I’m gearing up for our next firm-wide quarterly meeting. It’s coming up next week and I’ve been talking with our managing attorney as we finalize the agenda. It occurred to me that you might be useful to you for me to share our agenda and the thinking behind it.
Here you go -
Q12 Survey – the first thing we do is pass out the Gallup Q12 survey. We take about 5 minutes to pass out the surveys, answer them and pass them back in.
Ice breaker – we conduct an activity that helps everyone get better connected. It usually takes between 45 minutes and an hour. This is, in my opinion, the core of the meeting and the primary reason for getting together. This segment is led by someone social and perky (always someone other than me since I’m neither social nor perky).
Lunch – we bring in a catered lunch buffet and spend about 45 minutes eating and chatting.
State of the Firm – I talk for about 15 minutes about the results we’ve achieved for the past quarter and for the year. I focus on our annual theme and our last quarterly project.
Core Values Awards – Our three teams, Legal, Administrative and Sales & Marketing, each present a core values award to someone on another team. They make the presentation and present a gift selected for the recipient. This usually takes about 15 minutes.
Discussion – We frequently use 30 to 60 minutes for discussion of an important issue. We sometimes use a talking stick and go round and round until we’ve exhausted the discussion.
Project Introduction – We spend 15 to 30 minutes introducing and explaining the new quarterly project and answering questions.
Breakout – Sometimes the project requires groups to breakout in to small groups to get organized for planning and execution. This usually takes about 30 minutes.
Party – We adjourn and have a party. Sometimes we do it at the office. Sometimes we head off to another location.
The meeting usually starts at 11 AM and wraps up by 3 PM. Generally we hold the meetings in Raleigh, but sometimes we go to Charlotte just to mix it up. The majority of our people are in Raleigh.
We’re shooting for a fun and engaging meeting that helps keep people aligned with our overall mission. We strive to communicate our objectives and get everyone rowing in the same direction. This agenda usually does the job for us.
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Lee Rosen has practiced family law for more than twenty years. With three offices, 