New projects, colleagues, customers – new anything – often have a kick-off meeting.
These are supposed to agree expectations and deadlines, build excitement, etc.
And sometimes they do.
But sometimes, they can be a bit … well, rubbish.
Here are four steps of ensuring your next kick-off goes brilliantly – the initials spell ‘RATS!
Rapport
Get to know each other better. Ask what’s important to them, and how you can best help them. Share what’s important to you, and how they can help you
AFTERs
Agree what the output is = where you want to be AFTER it. After all, unless you’re both heading for the same thing, one/both of you won’t get there
Timeline
Agree key milestones and deadlines. Start big, and agree the key stages. Then, break it down into smaller activities
Schedule
Agree how often you’ll speak. Some teams don’t do this. Which means they only contact you when there’s a problem. Which means, when you see their number on your phone, you think “eek – problem!”
Nail the RATS, and you nail the kick-off.
Nail the kick-off, and things should go well!
Action Point
Use RATS to help prep for your next kick-off meeting. And here is more stuff to help with those RATS.