Connected meetings, from teams to management
In many organisations, meetings take place at every level but remain disconnected. Issues that teams cannot resolve remain unresolved or reach management too late. With Midflyt, each board has its own meeting, linked to meetings at other organisational levels. Issues are escalated to the level that can resolve them, and decisions are communicated back to the team.
Every board has its own meeting and schedule
Teams, departments and management each have their own board. Each board has its own meeting and its own meeting schedule. For example, a team might meet weekly, while management meets every two weeks, with an additional longer session each quarter. Set the meeting schedule for each board, and upcoming meetings are created automatically.
Schedule meetings close together, starting with teams, followed by departments, then management. This allows an issue raised by a team to be discussed at the next organisational level within the same week or meeting cycle. You decide how the meeting schedules fit together.
An example of a meeting structure across organisational levels
This is one possible setup. Each organisation chooses its own boards and meeting schedules.
| Board | Meeting schedule (example) | Meeting focus | Where unresolved issues go |
|---|---|---|---|
| Team | A brief weekly meeting at the board | What's off track and what needs to happen next | The department's board |
| Department | Every two weeks, shortly after the team meeting | The department's goals and issues that teams cannot resolve on their own | The management team's board |
| Management team | Every two weeks, shortly after the department meeting, with an additional session each quarter | Overall direction, annual goals and decisions on capacity, budgets and policies | Decisions are made here and communicated back to the relevant teams. |
Strategic, tactical and operational meetings
A meeting structure usually has three layers, each with its own question.
- Strategic meetings are about direction: where are we heading, and which goals support that? This is the management team's meeting.
- Tactical meetings translate that direction into the work of a department, and resolve issues that teams cannot resolve on their own. This is the department's meeting.
- Operational meetings are about the work at hand: what's off track, what's stuck and who picks up what. This is the team meeting and, for teams that want one, a short daily start.
For the model to work, the layers need to be connected. Issues that cannot be resolved in the operational meeting need to reach the tactical meeting. Decisions made in the strategic meeting need to be communicated back to the team. In Midflyt, each layer has its own board with its own meeting, and those boards are connected.
What happens during the meeting
- Start with the difficult problems. Begin with issues marked red or holding up progress, rather than working through the agenda in order. This is one of the golden rules covered in the training.
- Agenda. Team members suggest items for discussion, and the Navigator adds them to the agenda.
- Outcomes and follow-up. After each item is discussed, the Navigator records the outcome and whether it requires action, a decision or is for information only.
- Action owners and deadlines. Each action is assigned to a person and given a deadline. That person receives an email notification.
- Recorded on the card. The outcome is recorded on the relevant card, so the team can check progress and follow up at the next meeting.
See what needs attention
Each card can be marked as On track, Needs attention, Stuck or Important. Anyone who marks a card as Needs attention, Stuck or Important adds a note explaining why. The card's owners and the board's Navigator receive an email notification straight away. This helps the Navigator prepare for the meeting.
Problems reach the right level for resolution
Sometimes a team needs support beyond its authority or resources: additional people, a decision, funding or a change to a policy. The team sends the card to the board at the next organisational level. In the Send to board window, the relevant board is already listed and labelled 'Parent board — escalate issues here'.
The card arrives in the receiving board's inbox. The receiving team places it under What's holding us back?, and the Navigator adds it to the meeting agenda. If the issue cannot be resolved there, it is escalated to the next organisational level. This makes it clear how the issue is being escalated and where it needs attention, rather than leaving it buried in an email thread.
Decisions reach the teams that need them
When a decision is made during a meeting, the Navigator records it on the card. If the decision affects another board, the Navigator shares it with that board. This ensures the team that raised the issue knows what was decided and can move forward. The card records the decision and next steps.
How meetings at the board help teams move forward
Mapping your meeting structure
Before you change anything, it helps to see what's there now. This is how you map your meeting structure.
- List all meetings. Include the small ones: the daily start, the team meeting, the management team meeting, the project meeting and meetings with other departments.
- Note four things for each meeting. Who attends, how often it takes place, what it covers and what it produces.
- Draw the connections. Arrange the meetings in layers, one below the other. Draw a line wherever a topic moves from one meeting to another. This is how you visualise the meeting structure.
- Look for the gaps. Where do issues go that a team cannot resolve on its own? Which meetings discuss the same topics? And which meeting produces outcomes that nobody follows up?
Below is an example of such an overview for one team. It is fictional.
| Meeting | Who | How often | What it covers | What it produces |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daily start | The team | Every working day | Today's work | Who picks up what |
| Team meeting | The team and the team leader | Every week | What's off track and what's stuck | Actions with an owner, nothing passed to the department |
| Management team | The team leaders and the head of department | Every two weeks | The department's goals | Decisions, but the team hears about them second-hand |
This example shows two gaps. Issues that the team cannot resolve on its own have no route to the next organisational level. And decisions made by the management team are not communicated back to the team. With an overview like this, you can decide what needs to change: dropping a meeting, merging two meetings, or agreeing where a topic should go.
Meeting schedule: how often, how long and with whom
A meeting schedule is closely related to a meeting structure: which meetings there are and how they connect. When setting it up, you make three choices for each meeting.
- How often. As often as there are issues that cannot wait. More important than the frequency is that the meeting takes place at the same time each cycle, and that meetings are scheduled close together, starting with teams.
- How long. As short as possible. Agree on an end time and stick to it. Anything that doesn't fit moves to the next meeting. A meeting at the board starts with what's off track. What's going well doesn't need discussing.
- With whom. With the people who are responsible for the topic and act on it. Anyone who only needs to know what was decided doesn't need to attend: the decision is recorded on the card.
Schools work the same way. There is the school leadership meeting, the team meeting and often a meeting per phase or subject department. Here too, it helps to record what each meeting is for, and where a topic goes if it doesn't belong there.
How to get started
Frequently asked questions about the meeting structure
What is a meeting structure?
A meeting structure is the full set of meetings in an organisation: which meetings there are, who attends, how often they take place and how they connect. A good meeting structure makes sure each topic ends up in the right place. Issues a team cannot resolve are escalated to the next organisational level, and decisions are communicated back to the team.
Is this about the consultation structure with the works council?
No. This page is about meetings about the work, from team to department to management team. Consultation between the director and the works council is part of employee participation and has its own rules. It is separate from the team meeting and the boards.
How do you map a meeting structure?
List all meetings and note for each one who attends, how often it takes place, what it covers and what it produces. Arrange them in layers, one below the other, and draw lines wherever topics move from one meeting to another. This shows where topics get lost and which meetings overlap.
What are tiered meetings?
Tiered meetings are a series of connected meetings at different organisational levels: team, department and management team. Issues that one level cannot resolve are escalated to the next.
How do you prevent everything from being escalated?
A team only escalates what it genuinely cannot resolve on its own, such as capacity, a decision, budget or a policy. The team first discusses in its own meeting what it can do itself. The Navigator keeps an eye on this.
How do you make sure problems are actually raised?
By showing that red is welcome. When a team escalates a problem, the next organisational level responds with support or a decision, not with a request for a report. Once teams see this, they feel safe raising problems in time.
Do all meetings need the same meeting schedule?
No. Each board has its own meeting schedule. It does help to align the schedules, so that an issue raised by a team reaches the department in time. You do this yourself when you set the meeting schedule.
Who attends which meeting?
Each meeting is for the members of that board. Permissions apply per board. A private board stays closed to anyone who is not a member, including a connected AI.
How do we start?
You start where it fits: with management, with a single department or service area and its teams, or with a team keen to get started. The network grows from there. Read more on Implementing Obeya. To see what this looks like in a municipality, read Obeya for local government.
Curious how your meetings could connect?
In a short meeting, we'll explore your current meetings together and where issues get stuck between levels.