4 Essential Team Meetings Every Communications Leader Should Have
Have you ever been in a meeting thinking, “This could have been an email?” Well, you’re not the only one. Meetings consume a lot of time for communications teams, but more meetings don’t necessarily mean better communications.
Planning the meeting, compiling project updates, creating leadership briefings, fielding last-minute requests, and of course meeting about the previous meeting. These are take up a big chunk of the comms team's day, so well-planned, structured meetings mean the difference between confusion and clarity and can help your team to understand priorities, work through challenges, make decisions, and feel supported; this can free up time for your team to get their work done.
These are the meetings I believe every communications leader should make time for:
The Weekly Priorities Meeting
Ideally, this meeting should take 20–30 minutes and focus on alignment, not reporting every detail of what everyone is doing. Encourage brevity in this meeting, not one where everyone reviews their to-do lists, but rather focusing on what matters, where people need support, or if there are any new occurrences that require attention. This will help you to give guidance and make clear what needs reprioritizing. This meeting should leave everyone knowing what requires their attention, and what can wait. This is the agenda I suggest:
Review the week's top three priorities.
Identify upcoming campaigns, deadlines, and deliverables.
Discuss competing requests and shifting priorities.
Highlight obstacles or decisions that require immediate attention.
Confirm responsibilities and next steps.
Pro Tip: Focus on priorities, not progress reports or to-do lists.
The Project and Creative Review
Schedule this meeting weekly or biweekly based on the work involved in each project and all its moving parts. The duration of this meeting should be 45-50 minutes to review campaigns, publications, websites, events, creative assets, and content that often require input from multiple people. Avoid turning this meeting into a group design exercise. Invite team feedback from those whose input is actually needed, and share materials beforehand for review, so that people arrive ready to make decisions. This meeting is to ensure that all of our projects are on track and in good flow. A productive meeting is one where the team leaves with clarity, timely decisions are made, and the team's creative freedom and time are saved. The proposed agenda for this meeting is:
Major projects and milestones.
Creative concepts, messaging, audience needs.
Outstanding feedback/approvals.
Production challenges/delays.
Decisions made/agreed upon, owners, and deadlines.
Pro Tip: Prioritize strategic feedback over personal preferences to keep projects moving.
The Individual Check-In
This is a weekly meeting that is about 30-60 minutes in duration per person, and this is a time for you to ask the question, “How can I support you? What can I do to make your work easier?” This is one of the most important meetings a communications leader can have. It is purely focused on the individual, where they can voice their needs, concerns, and ideas in a judgment-free and safe space.
The conversations in these meetings build relationships and trust with you and your team members and help you address small problems before they become bigger ones. These meetings may get overlooked when things get busy, but do your best to make it remain a priority, because they are the best way to stay connected to each individual. Key questions to cover during this meeting and use as conversation starters:
How is their workload feeling?
What's going well?
Where are they running into challenges?
What support or decisions do they need from you?
What skills or opportunities would they like to develop?
Pro tip: Listen more than you talk.
A Monthly Strategy and Results Meeting
This meeting should be at least 60 minutes, possibly 90 minutes, if needed. Communications teams can become so focused on producing content and project execution that they don’t always stop to evaluate whether their efforts are actually working and producing the results they are seeking. This meeting creates the space needed to make these assessments.
This is the time when the team collectively asks themselves whether the campaign generated inquiries, whether engagement has led to meaningful action, and what can be changed. Don’t use the entire meeting to review numbers and data, but to ask what the results are telling you.
Use this meeting to recognize good work. Your team needs to understand what needs improving, but they also need to be acknowledged for their work and what’s making a difference. This agenda should include:
Reviewing progress against communications goals.
Campaign performance and metrics.
Learning what's working for audiences.
Sharing what we've learned and ways we can improve.
Touching base on priorities for the next month.
Pro Tip: Measure outcomes, celebrate wins, and turn insights into action.
Ways to Make Meetings Better
Establishing a purpose for your meetings is a priority. Everything doesn’t need to be a meeting. Inasmuch as in-person connections are important, there are also times when some decisions, discussions, or updates can be made via email. When a meeting is needed, be sure to share an agenda with your team so they know what they need to be prepared for the meeting. Be mindful of people’s time, respect the start and end time you have scheduled for the meeting, and adhere to that allotted time. Documenting decisions helps the team keep track of who owns what and when things are due, this helps with keeping people accountable. During meetings, make a point of making space for everyone's viewpoint so each person feels heard.
Finally, take some time to review your team's recurring meetings, and ask yourself which meetings actually help your team to make decisions, solve problems, or improve your work, and which ones are just taking up time. Eliminate the meetings that no longer serve your team and remember, not every meeting needs the entire team. Communications teams don’t always need more meetings, they need more uninterrupted time to do their work.
Is Your Communications Team Working as Effectively as It Could?
If your team is constantly struggling with competing priorities, is unclear about workflows, or has too many last-minute requests, it may be time to assess what is working and what could use rethinking.
I am a comms professional specializing in helping organisations develop a better communications strategy, improve team processes, and make their ways of working more efficient. Let’s connect!
