Miscommunication in the workplace isn’t just frustrating; it’s expensive. A recent report tallied the yearly cost of miscommunication in U.S. companies at $1.2 trillion. With employees busy wearing multiple hats and executives preoccupied with strategizing growth, it can be hard to get everyone on the same page.
Many successful organizations use an all-hands meeting to communicate responsibilities and action steps. This gives everyone a goldmine of information. But it can be not easy to transcribe the meeting’s details, especially when speakers keep changing. It’s equally difficult to highlight the most important moments during the meeting, resulting in each stakeholder getting an intimidating, confusing wall of text.
Here’s how to get the most from an all-hands meeting and automate the note-taking process to make meeting insights actionable.
What’s an all-hands meeting (AHM)
An all-hands meeting (AHM) unites your entire organization in a single gathering. In this way, you ensure everyone gets the same information simultaneously.
A key component of an AHM is that it involves everyone, from entry-level staff to executives, who often have unique time management challenges. As a result, an AHM is a powerful calibration tool. Everyone sets their compass on the same north star and knows which path to take to reach the destination.
What are the purposes of all-hands meetings
All-hands meetings are more than informative gatherings. They stand out for their unique ability to:
- Provide strategic alignment. AHMs align your teams around moving in a specific direction. People leave knowing what to do and in what order.
- Tighten team culture. The meeting unites the energy and enthusiasm of all participants, encouraging cooperation between departments. The increased engagement honors everyone’s contributions, boosting morale.
- Demonstrate your leadership’s commitment. An AHM shows the entire staff that leadership is committed to their success as individuals — and that of the organization.
What should go on an all-hands meeting agenda
Your agenda should avoid minutiae that could’ve been sent in an email. Each item needs to be worth each attendee’s valuable time. Here are five topics you can use to shape your agenda:
The five must-have agenda topics
These make up the skeleton of your AHM agenda, and how much flesh you add and where depends on your organization’s goals:
- Company vision and mission. Your vision is where you see the organization heading, and the mission is what it takes to get there. In short, you can ask, “Where are we? What do we believe? Where are we going? How are we going to get there?”
- Key metrics and financials. You should share high-level financial data and goals, such as “earn 10% more, year over year, in quarter three.” It’s also important to break down departmental — and even personal — goals into concrete metrics, like “Marketing secures 15% more sales-qualified leads.”
- Cross-department learnings. Showcase stories from different departments, focusing on what they teach the organization and how this impacts strategy going forward.
- Appreciation and recognition. Honor team members by acknowledging their achievements. When possible, create a platform for people to recognize their fellow employees.
- AMA (ask me anything). Save time at the end of the meeting to open the floor to employee questions. Create an open atmosphere that encourages concerns, as well, regardless of whether they might make leadership uncomfortable.
How to host a productive all-hands meeting
Your focus should be on the employee experience as you design your AHM. Use the following steps to encourage genuine communication.
1. Give employees a heads-up
As a manager, you owe your employees clear communication around the purpose and specific goals of the meeting.
It’s also important to let your team know what kinds of transcription will be made available. This way, they know what their options will be for reviewing meeting content in the future. Many companies let their teams know they’ll be using Plaud Note Pro, an AI-powered transcription solution. This captures meeting content, which reassures employees that they won’t miss out on key points, even if they aren’t able to attend. Also, if they need to flash back to specific discussions, the transcription made by Plaud Note Pro makes it easy.
By giving employees a heads-up about your transcription solution, you let them know that the meeting will be a well-organized event that encourages employee engagement both during and after.
2. Create an agenda and materials
Your agenda shows you value organization and execution. While your agenda should clearly outline what will happen during the meeting, that’s not quite enough. It should also highlight:
- The follow-up steps are necessary after the meeting
- Any materials, equipment, or devices that each attendee should bring
- The individual roles attendees may have to play, such as serving as a moderator for a portion of the meeting or presenting an award.
3. Test your tech
The general flow and effectiveness of your meeting hinges on your tech getting the job done. It’s crucial to test:
- Your internet speed and bandwidth, especially for meetings that involve remote or hybrid teams
- The links to videoconferencing invitations
- Any live polls you may want to run during the meeting
- Images, PowerPoints, and videos you have to incorporate
4. Assign a moderator and speakers
The moderator guides the conversation and serves as host. They need to be prepared to move the conversation in a more productive direction if it starts to veer off course. The moderator is also responsible for keeping the meeting on time, even if that means tabling certain discussions for later so you can move on to the next point.
5. Celebrate
When celebrating employees, give them something meaningful, such as paid time off or a small amount of company stock. Avoid cheap, meaningless items like instant hot chocolate or donuts. These can be included for comfort and convenience, but you shouldn’t frame them as rewards.
6. Open the floor
When you open the floor, you underscore the value of transparency in your organization. Avoid pre-scripted questions that are fastballs down the middle for leadership. This makes it seem like your leaders are afraid to answer tough questions.
How to maximize the value of each all-hands meeting
As you host an all-hands meeting, you’re starting at a deficit: They take employees away from doing their jobs. Therefore, it’s crucial to make sure the meeting adds genuine value, both out of respect for your employees’ time and your bottom line. Here are some tips:
- Avoid unnecessary meetings. Only meet when growth, major changes, or updates make it necessary. Mandatory, frequent all-hands meetings add unnecessary process and hurt productivity.
- Limit the main content to between 20 and 30 minutes. This helps each speaker keep their comments short and to the point.
- Catch important ideas using the Plaud Note Pro’s highlight button. You can short-press Plaud Note Pro’s highlight button to capture a crucial 30-second audio moment.
- Highlight important points. Using Plaud Note Pro’s multimodal input, you can “Snap a photo of what matters.” You also have the option to “Type key points when they come to mind.”
- Guide your AI summary. Traditional AI summaries often highlight important points. With Plaud Note Pro, you can signal to the AI what matters most, ensuring it gets included in the summary.
- Divide attendees into small groups. Use breakout sessions to let departments or cross-departmental teams discuss or brainstorm around key issues.
- Engage those working from home. By starting each meeting with a 10- to 15-minute informal chat in breakout rooms, you can help those working from home feel more comfortable and enjoy some encouraging social interaction.
- Respect remote employees’ time zones. If you have a distributed workforce, try to schedule your AHM during a time that works for as many time zones as possible. Make sure you provide an excellent voice recording and notes after the meeting for those who can’t make it.
- Use the meeting to advertise employee support benefits. By letting team members know about stress management resources, you honor their mental health and personal feelings.
- Use AI note-taking tools. Specialized tools, such as Plaud Note Pro, make it easier to document meetings and give everyone access to a common body of knowledge gleaned during the meeting.
After the all-hands meeting: follow up to foster accountability
To ensure the meeting is actionable and everyone understands their roles in connection with delivering on its objectives, you should:
- Quickly share notes and important next steps, soon after the meeting finishes.
- Use Plaud for instant, reference-based answers. Team members can use “Ask Plaud” to search for the answers to questions across multiple recordings and summaries. Each answer can link to the audio clip associated with it, erasing any doubt as to the source of the information.
- Acknowledge action-takers with meaningful rewards. When someone takes effective action in connection with a “Next Steps” meeting item, give them a meaningful reward, such as monetary commission accompanied by public acknowledgement of their achievement.
Build successful all-hands meetings with the right tools
With thoughtfully designed all-hands meetings, you can avoid wasting precious funds on miscommunications and uncertainty. Your AHMs should be efficient, open, and underscore accountability. You support an accountable and transparent culture that respects everyone’s time by using Plaud Note Pro. This gives your team members accurate, referenced notes and summaries that make it easier for them to take action in response to meeting outcomes. And for those who like to review meeting contents, Plaud Note Pro gives them an interactive, comprehensive account they can use to make effective decisions.
FAQ
Why are all-hands meetings beneficial?
All-hands meetings are beneficial because they help align all employees and executives around common goals, keep everyone informed of major changes, and boost employee morale.
What is the ideal frequency for an all-hands meeting?
Ideally, you shouldn’t have more than two or three all-hands meetings per year, but whenever your organization needs to align around growth initiatives or significant changes, an all-hands meeting can be a powerful communication tool.
What is the difference between a town hall meeting and an all-hands meeting?
A town hall is often used as an open forum to discuss a particular topic. An all-hands meeting is different because it’s meant to galvanize your teams around a specific goal.
