The person who knows how to run a meeting will get twice as much out of his people, because when the meeting’s over, they’ll be ready to act on the message. That’s what a meeting’s supposed to accomplish!
The most important meeting you will ever have with your people is your first one—because it is absolutely vital that everyone knows exactly what your values are, from Day One.
When the players walked in, they picked up a thick Michigan football binder with everything they needed to know to be a Wolverine inside. Well, almost everything. Instead of spoon feeding them the opening speech by printing it out, I had them write down everything I said so they would remember it.
And it worked.
Before the meeting even started we established that, from now on, early is on time, and on time is late. That’s why we locked the door right at seven o’clock.
“If you plan to succeed as a Michigan football player, you need to understand our meetings are just as important as our practices. They are practices, mental exercises where we learn to eliminate mistakes! And trust me, when we take the practice field, we know immediately who was paying attention and who wasn’t. So, if you have a question, you better ask it now.”
From "Bo’s Lasting Lessons" by Bo Schembechler and John U. Bacon
