10/04/2019

State Of The Fig: Our Take On Meetings and How it Improves Work Culture

By Kayla Rogan

You’ve worked hard to build an empowering company culture. Now, you may be wondering how to continue growing the culture, or perhaps you’ve had trouble putting it into words for prospective employees. 

Here at Figmints, one way we contribute to our culture is through one of our favorite company gatherings: State Of The Fig. This is a quarterly meeting and outing that helps us reinforce our core values and in turn foster a company culture of transparency, positivity, and connection. It’s a time when our CEO can recast the vision for the company, celebrate our wins, and stay strategic to the areas in which we need to improve.

State Of The Fig allows us to step away from our usual schedule and focus on the current state of the business and team as a whole. It is our way of pausing during a regular work day to connect as a team, and assess how Figmints is doing. We believe it to be crucial to the transparency of our team and continued growth of the business.

Benefits Of Company-Wide Meetings

When people are divided into different teams, they’re less likely to cross-pollinate ideas that might provide solutions for those other teams. Full team meetings are the perfect opportunity for spontaneous brainstorming. Plus, bringing everyone together helps create a sense of “oneness” that motivates people to perform the best and encourages them to stay with the company. 

Within these company-wide meetings, team members are also given an opportunity to learn how other teams’ work and processes affects them, creating an effective way to encourage creative collaboration and problem-solving.

Also, having company-wide meetings helps encourage people to meet deadlines, and identify obstacles that hinder getting things done. It’s a great time to explain and evaluate higher-level frameworks and workflows so that everyone can be on the same page. 

Since Figmints operates on an open-book policy, we share numbers of how we’re doing financially, and how we hit the goals that we’ve set as a team on a weekly basis. If the company wins, so do all the employees!

How Having These Meetings Builds a Positive Company Culture

Company-wide meetings provide everyone an opportunity to share their “wins,” which promotes a sense of accomplishment and inspires further efforts from all members of the team.  

They’re an excellent opportunity for team-building exercises, creative games, and other activities that not only promote bonding, but also provide your people with a chance to have fun. 

Your meetings should be something your team looks forward to!

Finally—and this cannot be overstated—company-wide meetings show that you care about your people. Showing you care is crucial to a positive culture that boosts both performance and retention—imperative to the health of your business.

So What is State Of The Fig?

First things first, we get out of the office. The goal here being to remove distractions from the day to day operations so the team can be focused and present. No running off to their desks to answer the phone or respond to a ‘pressing’ email. We reserve a room at a restaurant or a co-working space and give our employees a time to come together in a refreshingly new environment.

We Review Why We’re Here and Where We’re Going

To begin the meeting, we state our shared mission and vision with our team. This is our guiding force as a company and it’s a great way to remind the team why we all come to work each day. We then go through our core values and give shout-outs to the employees who have exhibited these qualities. We recognize the top Core Value Winner for the quarter which is based on an employee to employee award app called Bonusly.

In this section we also talk about the impact our work has had and identify our goals for the upcoming quarter(s). We then give a transparent financial review to establish our accountability.

We Talk About Who We Are and What We’ve Done

This is where we welcome any new “Figs” and make them feel included in the company, which is key to promoting a positive company culture. We then go over our organizational chart and any new planned hires, helping to promote transparency. 

Prior to the meeting we always ask each team member to provide work they’re proud of from the previous quarter that they would like to showcase to the whole group. We encourage everyone to take part, even those who don’t have anything physical to show. By allowing each employee a platform to shine a light on their hard work, we’ve found that this is a great way to make your people feel appreciated and inspire others to do great work.

We Go Over The Way We Do Things

Before each State Of The Fig, we send out a survey, asking the team to tell us what’s working and what isn’t; then, as a group, we talk about what we plan on doing to fix problems and move forward. 

This encourages us to talk about processes and methodologies, which helps people get thinking about what they can do to become a more efficient team member and identify gaps in the workflow.

We Talk About Giving Back 

Here at Figmints, our community impact is a critical part to the way we carry our mission to see the full potential realized. State Of The Fig is where we highlight any community projects we recently completed and update the team on any new initiatives coming up. We also use this space to remind the team of the resources Figmints provides that are available to them and their families. The goal here being to continue to give back and encourage our people to do the same.

Once the meeting is all said and done we like to follow it up with a team activity. After brainstorming, collaborating, and sitting for a few hours together it’s refreshing to get out of our element. Previous activities that we’ve enjoyed have been high ropes courses, go-karting, laser tag, escape rooms, and sporting events. Find an activity that makes sense for your organization and have fun with it!

Company-wide meetings are the perfect time to take a step back, regroup, and discover new avenues to move forward. They help your people feel accepted, included, and honored, and they encourage collaboration, creativity, and innovation. Plus, they’re a fun way to get away from the desks—or even out of the office! Take it from us at Figmints: launching regular company-wide meetings will do you, your employees, and your company, a world of good.

Figmints runs the Hubspot User Groups for Rhode Island. Come and learn more about our process, our culture, and our people.