Fellow Leaders: Do Your Homework Before Your Roundtable

A roundtable can be a powerful way to have open dialogue with our teams. It is a way to discuss important business goals, highlight barriers to success, get to know our employees, and allow our employees to get to know us in a less formal setting than day-to-day business.

In my experience, roundtables can and do include:

• Updates on corporate initiatives

• Company and organizational news and changes

• Discussion around difficulties the team is facing

• Focused dialogue around key topics of interest

• Open dialogue highlighting how leadership can help employees accomplish both company and personal goals

• Elements of team building and connection between the leader and employees (and *gasp* this may include laughter!)

As a leader, I thoroughly enjoy roundtables. My employees challenge me (and I challenge them) in a respectful way. We walk out of these meetings (mostly) aligned, I understand what my team needs from me, and my team understands what I need from them. It is refreshing and energizing!

As leaders, you and I should prepare for our roundtables by doing our homework ahead of time:

• Gain insight into recent struggles the team may have had so we can empathize

• Understand key wins, milestones, and accomplishments we should recognize and celebrate

• Learn who the key influencers are among the peer group in order to watch for "group think" and in order to ensure those who are less outspoken get a voice during the meeting

• Review applicable 360 feedback or survey data in order to ensure we are approachable and authentic while also growing into the leader our employees need

This homework does not need to take a great deal of time, but it will ensure our teams feel known, heard, and supported. As a leader, we will appear knowledgeable and credible. We will help our teams trust us and feel as if they can relate to us. In the end, the team may then be further energized towards higher performance over a longer period of time. I assure you, fellow leaders, that the investment is worth it!