3 ways comms pros can help managers structure the perfect 15-minute meeting

When a manager gets promoted into a role, it’s usually because they’re good at what they do. But that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll have the chops to fulfill their new role cascading information to their team.

“Most managers are not communicators,” Cat Colella-Graham, internal communications lead at Deloitte, said. “They were never trained in this, and they don’t always know what to prioritize because they’re highly skilled in other ways — that’s what led them to manage these highly skilled teams. Our job as communicators is to help them and empower them to have good discussions with their employees, so they feel like they know everything they need to know and now their staff will too.’’

Colella-Graham holds regular meetings with managers that model those the managers will have with their own direct reports when communicating information from leadership. Among the techniques she demonstrates are a short agenda, clear talking points and room for feedback.

When the framework is clear, managers do not have to guess how to carry the message forward. Colella-Graham said that clarity has made the process feel useful for the managers receiving it.

“So far, the reception has been really good,” Colella-Graham said. “People are like, ‘Oh, wait, this is great. You’re actually telling me how to talk to my team about this brand new thing that’s rolling out.’ That’s the point of the framework — to help managers feel prepared before they’re in front of their teams.”

Here are her tips for empowering managers with an easy-to-follow framework.

1. Build the structure

Before communicators fill the meeting with updates, they should decide how the meeting will work. That means identifying which managers need the framework, where supporting materials will live and how managers can raise agenda items or ask for more help. The goal is to make the meeting easy to run before managers are ever asked to deliver the message.

A set structure also gives managers a clearer sense of what the meeting is meant to do. It shouldn’t feel like another information dump, but a repeatable rubric built to help them lead better team conversations.

“Setting the table to say, ‘This is for you. We’re here to help you,’ really is helpful,” Colella-Graham said. “If you feel this is not helpful or if we’re missing the mark in some way, please let us know. We’re of service to you while you’re of service to your team and clients.”

2. Translate updates into manager-ready talking points

Next, the work moves into figuring out how to translate company news into messages managers can deliver confidently to their teams. Colella-Graham said that when preparing these manager frameworks, they should be built around what managers need to carry into their next team conversation.

Colella-Graham told Ragan that she uses the same discipline when equipping managers. Keep the update short, then reserve the remaining time for manager questions or support.

“We save the last five minutes for anyone who wants to raise a hand and say, ‘I need some support on this,’ or ‘This campaign really should be pushed out, and here’s why,’” Colella-Graham said.

Each update should help managers answer four questions:

• What is happening?
• Why does it matter to employees?
• What should I, as a manager, say?
• What should I, as a manager, do next?

For larger updates that might extend beyond the usual 15-minute briefing, comms pros should provide resources, including a brief FAQ, an employee-facing announcement or a short set of approved talking points.

“We give them actual talk tracks for what we’re anticipating is going to show up in the next month,” she said. “It’s, ‘Here’s what’s launching, here’s how it’s going broader firmwide, here’s what you need to know and how to talk to your team about it.’”

3. Use feedback to sharpen the next update

Once managers start using the framework with employees, communicators should use their feedback to spot message drift before it spreads too much.

That’s where the framework starts to show its value. When internal communicators give managers the same direction up front, they’re better prepared to carry the message back to their teams confidently.

“One of the best parts that I’ve found in doing these 15-minute stands is now all the managers in that department are singing from the same songbook,” Colella-Graham said. “Manager confidence is something that comes from the alignment between the manager and the communicator.”

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Sean Devlin is an editor at Ragan Communications.