Sometimes when I tell managers you've got to get in the habit of managing people every day, they will say to me, "Could we do this in a team meeting?" The problem is that team meetings are no substitute for one-on-one conversations.

Team meetings are good for four things:

The first thing team meetings are good for is creating a feeling of belonging and togetherness.

The second thing team meetings are good for is if you have a bunch of information that you want to communicate to a bunch of people in the same way at the same time.

The third thing that team meetings are good for is if you have an open-ended question and you want everybody to be able to respond spontaneously, you want a back and forth, you want everyone to hear what each other is saying and be able to engage in a dynamic conversation.

But the fourth thing team meetings are good for and maybe the best thing that team meetings are good for are the little one-on-one huddles that almost always follow the team meeting because the team meeting makes it clear they are necessary. That's not an accident. That's because one-on-one huddles are where all the action is.

It's just too easy to hide in a team meeting. You've had that experience where Mr. Blue is disappearing in the middle of the day too often and so you decide you're going to have a team meeting, you're going to put your foot down and you called the team together and you tell everybody, "We've got to stop disappearing in the middle of the day." And most people are sitting there thinking, "Gee, I haven't taken a break in six years." And one person sitting there is thinking, "Doesn't he know it's just Mr. Blue?" And Mr. Blue is sitting there thinking, "Hey, wrap it up, I've got to take a break."

BONUS MANAGEMENT TIP
Before your next team meeting (regularly scheduled or not), ask and answer for yourself the following questions: "Does this meeting really need to happen? What is the intended outcome of this meeting? Who really does NOT need to be at this meeting? Who really does need to be at this meeting? What role do I want each person to play at this meeting? What is the most efficient and helpful preparation each person should be doing in advance of this meeting in order to play his/her role? How can we make the most of this meeting in the shortest amount of time possible?" Then prepare a written agenda for the meeting and make sure to follow it. Consider having the team meeting with all participants standing up.