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People complain about company staff meetings that could have been an email. Leaders often fail to plan and execute an effective team meeting. Luckily, this is where a good team meeting agenda template comes into play.
Your team members may find meetings unproductive because you don’t have a clear team meeting agenda ahead for them. It can help you always stay on-topic and facilitate conversations so that everyone has a space to share things and hear other people’s perspectives. By clarifying the purpose of the discussion and providing a brief overview, you will save the time of your entire team and yours.
We will help you have more productive meetings by giving you six ready-to-use team meeting agenda templates. You can use these agenda templates for brainstorming, project check-in, kick-off, feedback, onboarding and decision-making meetings.
Why is a staff meeting agenda important?
A staff meeting agenda is an organized and scheduled list of topics and action items that you plan to discuss with your team during a meeting. A study from Reclaim.ai showed that employees spend 25.3% more time in meetings nowadays than before the pandemic. The rising cost of unproductive meetings has made having a staff meeting agenda more important now than ever.
A practical staff meeting agenda is a helpful guide that sets the time, attendees and topics that will be discussed during the meeting. Sharing the team meeting agenda with your staff allows them to prepare their points in advance. That can result in a more productive meeting and shorten its duration. Team meeting agendas sometimes give the time span of a discussion point so that people can plan ahead. They also outline who is leading each topic.
Tips for creating an effective staff meeting agenda
Getting started with your team meeting agenda template can be challenging, so we compiled a list of 6 actionable tips to help guide you through the process and craft a good sample agenda for a team meeting.
1. Don't develop your staff meeting agenda alone
It is best if you ask your team to contribute to creating the staff meeting agenda. Get them involved and ask them if there is a specific topic they want to discuss that is highly important. Also, ask them if they have any questions for the management so they can get an answer during the meeting.
Gathering ideas in advance helps you highlight the most important topics and create a relevant agenda. It is also a way to create a more inclusive environment so they can feel heard and seen. Many people are insecure about publicly suggesting their ideas, so they gather them privately.
2. Establish the objective of the meeting
Your team meeting agendas should communicate the purpose and objective of the meeting. Members should know if they will have a brainstorming session, a performance review, or an event that helps enhance teamwork. Be clear with what you seek to accomplish and discuss so your team can come prepared.
That is the first and most important information to share. If you are having a hard time guessing the objective of the meeting, this means that it would be better to write an email instead of gathering the whole team.
3. Assign someone to take notes
Assigning a notetaker helps you reflect on what was said during the meeting. Sometimes, a team meeting can last up to an hour. Remembering everything said in the session is impossible, but sometimes it's hard to recall even the most important points.
That's why you need someone to take accurate, real-time notes, so you won't let anything mentioned go in vain because no one remembered to follow up on actions. After the meeting, don't forget to send the notes to your team.
4. Organize agenda topics by priority
The first items on the staff meeting agenda receive the most attention. So, discussing the most important talking points at the beginning is best to ensure they are fully covered. Some agenda items are more urgent than others and must be taken care of as soon as possible.
Also, if you put the most important topics at the end of the staff meeting agenda, your team's concentration levels will not only be lower, but you also can run out of time. To prevent this, start your meeting with an intro and discuss the most critical items right after.
Managers usually list them as bullet points, but it's better to transform an agenda item into a question. This way, the conversation can be more direct and on point.
5. List relevant participants
Of course, you don't need to invite your whole team to a specific meeting but only a small group of people that have been involved with the team meeting agenda items you are going to discuss. Having too many people with positions not relevant to the topic will result in a less focused and successful meeting.
If a team member doesn't add anything to the meeting, inviting him over is just a waste of his time and a cost to your company's productivity. Having fewer people keeps participants focused on the discussion topics and allows them to contribute meaningfully.
6. Have a review at the end
You shouldn't forget to leave time for review at the end of the session. Let meeting participants provide feedback so even the less vocal ones about their opinion can have a chance to share theirs. Use this review as a reflection of what happened during the meeting.
Ask your team if the objectives were clear, if they know their next steps, if the meeting time was acceptable, etc. That ensures your next team meeting will be more productive or as much productive if the meeting went great.
Staff meeting agenda template
Now that you’ve learned how to create an effective team meeting agenda let’s look at six templates you can use for your business.
1. Brainstorm meeting agenda
A staff meeting for brainstorming is a great way to show your team that you value their opinions and input. Although brainstorming is a creative process, it still needs structure.
Questions that you can use on your staff meeting agenda template:
- What kind of tools and personnel are needed to finish a particular task?
- What steps do we need to take to achieve a specific goal?
- What kind of positive and negative thoughts and images does our company's brand evoke?
- How can we differ from other similar clients or products?
- What are the most common problems people face when purchasing our services?
- What would you change in our services so they might appeal to a larger audience or meet the needs of every potential customer?
- What is the best thing about working on this project?
2. Feedback meeting agenda template
Is it unnecessary to hold meetings to get feedback for your meetings? We think it's not necessary to hold meetings to get feedback. It is important to receive feedback and provide feedback. Comments on your meeting will help you create better ones.
As we said before, board meetings can become dull for many employees. Post-meeting feedback surveys can help you make them less stressful. You can even use feedback management tools to help you on this one.
Gather data from your meeting participants and understand where your team meetings can be improved and how to create an effective meeting agenda. Use these questions for your meeting agenda template for feedback meetings:
- Do you think this board meeting had strong objectives?
- Do you think the discussion topics were relevant?
- From 1 to 10, how productive do you think our team meetings are?
- Can you share why you feel that way?
- Do you feel comfortable sharing your opinions during team meetings?
- What can we do to arrange better meetings next time?
3. Onboarding and adaption meetings
Every new team member in your company needs to undergo an onboarding process, a series of events and training. During the onboarding process, the company's mission is viewed, guided tour of the workplace, direction on how to access information, contact information if they need more guidance, etc. You can also find tools that will help you with this process.
Onboarding is a crucial step in an employee's journey in your company. So, if this process is overlooked, there is a higher probability of dissatisfaction among new members. You can schedule an interview with the new employee to evaluate how effective the onboarding process was. Use these questions for your meeting agenda template for onboarding and adaption meetings:
- Was your role described well during your interview and is your current job accurate with its description?
- From 1 to 5, how satisfied are you with the training provided?
- Do you completely understand what products/services we offer?
- Is there anything we could have done to improve your onboarding process?
4. Kick-off meeting agenda
A kick-off meeting is the first session you have when launching a project. This meeting should have a well-structured agenda since it will explain to the team all the necessary steps they should take. Be sure to ask your team if everything you explained is clear.
A kick-off meeting template that you can use:
- Introduction of the manager and team members who will participate in this project
- Identify the most critical aspects of the soon-to-be-launched project
- Present the team goals and milestones you are trying to accomplish at the end of a project
- Talk about deadlines and how the team will understand the finished project
- Show how will you measure success
5. Project check-in meeting agenda
Project check-in meetings are used to track your team's progression. It is also a way to check if your team is facing a challenge that wasn't visible initially so that you can provide tips and tools.
Questions you can use on your team meeting agenda:
- Can you handle your current workload, or do we need to delegate parts of it to someone else?
- What is something you have accomplished since our last check-in?
- Can you meet the deadline, or do you need more time?
- Do you have enough resources to accomplish your tasks?
- Have you recently faced any challenges while working on your tasks?
- Do you have any specific questions about the project?
- Do you have any means to measure the success of your finished tasks?
6. Decision-making meeting agenda
A decision-making meeting is necessary when teams must agree on an important decision for the company. The participants must come prepared so they feel ready to make a decision. That's why sending them an agenda template is essential.
Agenda items that can be discussed on your meeting template:
- Present the choices and the decisions to be made
- Debate on the different available options
- Specify the decision that comes out of this meeting
- Discuss who is responsible for the next steps
- Ask if there is anything else to be added
Keep notes of your team meeting
Whatever team meeting form you hold, keep meeting notes so you can memorize the most important points. It will be a useful reference for future meetings you'll hold.
Since holding meetings regularly is important, you can set reminders for them. This will reduce the chances of getting carried away by future projects and daily errands.
The bottom line on the staff meeting agenda
We have arrived at the end of our article about six ready-to-use staff meeting agenda examples. We showed you why you should prepare an agenda before every meeting and how it can help you and your team. We then listed some example questions you can ask in six different types of meetings. They can inspire you to create your questions or take them as a ready-to-use template.
FAQ: How to Write a Team Meeting Agenda in 2024
How do you set an agenda for a team meeting?
To set an ideal agenda for your team, you should develop it together with other members. After you have gathered others' opinions, the next step is establishing the objective of the meeting and organizing agenda items by priority. Then, have a review and send the agenda to other members.
How do you structure a team meeting agenda?
A meeting agenda should contain all the topics discussed during the meeting. If you can, write topics as questions. Along with them, write the set time for each topic and the members who will speak or participate during the meeting.
How to write an agenda for a staff meeting?
To develop an effective staff meeting agenda, establish the key meeting objective. As a next step, assign someone in the meeting to take notes and keep track of things. Don’t forget to organize the agenda by priority topics. When writing an agenda, list relevant participants to grasp the meeting. Finally, never write an agenda for a staff meeting alone. Ask your team to contribute and double-check an agenda.
What do you talk about in staff meetings?
Depending on the type of meeting, you can discuss different topics. Within a brainstorming meeting, you establish a creative process and ask for a team’s input on any topics, take better work engagement as an example. In a kick-off meeting, you often discuss topics associated with introducing a person who will lead a project and explain to the team all the steps they will undergo within the project.
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