5 tips for kickass kick-off meetings

5 tips for kickass kick-off meetings

A good kick-off meeting will unite your project team with a shared understanding of what you’re doing and why.

We’ve all been there: the kick-off meeting that was nothing more than 60 minutes of your life you’ll never get back.

Now it’s your turn to run one. Don’t go down the same path.

But where do kick-off-meetings-gone-wrong actually go wrong? What’re their fatal flaws? How can you make your meeting a good use of everyone’s time?

Read on, friend.

Whether you’re working with fellow employees or with an external client, a successful kick-off meeting will get your project off on the right foot. Before you put your agenda together, take a moment to check out these tips.

What is a kick-off meeting, anyway?

A good kick-off meeting will unite your project team with a shared understanding of what you’re doing and why. It’s a time to make decisions about how you’ll work together (How will we communicate? How often will we meet?) map out a rough timeline and call out risks.

Kick-off meetings typically happen when a project is through the “envisioning” phase and ready to move into execution mode. It should involve the core project team, and anyone else whose work will be affected by the project.

Tip 1: Don’t use this time to broadcast information

These types of meetings are a massive waste of time. If all you need is a one-way communication, you’re better off sharing a doc, creating a project poster, or using a similar technique. But since you’re going to the trouble of organizing an effective meeting, why not set an agenda that sets your team up for success?

For example, agree on a stakeholder communications plan for the project. How often will your project team meet? Will you use group chat or email as your primary form of communication? (Hint: “group chat” is the better answer.) Or you may want to open the meeting by going around the room and asking each person to share what their role is on the project team and what they’ll be responsible for delivering.

✅ Tip: Download this kick-off meeting agenda template, then visit the Atlassian Team Playbook where you can find complete instructions for all the activities. It’s free, and available for anyone to use.

Tip 2: Don’t assume everyone knows each other

The bigger your company, the more likely you’ll have a few people on your project who are working together for the first time. Even if they know each other by name, they don’t necessarily have the trusting relationship they’ll need to work well together and perform at their best.

Consider including a short icebreaker at the top of your agenda. It can be simple (name, role, and tenure at the company) or silly. Being a foodie, I like asking people to share their favorite dish to bring to a potluck. Here are a few more gems to choose from:

What would the title of our autobiography be?

What would your superhero name be? 

What’s your best story of a project gone wrong, and what’s the most important thing you learned? 

Tip 3: Don’t assume there’s a common understanding of the project

Building a shared understanding as to what you’ll be doing and why is a legitimate goal for a kick-off meeting, but it’ll be more meaningful if done interactively. Instead of flipping through a slide deck, take 10 minutes to craft a vision statement with your team. It’s as easy as filling in the blanks.

“For {CUSTOMER}, the {PROJECT NAME} does/provides/solves {PROBLEM STATEMENT}. Unlike {COMPETITOR OR COMPARISON POINT}, it will {DIFFERENTIATOR}.”

Or, get aligned on what’s in scope. Designate an area on a whiteboard as “in scope” and another as “out of scope”. Give everyone a marker and ask them to put tasks (or features, or problems to solve) in each area as they see fit. You’ll immediately see where there’s broad agreement, and where there’s uncertainty. If you can’t resolve discrepancies during the kick-off meeting, be sure to follow up soon afterward so your team has a clear path ahead of them. 

Tip 4: Make sure to define success

When your team has a clear, measurable goal to aim for, they’ll naturally gravitate toward decisions and actions that will help them reach it. Without clear success measures, however, teams tend to thrash about and are generally less effective. 

With your vision statement in mind, ask everyone to write down what they think will demonstrate that the project was a success. Discuss how you could measure each one, and give a finger-in-the-air target for each metric.

Tip 5: Keep tabs on how your team feels about the project

Ugh. The dreaded “F” word. (Not that “F” word… I’m talking about “feelings.”) 

When people aren’t convinced they’re working on the right things or are frustrated by poor collaboration, they just don’t put their hearts into it. And after all the thought you’ve put into this project, the last thing you need is an apathetic, disengaged team!

Start the kick-off meeting by asking everyone to give a thumbs up, down, or sideways to indicate how they’re feeling about the project. Don’t stress if you get a lot of down and sideways thumbs. That’s totally normal. At the end of the meeting ask the same question. If you’ve put some of the suggestions here on your agenda, there’s a good chance sentiment will be trending positive. 

Your kick-off meeting was amazing – now what?

You’ve got a solid plan, a capable team, and a clear mission. Now your job is to keep that momentum alive. Throughout the project, check in on team sentiment regularly so you can uncover problems before they become catastrophes. Take the time to understand what’s behind any thumbs-downs, and do what you can to resolve those issues.

For longer projects and/or teams that are struggling with morale, try a Team Health Monitor workshop. It’s a chance to dig deeper and self-assess against eight attributes common amongst high-performing teams. Teams at Atlassian have been using the Health Monitor framework for years, as have many of our customers. Now it’s your turn. 

[slideshare id=95605688&doc=atlassianteamhealthmonitorshowtoguide-180501154000]

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Your kick-off meeting is just the beginning. Browse our collection of articles to learn more about running effective meetings throughout your project, and beyond. 

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