I added a single weekly meeting that has really helped my team
I wanted to share my experience of one way I’ve looked to help our UX Team survive well in a high pressure environment.
We are a team of 4, and I have been looking at ways to increase the feeling of psychological safety, togetherness, and to protect and support the team’s mental health. I also want to reinforce the feeling that I am not immune to criticism (constructive feedback please!), and that I am here to enable them, and help them succeed.
I wanted to ensure the team had a safe space to talk about whatever they wanted, in whatever way they wanted, without fear of reproach, and to be sure that nothing said in the meeting - no matter what(non-inclusive behaviour excluded, of course) - would be career limiting.
So far, it is working well. We’re engaging with each other much better as a team, people are being open about their problems, and no one is currently sitting with their head down in a corner worrying or stressing about things. In fact, where people have been struggling, they are now coming out of it, and there are real feelings of camaraderie and support building, and most importantly, open dialogue.
So what’s the meeting?
The Weekly Wind-Down — I chose this name deliberately to promote a feeling of the work coming to the end for the week and being able to switch off about it at the weekend. When we’ve made it to this meeting, we’re so nearly there.
Everything you read below was worked on, and agreed with the whole team. Although I prepared the initial draft, everyone had input, and the chance to positively affect the content and structure.
When is it held?
It’s held on a Friday at 16:15pm, and lasts for 45 minutes. This timing is very deliberate. It’s at the end of the week, right near the end, but not necessarily the very end, we finish at 17:30. There is enough time afterwards that if someone needs to type up some notes or just put that last thing in the plan for the next week, as they may have ideas in the meeting, they have time to do that before clocking off.
Getting all their frustrations out at the end of the week - knowing the team has listened to them and appreciated what they are saying - helps clear the air, and the mind for the weekend. This helps prevent people stewing over things in their downtime.
What’s expected of attendees?
Firstly, attendance is compulsory, and whilst this may feel as if team members will see this as another burden on their time, so far, that hasn’t happened. More importantly, it makes sure that the whole team is there to listen to, and support their colleagues. Also, it often happens that folks just how others in the team are having similar experiences to them.
At the start of the meeting the facilitator shares a Mural with a code of conduct, principles, and the agenda on it so that all team members can have a re-read of it if they wish, as a reminder that it is there and that the rules need to be adhered to. I’m trying to actively encourage the habit of inviting attendees to re-read the Mural at the beginning of the meeting as a reminder.
It opens with:
Weekly wind down
The weekly wind down session is in place to create a safe space for us as a team, to celebrate wins, and creativity, share woes, and to be able to openly discuss issues around work, and our relationship as a team, in a psychologically safe environment.
Next, we have a code of conduct for the meeting written below this, which is as follows:
Creating a safe environment
The weekly wind down, is a safe space, which means:
- We will practise psychological safety
“Psychological safety, is a shared belief held by members of a team that others on the team will not embarrass, reject, or punish them for speaking up”
- We will treat each other with respect
- We will listen to each other
- We will endeavour to treat negative issues in a positive way, by looking for solutions
- We will understand that sometimes we may have to hear some difficult things
- We will support each other to solve issues
- Grievances can be aired without fear of come back
- Grievances concerning colleagues outside of the team will be aired with respect
- Unless expressly agreed, what is discussed will stay within the weekly wind down
- Where the team, or a team member, feels action is necessary, steps will be agreed
We are a great team, and we will be great at asking for support early, and at supporting each other, as well as at delivering great UX
Most of these will make sense to you, but maybe the second to last bullet stands out, “unless expressly agreed, what is discussed will stay within the weekly wind down”:
It is important that the team feels comfortable to share anything in this environment, so NO notes are taken, unless expressly requested by a team member, even the smallest thing. One team member raised that they would like more training in one meeting and permission was sought to note that down so I could put it on my list of things to work on for the team. It is critical to adhere to this. Failing this once would undermine the necessary feeling of safety for this meeting to work.
Anything special about how it’s run?
Guiding principles
We have a set of guiding principles, which we agreed, which sit above the agenda on our Mural which reads as follows:
The following principles will be adhered to by the team
- Within the weekly wind down, all members are equal
- To facilitate this, we will rotate the facilitator weekly
- All team members will get equal facilitation time
- All team members will get equal time to speak
- The facilitator will run the session to the agreed format, and agenda
- At the beginning of each agenda item, the facilitator will ask to understand who has something to say, so each team member gets a chance to speak
A really important aspect of the meeting is the second principal, that it’s run via a rotating facilitator. Each week, a different member of the team facilitates the meeting, reminds the team of what is expected and guides the meeting through the agenda.
Ensuring a rotating facilitator, so all team members, regardless of position or grade facilitates the meeting is important in enshrining a feeling of equality, where no team members opinions, views, or troubles, are more important than anyone elses. It helps open the door for team members to feel comfortable giving honest, and maybe uncomfortable, feedback to me as a manager, as well as each other.
The agenda
As with the rest of the format the agenda, was drafted by me and then amended and agreed with the team. It is:
- A positive welcome
- 2 minutes to gather thoughts
- Things that made my life difficult this week
- What could have helped me this week, and how can we support you?
- Any other things that are bothering me
- What new things have we learned this week?
- Ways we can improve ourselves as a team
- Celebration of what we achieved this week, or big milestones
- What is going to make next week great?
The agenda has a different goal for each half. The first half aims to capture all the negativity and problems, and get them out of the way before the second half, where we talk about learning, improving, followed by the great things we’ve done and how we want to make the coming week great. This is by design, and allows us to finish the meeting on a real note of positivity.
In reality, there is no split, we don’t designate 2 time slots to 2 sections, it just flows, with the facilitator keeping their eye on the clock. On occasion, the team asks to extend the time during the session, and we continue, if we are all in agreement.
Closing the meeting
When ending the session, we make sure to thank each other for participation, the effort put in during the week, and wish each other a great weekend where we won’t have to think about work until Monday.
Will you try this, or have you tried something similar?
I’m sure this could work in other environments, and would love to hear from people who try this, or something similar, and how they get on with it. It’s most certainly not groundbreaking, and I’m sure others have tried similar things, and it probably appears in a management book somewhere, that I haven’t even read. This is just my take on something I’ve put together and tried, which I thought was worth sharing, because it is working for us. The team have fed back that they really value this meeting.
