The meeting room was quiet as the owners and the next generation entered. The meeting was supposed to start about fifteen minutes ago, but folks were slow coming in. Everyone was thinking about something else, but one of the owners had called a meeting, so they all came.
This scenario plays out in family businesses every day. Entrepreneurs working in the business don’t have time to waste. It’s sometimes hard to see the ROI of meeting with people you see and work beside daily.
Why we don’t like meetings
- We discuss things that aren’t truly important.
- People forget what was agreed on at the last meeting, so we rehash the same things more than once.
- We talked at the last meeting, but no decision was made.
- We never have enough time, and the meetings go on for hours.
- We discuss the easy stuff because the hard topics are hard. So, we put them off.
In over 13 years of working with farming operations and corporate businesses, what owners and managers talk about has a profound impact on their business. There is a direct correlation between solid meetings and ROI. Great family farms that have great meetings also have less conflict.
What does a great meeting look like?
Navy Seals has a saying, “Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.” Following are tips on how we apply this in agriculture.
- Same Day, Same Time, and Same Faces: They are at the same time and on the same day of the week, every week. They have a start and end time. This means there is little wasted time scheduling or waiting for people to show up. The meetings last no more than one hour and, during busy times, less.
- Agenda: There is a standard agenda with estimated start and stop times for each agenda item. This prevents the discussion from wandering off-topic and keeps everyone focused. Everyone is encouraged to put items on the agenda so one person doesn’t dominate the meeting.
- Organizer: A person is designated as the organizer who opens the meeting, ensures that everyone participates and that the meeting closes on time. They also take notes and keep them in a location (digital is preferred) so everyone can access them later.
- Accountability and Delegation: Only big decision-making and problem-solving will happen at the meeting, and the ROT will go up.
Great meetings take a while to perfect, and perfection doesn’t happen overnight. There will be fits and starts as you tweak the process to find something that works for your operation. But you’ll know you have arrived when the harvest is in full swing, and no one bats an eye at having short weekly meetings because everyone is getting a high ROT.
