no longer than one minute. To help stick to the time, you can even set a timer to make sure no one goes over their time limit.
Clearly define the goals
It’s important that the stand-up meeting has a structure even though the nature can be quite informal. Three pieces of information should be discussed every time: what they’ve completed since last meeting, what they plan to complete before the next one, and the obstacles they’re facing in the process.
Stay on topic
The meeting leader is responsible for keeping the team on track during the stand-up meeting. At any team the team veers off, the leader can write unrelated topics on a white board for later discussion. They can also post the topics on an @work channel so individuals can discuss them throughout the day.
Designate a note-taker
Having someone tasked to take notes during the stand-up meeting helps bring the team members unable to attend up to speed. This should be someone besides the leader so the leader can focus on running the meeting smoothly.
Give team members an option to stand
To help further inclusivity, give those with physical challenges the objection to stand. The meeting will still last a brief 15 minutes or less as long as the majority of the team is standing.
Apply these effective stand-up meeting tips at your next meeting!
Short, focused meetings like stand-up meetings foster a collaborative and productive environment. Atwork’s collaborative workspace provides teams the right place to host a meeting of any type. The purpose-built app supports webinars, voice calls, and video conferencing to fit your needs. Atwork is the solution for boosting productivity, inspiration, and creativity.
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