Inspiration

Today is Friday, which at Symph, means it is our weekly all-hands meeting. These meetings usually vary in the format, the length and the flow, depending on the current pulse of the company. The general objective of the meeting is to engage with the entire team and provide context and updates on what is important right now. The approach that we have taken to the meeting format is to create a space where inspiration, honest dialog, and alignment can happen.

A visitor joined our meeting today and during the QA time, he asked where do we come up with all the wisdom that we share (disclosure: we don’t think we are that wise, so what we heard was “how do we create the model and content for the meetings”)? My co-founder Albert, answered first and said:

“We don’t always know what we’re doing, but we always believe in what we’re doing.”

This is very true and it specifically applies to the model of our meetings, as we don’t always have a detailed plan. I elaborated further that oftentimes we have a trajectory or big picture aim of the meeting and during the actual meeting we are trying to create a container or space for the team to all unite and move into that direction. As leaders we are casting the trajectory of the meeting, however we want to ensure that each team member is bringing the wisdom, insight and perspective that they have so we can all improve.

How do you facilitate all hand meetings in your startup?