Running Effective Staff Meetings in Care Homes: Tips and Strategies

As a social care organization, staff meetings are crucial for meeting, consulting, and involving staff. Staff meetings provide a great platform for communicating successes and challenges, and they may also be the only way of sharing information with your team. However, staff meetings can be either a great experience or a nightmare. 

With over 250 years of experience in social care, our consultants have seen the good, the bad, and the downright awful, and we've compiled our top tips on how to run a good staff meeting.

1. Preparation

A well-organized meeting is a key to having a successful staff meeting. Consider the following preparation steps:

• Share the agenda well in advance of the meeting and invite staff to add to it. However, set a cut-off date for additions so that you have enough time to research and prepare answers to their concerns.
• Consider the need to have fixed items on the agenda, such as safeguarding, infection control, and health & safety, to reinforce key messages.
• Provide enough notice of the meetings to staff. They lead busy lives inside and outside of work, and they might need to be organized in order to attend.
• Consider holding the same meeting several times in the same week at different times to encourage attendance. This might include evenings and weekends for some services and holding them online for others.

2. During the Meeting

A well-run meeting is crucial to ensuring staff feel engaged and involved. Consider the following during the meeting:

• At the beginning of the staff meeting, go over the minutes of the previous meeting and highlight what has been achieved since the last meeting.
• Share honest updates with staff if possible. They will be a better team if they all know about progress towards a goal and can engage with it.
• Keep on topic. Try to avoid being side-tracked by individual staff points and offer one-to-one supervision for those who have concerns.
• Share positive points about staff success, and always try to end on a positive note.
• Keep to the allotted time. Staff will be more likely to attend if they know that it won't drag on!
• Always ask for a note taker.
• Take a list of attendees and those who have said they are unable to attend.

3. After the Meeting

A successful staff meeting does not end when the meeting is over. Consider the following steps to ensure success:

• Write up the minutes as soon as possible after the meeting.
• Share the minutes promptly.
• Think about offering staff other ways of contributing to decision making, information sharing, and feedback if they are reluctant to contribute to staff meetings.
• Follow up with progress reports in between meetings to keep staff up to date, such as a You said / We did board or newsletter.

In conclusion, these tips on how to run a successful staff meeting will make the experience more rewarding for everyone. Remember, they don't have to be held all the time, but they should be regular - say 4 times a year, and they can be supported by 11 at 11 (11 minute meeting at 11), huddles, and spontaneous one-off meetings when needs arise. 

With the right preparation, meeting structure, and follow-up, staff meetings can be a valuable tool for ensuring that everyone is on the same page and working towards shared goals.