What’s Your Type? Common Team Meetings

The first step in planning and conducting a good team meeting is to decide what type of meeting needs to occur. The type of meeting you have depends upon the objective of the meeting. Begin with the end in mind.

You might ask, “Why is it important to know what type of meeting to have?” The type of meeting impacts:

- Who should participate
- Agenda
- Location
- Meeting process
- Meeting planning
- Meeting conduct

And the expected outcome of the meeting will influence what type of meeting you plan.

Types of Meetings.
There are at least five different types of meetings, each with a somewhat different structure and purpose. Knowing what type of meeting you need to have will improve meeting efficiency.

Briefing – An information dissemination meeting. Communication is mostly one-way, with the meeting leader providing information and answering questions from team members.

Decision – An action meeting. Team members should be prepared to make and commit to the decision in question. The decision in question should be established and announced in advance. There should be enough lead time for team members to be fully briefed prior to the meeting so they can prepare to make the decision.

Status – Common in projects. Team members report status on deliverables. Anyone interested in the project should be able to attend and be assured they will come away with information they need. Issues and technical detail discussions should be off limits for these meetings.

Working Session – A team problem solving meeting. This type of meeting should have a limited number of topics. Each topic process starts with a briefing on the topic, then moves to status, identifying alternatives, and evaluating alternatives. Recommendations (which then become the input for a decision meeting) are the product of this type meeting.

Team Building – Geared toward activities which help a group become a team such as team chartering and team health issues.

Denise O’Berry (aka ‘Team Doc’) provides tools, tips and advice to help organizations build better teams. Find out more at http://www.teambuildingtips.com

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