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Ready? Get set. Go!
 A beginning-of-the-year meeting serves as an opportunity to set the tone for the entire year. Bringing staff members together, regardless of the size of your organization, provides a way to share the “big picture” with all employees at once. The meeting can increase productivity, improve employee loyalty and provide a way to hear valuable feedback.
Make the Most of Everyone’s Time
Businesses with an “open door” policy take advantage of this annual kick-off meeting to include the following:
- Review the previous year’s activities. For example, provide attendees with an update on the progress of past objectives and openly talk about both successes and failures.
- Have a clear vision for the coming year. Employees need to understand where the company is headed.
- Highlight trends on the horizon. Make sure to include industry, competitive and marketplace tendencies that will impact the business in the coming year.
- Create an open forum for discussion. Provide an opportunity for staff to share feedback, opinions and ideas with company executives.
- Outline specific and measurable action items. Employees should gain insight into their individual roles and responsibilities. Take steps to ensure that supervisors understand these expectations and provide support to help them achieve their goals.
Focus on motivation
One of the main reasons of holding an “all hands” meeting early each year is to motivate employees. Use this opportunity to help employees feel part of the bigger picture by remaining:
- Honest. Your employees likely know a lot more than you think, and it is better that they hear the real story from management rather than the water cooler.
- Open. Take time to acknowledge and express appreciation as employee feedback is essential for employee loyalty, and may provide you with a new perspective.
- Thankful. For employees, feeling appreciated and important tends to produce stronger loyalty.
- Positive. Once all is said and done, the facilitator should express genuine excitement about the company’s future. This, in turn, will get employees excited and help boost their productivity.
Invest the time to plan a productive and motivating kick-off meeting for the New Year. Who knows, you may even end up with more good news to report next year because of it!
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