ONE TEAM SHOW – how to turn Team Meetings into an Employee-Centric event

A great staff meeting can both push information (share updates, changes, directions) and pull information (check-in team’s temperature, host bonding activities, gather feedback, and facilitate discussion). The bigger your company is, the more opportunity there is to improve this element of your employee experience.

Great team meetings can push up the increase of employee happiness and productivity. A study has shown that happy employees are up to 20% more productive than unhappy employees. This in turn is key for engagement and retention.

At Dreamplex, we’re always looking for ways to support companies in improving their employee experience. And more often than not, what we share we’ve already piloted inside our own company. Our One Team Show, the Monthly (OTS) gathering for all Dreamplex’ employees, is one of those examples. How much do you think we were able to improve our Employee Experience since we introduced it?

1.One Team Show – What does it mean?

The One Team Show (previously known as One Team Meeting) is a unique occasion each month to gather all our team members (Dreambuilders) in one place. because we encourage flexible working, we don’t always meet each other frequently. Sometimes, we may have never met the person we talk to on Slack daily.

Therefore, this “show” plays an important role in building culture and creating employee engagement. First, because it allows us to engage all Dreambuilders in the company’s big picture. Second, we can empower them to speak out and get involved in the decision-making. And finally, to have a sense of belonging.

A Better Day at Work is not only for Dreamplex members but also for Dreambuilders. They are the ones who design, deliver, and communicate the most innovative workplace experiences in Vietnam. So, from an Employee Experience team perspective, we want to ensure they feel our care. This includes constantly improving.

The One Team Show existed before as a more formal meeting. In our quest to “Improve Always,” we constantly collect data from our team members. Because for our people-centric Employee Experience Team, our Dreambuilders always come first! The data told us a few areas of concern for our teams:

• It was more like an update meeting than a space for us to share and bond.
• We did have many engaging activities for employees to participate in in the meeting proactively.
• Dreambuilders could not feel whether they were a part of the meeting.

Based on these insights, we noticed multiple opportunities to turn this company-centric meeting into an employee-centric show. Here’s how we did it:

• Agenda: Forget the traditional agenda of a staff meeting. We balance the agenda between what the directors want to share and what Dreambuilders want to hear and learn. It’s not a status update meeting. It’s about boosting morale, exchanging ideas, appreciating talents, and more. This means crafting an agenda that truly feels engaging and worth attending. A great team meeting can create a better and more effective workplace experience.
• Company Update: The first step to Dreambuilders changing their opinion about a “boring staff meeting” was the company updates. The Dreamplex Employee Experience team asked the Board of Directors to change their updates. Important company growth and achievement updates are still there but are visually more attractive and attuned to how employees normally consume content today. Even if you are new to the company, you can know what is happening and how you can contribute to the company’s goals without falling asleep amid the updates. 
• Award and Recognition: We will acknowledge accomplishments and team members’ hard work through monthly communication and how we deliver prizes. We want all Dreambuilders to feel proud and happy when receiving recognition instead of considering this a normal practice. 
• More discussion and bonding activities: Last but not least, we all want to be involved actively, besides listening to all information passively, even in a virtual meeting. This is one of the major changes we applied to transform our company meeting into a show. Teamwork starts with communicating with each other. 

2.Why do I need to join OTS? 5 things you don’t want to be missed out on.

Changing the format of the show is one thing. Getting people excited to join is another. So, the second step in making this meeting more employee-friendly is to communicate the reasons for joining. As we shared with our team members: 

“Hearing about the One Team Show,” the first thought in your mind may be: “I’ll go because it’s a must and my boss asked me to join.”. It’s not wrong but not right at the same time. Joining because you are forced to do so may make you feel this event is a waste of time. Joining because you can be inspired to feel energized, appreciated, and connected will create a stronger One Team together. Let’s figure out why you should join all the Dreambuilders in this 60-minute event every month:

1. You’re invited by the Board of Directors. They truly want to meet and greet you.
2. You will be able to understand the big picture of Dreamplex’s operations and where you are in that picture.
3. You can deeply participate in the topics that directly impact you and others.
4. You can directly speak out and share your feedback honestly, openly and directly to strengthen trust and move forward.
5. You can have a fun time with others and delicious food. We can not buy happiness, but we can host bonding games and buy food for you; it’s equal.

A great employee experience always starts by listening to your employees. We don’t just say it, but we do it and we hope that this sharing was helpful.

If you want to revamp your Employee Experience elements, please reach out. We’re always happy to help. And for Dreamplex members, Employee Experience support is even free and included with membership!

“The strength of the team is each individual member.

The strength of each individual member is the team.”

Dreamplex creates “A Better Day at Work” that perfectly meets the needs of fast-growing companies who understand that their young employees expect more from their workplace.

Well-designed private, branded offices, 5-star hospitality-level care and an engaging program of social activities, training & development, and wellbeing initiatives help those companies attract, engage, and retain Millennial and Gen Z talent in Vietnam.

Dreamplex has 5 locations across Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City and looks to expand further in 2021 to create a better workplace for even more people-centric companies and their employees. It services companies including Samsung, eBay, Tiki, Topica, PR Newswire, as well as many fast-growing startups.

To learn more about how Dreamplex can help innovative companies of any size offer their teams a Workplace Experience of the future, please contact Daan van Rossum, Chief Experience Officer: daan@dreamplex.co or +84 901489369.