How to Run an Effective Staffing Meeting

Perhaps you’re looking for a way to get all sides of the business aligned across staffing decisions, or maybe you’ve been tasked with setting up a staffing meeting for the first time.

Big ask, right?

We do tend towards being slightly meeting-sceptic here at Runn. That's because large meetings can easily become unproductive and ungoverned - more focused on the ritual of "having a meeting", rather than on actual outcomes.

A well run staffing meeting, however, can be an invaluable tool for problem solving, knowledge sharing, and consensus building on all aspects of your staffing operations.

So, we've collated everything you need to know in order to run staffing meeting effectively – from who to invite, to what to put on the agenda, key information your stakeholders should bring, and critical questions you'll want your meeting to answer.

And it’s all informed by best practices from our friends at the Resource Management Institute, as well as the many discussions we’ve had with resource managers throughout our webinar series. So, you can trust that it’s tried-and-tested intel. Let’s jump in.

Goals of a staffing meeting
Planning your staffing meeting: who to invite
Creating your staffing meeting agenda
Running a staffing meeting: tips

What are the goals of a staffing meeting?

A staffing meeting – sometimes called a resourcing meeting – is a meeting to discuss how current and future projects will be staffed. The aim is to understand the supply and demand for resources now and in the future, so that you can meet client needs in the most efficient, effective, and profitable way possible.

A staffing meeting gathers key stakeholders in the project planning process to identify whether you have enough people to deliver the projects, now and in the near future.

The key objectives of a staffing meeting include:

Optimizing resource allocation – To make sure each project has the right mix of skills and personnel.
Employee development – To align staffing decisions with career growth opportunities for team members (and use bench time productively).
Capacity building – To begin training and recruitment strategies in good time.
Prioritization and transparency – To understand and document who is assigned to what and why.

Staffing meetings can also help identify potential skills gaps, prevent over- or under-staffing, and balance people’s workloads to ensure that they have an appropriate amount of work for their contracted hours. As such, it can contribute significantly to both positive project outcomes and staff satisfaction.

What questions should an effective staffing meeting answer?

Because staffing meetings involve stakeholders from many sides of the business, they represent a golden opportunity to achieve clarity by synthesizing the data and contextual knowledge that each team holds.

Ideally, it should be possible to get answers to all of the following questions by drawing on information from everybody at the table:

What team members are currently available?
What team members will become available soon (roll-offs)?
What’s the projected demand and do we have enough resources to cover it?
Are there any immediate issues or conflicts to resolve?
How will we plug any gaps in resource or skills supply?
Are workloads balanced, reasonable, and achievable?
Do we all agree on the staffing plans and support RM’s execution of it?

Planning your staffing meeting: who should you invite, and why?

A staffing meeting needs input from every area that has insights that influence staffing – or are impacted by staffing decisions. By getting everyone together, you can build a clearer picture of staffing needs for current and pipeline projects, agree a plan of action, and resolve any clashes or conflicts.

Here’s each area that needs representing, the insights they bring to the discussion, and the takeaways they should leave with:

Creating your staffing meeting agenda: what to include

Running an effective staffing meeting requires a structured approach, clear communication, and defined objectives, so creating an agenda ahead of time is vital as it is the roadmap that will ensure that the meeting stays on track and purposeful.

Make sure you circulate the agenda ahead of the meeting, so that the attendees have a chance to review it and prepare any information that they will be called upon to share when the meeting is taking place.

1. Review of current staffing/resource utilization

Current assignments

Discuss ongoing projects and the team members assigned to each.
Assess project progress and highlight any potential delays or blockers.

Roll-offs

Track upcoming roll-offs – team members who are about to complete their current assignments.
Plan their next steps, either for reassignment or new project involvement.

Bench time

Identify team members currently warming the bench (not assigned to active work).
Discuss potential assignments for them.
Discuss other opportunities, such as upskilling during bench time.

2. Resource allocation for current projects

Matching resources to open resource requests

Review any open resource requests that are still unfulfilled and evaluate their urgency – focus on ensuring high-priority projects have adequate staffing to meet deadlines.
Assess available team members and match them to current in-flight projects based on skills, availability, and priority.

Identifying skills gaps

Determine if any team members need additional training or support to handle assignments.

Workload distribution

Ensure workload is fairly distributed among the team and address any imbalances.

3. Planning for future project demand

Upcoming projects overview

Present an overview of forecasted projects and the required resources (skills, team size, timelines).

Soft bookings

Review any team members who are soft booked (pre-assigned to future work) to ensure they’re still available for upcoming needs.

Identifying resource gaps

Compare the available team members (currently assigned and on bench) to the projected project demand.
Identify gaps and discuss strategies to address them, whether through internal reassignment, soft bookings, or external hiring.

Learn more: How to Do a Resource Gap Analysis ➡️

Running your staffing meeting: tops tips for success

Define an appropriate meeting cadence – and stick to it

A regular meeting cadence ensures staffing decisions are made in a timely fashion – and helps people get into the habit of attending. Establish the meeting schedule and share it in advance to secure people’s attendance. In dynamic environments, weekly or bi-weekly meetings may be necessary.

Use accurate, standardized data

Good decisions depend on having the right data. Make sure everyone is working with up-to-date information and using the same terms and formats to avoid confusion. A resource management platform can help here by providing:

Real-time visibility into team capacity, project assignments, and availability.
Historical data to spot trends and improve forecasting for future staffing needs.
At-a-glance insights with dashboards that show utilization, workload distribution, and gaps.

These make it easier to make informed staffing decisions quickly and confidently.

Document decisions and action items

Record key staffing decisions and action items so that everyone is aligned and accountable. Follow up after the meeting to ensure execution. Typical action items might include reallocating certain resources, implementing training and upskilling programs for others, agreeing budget and schedule for recruitment, etc.

Review and improve

Regularly assess the effectiveness of your staffing meetings and how they impact resource allocation accuracy and utilization, and refine the process as needed. You may need to iterate and work on the staffing meeting process in order to achieve outcomes that work well for everyone involved.

Stop, collaborate and listen!

Because staffing meetings require input from so many teams, they can be a hard sell. Organizations that are already bogged down by too many meetings may be reluctant to add another "expensive" meeting to the regular schedule - and that's understandable. So it's up to you to prove the value of these meetings.

But by following the goal-oriented focus we've outlined in this article, the commercial impact of staffing meetings should be clear as day!

Curious about how you can get the most out of your staffing meetings? Check out some more of our guides to best practices in resource management: