Staff meetings are a fact of life for most financial advisors. That’s why it’s important to have meetings that are run efficiently and that align team members’ objectives to those of the organization in order to achieve common goals.

“Meetings must be relevant to the whole team,” says Mary Ann MacKenzie, vice president of strategic account management with Franklin Templeton Investments Corp. in Toronto. She says advisors, especially, “see value in meetings”; if they do not derive such value, they will perceive the “next meeting as a waste of their time.”

Marion Iliohan, director of consultant training and development with Winnipeg-based Investors Group Inc. in Toronto, suggests your team members must understand the vision of your organization, know their roles and responsibilities, and recognize their interdependence with other team members for meetings to be effective. Says Iliohan: “They must have clarity going into meetings.” This makes it easier for team members to work toward common goals.

In reality, staff meetings are “a medium to communicate” and facilitate an understanding of what team members are doing, says Joanne Ferguson, partner at Toronto-based Advisor Pathways. This enables effective participation and contributes positively to your organization’s activities. Meetings help to highlight information gaps and help to resolve issues that might otherwise be left unanswered because some team members might not be up to speed on all relevant issues.

Generally, Iliohan adds, staff meetings can have different purposes in three broad categories: operational, strategic business planning and team strategy.

The most common are weekly or biweekly operational meetings, which review ongoing matters such as business processes as well as client servicing, marketing and administrative issues. These meetings normally last for no more than an hour and are held at predetermined times and locations.

Strategic business planning is usually done monthly and focuses on updating and monitoring business plans and strategic initiatives.

Team strategy meetings are held semi-annually at an off-site location to prevent distractions. These meetings focus on strategic and tactical issues, such as business plan development, performance analysis, vision setting, your value proposition, team building and recognition, roles and responsibilities.

The purpose of the meeting will determine the appropriate format. However, here are some ground rules to follow in order to have efficient, productive staff meetings:

> Set formal start and end times, as well as a place, for regular meetings. This eliminates the need for reminders and ensures team members are always aware of the requirement to be present. Says MacKenzie: “Attendance at regular meetings should be mandatory.”

> Always have an agenda, which should be distributed at least a day before each operational meeting. For business strategy and team strategy meetings, the notice period should be a minimum of two weeks. The agenda should support the purpose of the meeting and must be tight and focused. You should ensure that participants have input into the agenda and inform them of any preparation that might be needed prior to the meeting.

> Assign a moderator to facilitate smooth flow of the discussion on topics and to stay on track with the agenda. Adequate time should be permitted to cover each topic. If necessary, the moderator should easily be able to adjust the agenda if the meeting gets behind schedule.

The trick, says Mackenzie, is to “keep the agenda as short as possible for regular meetings.” She cautions that “hot topics will always bubble up to the top,” but it is the role of the moderator to ensure the discussion does not “get into too much detail.”

> Appoint a note-taker to record decisions and to ensure that follow-up items are placed on the agenda for further discussion at subsequent meetings, if necessary.

“Action items should be revisited to ensure deliverables are met,” Iliohan says, adding that it’s important to recognize that agreement or consensus should be reached on action items. Accordingly, your review of action items should indicate what the action items are, who is responsible for each item and the actual timing of deliverables.

> Be respectful of time. You should always strive to end the meeting on time, as stated on the agenda.

> Ensure team members dedicate their full attention in your meetings. The use of cellphones and similar electronic devices should not be permitted.

IE