Keep Your Team Informed and On Track All Year Long

The beginning of a new year feels full of possibilities. You’ve likely planned out your organization’s goals and shared them with your team. A new year can’t help but feel like a fresh start—exciting, hopeful, and motivating. 

Your team has heard your goals for your business. Your projects are off to a great start. And then a couple months in, the work starts going sideways. New ideas arise and take attention away from your plan. And sometimes those opportunities are beneficial, but often they are distractions from your vision.  

When you and your team lose sight of your goals, there’s no telling where you might end up. You can’t drift to where you want to go. You need direction and effort. Goal success requires a dedication to your plan. So, what’s the best way to stay on track? 

An Effective Communication Cadence 

It’s not enough to present your vision at the beginning of the year and then never again. Even though you probably have been thinking about your goals for some time, this is the first time your team is hearing them. To get where you want to go, you’ll need to communicate your vision and goals throughout the year. 

At Forge, we have a regular quarterly meeting schedule that keeps the whole team on track. We have two kinds of quarterly meetings: the Quarterly Team Meeting and the Mid-Quarter Forum. 

Quarterly Team Meeting 

The Quarterly Team Meeting is in-person, includes the entire organization, and is scheduled at the end of a quarter. We first meet as a leadership team. The agenda includes: 

• An After-Action Review of the last quarter 
• A review of the goals and projects coming in the next quarter 
• Time to address any outstanding issues at the leadership level 

Then we review the relevant information with the entire team, so that everyone is informed about where we are financially and the progress of our goals. That agenda includes: 

• A review of the progress made and wins from the previous quarter 
• A presentation of our goals and projects coming in the next quarter 
• An internal professional development training 
• An in-person team building event outside of the office 

The team event might seem like a bonus, but it’s crucial to keeping your team on track throughout the year. Many people work in silos, especially if your team members are remote. Or there might be little interaction between certain departments. Your team members are also mostly focusing on the work.  

They need time to form comradery and rapport outside of the office. Those connections strengthen your culture and the effectiveness of the work. Team members are quicker to help each other and initiate needed conversations.  

Mid-Quarter Forum 

The other quarterly meeting is the Mid-Quarter Forum. Our company meets virtually for an hour halfway through the quarter. The agenda for this meeting includes: 

• Update on goals and progress 
• Any needed announcements and requests 
• An open Q&A 

You don’t want to go a whole three months without connecting with your team. Keep them informed and remind them of where you’re going. Connect their work to your goals so they understand the why behind the vision. You should feel like you’re talking about your vision too much. 

These quarterly touch points will keep your vision and goals front of mind for your team members, which keeps the work on track for meeting your goals.  

Check the Strength of Your Communication and Organization  

Do you have an effective, regular meeting cadence with your team? Do you want to know other keys to keeping your team on track throughout the year? Take ten minutes to fill out our complementary Business Intelligence Grader. You’ll glean insights in four key areas of your business. And if you want to discuss any of them further, you can book a Discovery Call with Courtney, our CEO.