Kick It Off Right

Sometime in January or February, you may be planning to have your kickoff meeting for the new year. If you’re part of a big MNC you may have leaders visiting from outside the country, and if you’re smaller it may just be a team where everyone knows everyone. Whatever your situation, a kickoff session can set the tone for the entire year, so if you want to get the most value from it, take some time to plan it well.

There are some easy things to keep in mind, like timing. Just as you probably wouldn’t hold it on January 1st, if you’re in a country that celebrates the lunar new year, don’t schedule your event in a way that conflicts with people’s holiday plans (you laugh, but this has been an issue at some western MNCs whose leaders come to Asia for a mandatory corporate event during the holiday week). Beyond avoiding mistakes, though, you should see what you can do proactively to get the best return on your investment of time.

Share your successes and failures from the previous year Take this chance to make sure everyone knows about the things that went well in the previous year so you build some momentum going into the new year. Also take some time to review your failures and the lessons you learned form them (and if you can’t thin of anything you learned from them, then you’re doing something wrong). HINT: Before you start recognizing people’s accomplishments in front of everyone, think about the culture you’re in. In some societies (Thailand comes to mind) people may feel very uncomfortable being congratulated in a big group; be sensitive to that.

Have a good discussion about the coming year’s goals As much as it’s good to talk about the past, that should be a short presentation compared to your discussion about the future. What are the organization’s goals for the year? Why are these your goals? How does this set you up for success in the years that follow? If people understand not only what you’re trying to do, but also why you’re trying to do it, they are in a better position to come up with plans to get you there, and adjust when problems come up. This is your chance to define the destination for everyone, so your whole organization is moving in the same direction.

Start turning the “big picture” into “little pictures” It’s important for people to know what the big goals are, but they also need to know what they need to do day-to-day. Do you expect certain roles to change, or are you planning some reorganization? Do people need to develop new skills? You don’t need to create a daily schedule for each of your employees, but you do need to give them an idea of what to expect, and remove some of the uncertainty that tends to make things go less smoothly. If you’re expecting managers to come up with new plans for their employees, then say so.If you have outlined your strategic goals, but are looking for bottom-up inputs for how to achieve them, then say so. If nothing else, letting people know there’s a process for translating the big plans into individual actions will help them feel more stable in their work.

Bring in a speaker Outsiders offer a fresh perspective and can give your people something to think about. The beginning of the year is the right time for that, as they start setting personal goals to fit the organization’s goals; a fresh look at things two quarters later probably won’t have the same impact. Look for a speaker who is motivational, so you get people excited about what they are going to do, and who has a message that is relevant to your work. There’s a people watch TED Talks online; they tend to be both informative and inspiring. Get someone in there who can help spark your team’s internal motivation.

Have some fun Your entire kickoff event shouldn’t just be about having a good time; going off to a water park for an off-site can be fun, but nothing really changes at work the next day. At the same time, you want people to leave the event feeling positive about the coming year, so make sure you add some fun in with all the presentations. This doesn’t have to be super-elaborate; a lion dance team at lunch, or a nice cocktail event at the end of the day, helps people feel good about coming back to the office and doing all the work you’ve spent the day saying you’re going to do.

Leave with a purpose By the time people walk out, they should have a good idea what they will be doing for the next year. Make sure they have a focus. Maybe it’s building on past success, maybe it’s turning the corner after a bad year and doing better, maybe it’s a big change coming up, but you want them to leave with a sense of purpose for the coming months. They don’t need to be yelling lie a battalion of Roman centurions charging onto a battlefield, nor do they need to carry you out on their shoulders like a football coach, but they should know why they’re doing what they’re doing, and feel pumped up about doing it.

Organizations spend a lot of time on things that don’t really have a lot of value; they do them just because they think they are supposed to. Annual kickoffs (or quarterly sales meetings, or CEO town halls) are too often done with a “check the box” mentality, without any conscious attempt to get value from them. With a little forethought you can get your year off to a fast pace, and in a hyper-competitive world, speed often wins.