MONTHLY DEPARTMENTAL TEAM MEETING

Guidelines
• The purpose of the monthly meeting is not simply to give information. Its purpose is also reinforcement, motivation, and team building by emphasising the positive behaviours of the teams, and praising any outstanding individual contributions. The meeting should also discuss the hotel’s vision, mission statement and values, and progress towards achieving the team’s goals. Referring to measurements where possible, the discussion should focus on what is working well in the teams, and what is not, without it becoming a performance appraisal session. The discussion should encourage the staff to learn from what has happened in the month and suggest ways to make team performance better in the coming month. In view of the number of employees in the department, and the shifts, it will be necessary to hold more than one such meeting.
• It is recommended that the meeting includes the following sections:
I Operational Information: 20 minutes
II Training and Education: 20 minutes
III Open Discussion: 20 minutes Total: 60 minutes

Recommendations
• It is recommended that Department and Section Heads hold a monthly team meeting, which not only serves the purpose of giving information about the operation, but which also provides positive reinforcement, motivates, and also helps to build team spirit by emphasising the positive behaviours of the teams, and praising any outstanding individual contributions.
• It is recommended that the meeting also discusses the hotel’s vision, mission statement and values, and progress towards achieving the team’s goals. Refer to measurements where possible, focus the discussion on what is working well in the teams, and what is not, without it becoming a performance appraisal session. The discussion should encourage the staff to learn from what has happened, and to suggest ways to make the team’s performance better in the coming month.
• In view of the number of employees in the department, and the shifts, it may be necessary to hold more than one such meeting per month.
Each Department Head will make a schedule for the coming year indicating when the monthly department meeting will be held in each month, and send this schedule to the Training Manager by 1 January of the year.

• Each Department Head makes a schedule for the coming month indicating when the monthly department meeting(s) will be held, and sends this schedule to the Training Manager by the 1st of the month.

• The Department Head confirms with the Training Manager the date of the month’s departmental meeting(s) a week before the meeting(s). The meeting(s) can be held at any time in the month.
• It is recommended that the Department Head uses the Monthly Team Meeting Form to help him/her write down what s/he wants to talk about in the meeting(s).
• Before the meeting, the Department Head will ask the Section Heads and Supervisors for their opinions about how the teams are performing and developing; gather information about sales, expenses, and positive and negative guest comments; obtain details about positive individual and team performances (including measurement information where possible), and about how the teams are working to achieve the goals of the team and the department. These goals are important because they derive from the goals of the hotel’s vision and mission statement. See the content of the sections below for details.
• The Human Resources Department will circulate a master schedule of all the month’s forthcoming departmental meetings to all the Department Heads as well as the General Manager, who will be encouraged to attend in part as many meetings as possible in order to keep in touch with what is happening.
• Each Department Head will keep a record of the monthly meetings, as this will be useful when planning future meetings. A copy of the minutes should be sent to the Training Manager for use in planning training and other activities, and to make sure that the meetings are being conducted in a way that helps the teams in each department to achieve the goals of the department and the hotel.
• It is recommended that a meeting includes the following 3 sections:

I Operational Information
This section of the meeting provides a means to communicate current or forthcoming operational information, such as:
• Special projects, which are in progress or are being planned.
• Anticipated forthcoming business levels.
• Planned promotions (food and beverage, and others).
• The business figures of the teams, the department, and the hotel over the last month, including progress toward achieving the team’s financial goals.
• Recognition of the team’s achievements and individual contributions in the last month.
• Positive and negative customer comments.
• Quality standards.
• Vacation schedules.
• A review of the team’s achievements over the month, but not in the form of a traditional performance appraisal. The purpose is not coaching or development, but reinforcement, motivation, and team building. Emphasise the positive team behaviours of the team and of any outstanding individual contributions. Discuss what is working well in the team, and what is not. Discuss the hotel’s vision, mission statement and values, and progress towards achieving the team’s goals. Reinforce the employees’ positive actions and behaviours, especially those, which reflect the hotel’s values and help the team to achieve its goals and the hotel’s goals. Help the employees to learn from the month’s experience, and to see how they can further help the team and themselves to improve and develop.
• Reinforce that we care about the employees by building up their confidence. For example, ask the Section Managers or Supervisors to comment on the positive behaviours and progress of any new or established members of staff, in addition to his/her team.
• Encourage the new employees to ask questions about anything, which have puzzled them during the first month with the hotel.
• Emphasise the hotel’s commitment to standards of excellence.
• Discuss the strengths and weaknesses in the department’s level of environmental protection.

II Training and Education
This section provides opportunities to:
• ask an employee, who has recently attended a course or a period of cross-exposure training, to talk about his/her experiences and the knowledge and skills gained;
• invite a Department Head or Section Head from another department to give a short presentation. For example, the Purchasing Manager might demonstrate new items being brought into service. The Executive Chef may arrange a food tasting. Other people could show how to prevent waste and indicate the costs saved; how to up-sell successfully; explain new labour or safety laws; talk about hygiene; talk about experience in dealing with customer complaints; etc.

• The more creative a Department Head are in leading meetings, the more successful they will be.

III Open Discussion
This should be a two-way flow of information in which the employees are given the opportunity to ask questions, state points of view, and suggest ideas, which will benefit the teams and the department. The Department Head may wish to bring up a particular subject, which is known to be of concern to the team. However, the questions or subjects must be handled in the correct manner or else the meeting may result in negative rather than positive feelings.