How to Host a Successful Staff Meeting Online
Article
Our faculty has been using Zoom for weekly meetings to stay connected with each other, share ideas for what’s working or not, and ask questions for clarification.
Is there a best way to facilitate staff meetings online? How are they different than in person? I offer three suggestions for facilitating meetings that meet the needs of our faculty in these trying times.
#1 - Determine the purpose, participation expectations, and date/time before meeting.
The request to meet weekly actually came from my teachers. So I have set up recurring scheduled meetings in Zoom. The access information is exported to my online calendar and then shared with faculty as an invitation.
As mentioned, our purpose right now is to stay connected with each other and to share what’s working with remote learning. This purpose might evolve as we get accustomed to this approach to instruction.
I’ve set up two different meetings to keep the number of participants limited. PK to 2nd grade teachers meet on Tuesdays and 3rd through 5th grade teachers meet on Thursdays.
I am making these meetings optional, for a number of reasons.
First, every teacher’s circumstances are different. I don’t know what level of stress each are experiencing. That said, most teachers have joined us. If someone has been absent, I will reach out to them and check in on how things are going.
Second, by making the meetings voluntary, teachers may feel a greater sense of authority. We desire control in our lives, especially now. If they can achieve that by having a choice in whether to attend, that has benefits. (I do record our meetings for viewing later along with meeting notes.)
Third, I feel like I am not wasting anyone’s time. It also gives me an increased sense of confidence because people are choosing to attend.
#2 - Follow a simple meeting protocol.
Within the online calendar invitation, I also include a link to a Google Doc that contains our meeting protocol. The four steps come from The New School Rules by Anthony Kim and Alexis Gonzalez-Black:
Check In
Review Previous Items
New Business
Check Out
People appreciate routines. They create predictable environments which increases trust and helps people focus on the content of the discussion plus each other.
During the check in, I go around the “room” and invite each person to share what’s happening in their world. (I use the Gallery setting in Zoom so we can all see each other.) This is an opportunity to celebrate our successes and ask questions of others.
These informal opportunities to share often lead to new items to discuss. But beforehand we take time to review what was previously addressed. For example, I may have new information to share after talking with other administrators about an issue.
For new business, teachers are encouraged to add to the agenda items on the Google Doc. This happens before or during the meeting. When I present the topic to the group, the person who added it leads the dialogue while I take notes.
Before we end our meetings, I give everyone another opportunity to share anything with the group as a check out. It’s one more chance to contribute or clarify.
#3 - Start and end on a positive note
I believe the main reason teachers requested these weekly meetings was to stay connected with each other in a structured way. Yes, we want to learn from one another and develop clarity about relevant topics, but the relationships and trust we’ve built over time is what we want to maintain.
In addition to the whole group check in and check out, I will finish our meetings with a positive note. Yesterday, I shared the following after discussing the challenges we were facing with not all students participating in online instruction:
“I appreciate that our initial focus has been on ensuring that our students at least have access to the Internet and they are able to connect with you. The relationships you’ve fostered since the beginning of the year are so important right now. I appreciate you all making this the initial priority.”
This isn’t totally different than our regular monthly staff meetings we conducted previously. The difference is that the academic topics aren’t the heart of the meetings. The priority has become providing a space for teachers to talk and listen during these times. If the check in takes the majority of our meeting, that is fine. This experience has reminded me of what’s most important regardless of circumstances. Only when teachers feel connected can we successfully address everything else.
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