"Let us consider the staff meeting. You know, that weekly affair at which you review production, shipments, bookings, inventory, quality problems, personnel issues, customer visits and a myriad of other trivia. The meeting that consumes precious senior executive time, talent and patience. That session where people report on what everyone else should already know while hoping not to be called on the carpet for misdeeds or underperformance. That weekly staff meeting has been held as long as anyone in your organization can remember. It's probably the meeting at which you were introduced when you came on as CEO.
Do away with it. If your staff meeting is like most others, it's a waste of time. It consumes valuable resources that could be helping you grow your top and bottom lines. I know what you're thinking. "That's the only time we come together as a 'team' to share ideas," or "Our executives get 'charged up' to face the week ahead." I wonder how many of your direct reports go home and tell their kids, "You wouldn't believe what a great staff meeting we had with our CEO this morning!"
Rather than spend an hour of valuable executive time in a traditional staff meeting, I suggest you invest that hour and earn a return on your investment. What if everyone on your team took five minutes each week to answer the following question: "What will I accomplish in the next 90 days that will have the greatest positive impact on the company's strategic objectives?" Do you think your staff would be strategically aligned? Clear on their objectives? Focused on the future? Do you think there would be energy in the room? Accountability? Would you begin to think and act like a team?
Here's how it works. Get your executive team together. If you have a strategic plan, you've already defined four or five major objectives to accomplish. If you don't have a strategic plan, just decide on the most important objectives for your business in the next couple of years. Each of your executives will play a key role in achieving one or two of those objectives. Each executive presents a 90-day goal which, when accomplished, makes substantial progress toward achieving one of the organization's strategic objectives. The team participates in the formulation of everyone's goals. Prepare a matrix (see illustration) that relates every executive's 90-day goal to the relevant strategic objective. Post this chart where everyone can see it and update it on a regular basis as goals are accomplished and new goals are set.
It's important to maximize the impact of these sessions. Start by giving them a name appropriate to their function. You might try something like "Success Team" or "Creating the Future" or "Get Out of the Way." Don't hold the sessions on Tuesday afternoons at 2:00. These gatherings are different. They're special. They're important. Hold them at 7:30 on Monday morning when everyone's fresh and not yet burdened with this week's problems. Hold them to just an hour (don't problem-solve during the meetings). And hold everyone accountable for results. No exceptions. You'll find that your team will respond to the challenge. When someone falls behind, others will pitch in to help. Your people will be working on the most important opportunities for your business and you will always know where you are relative to strategic objectives. This format makes strategy happen. Give it a try.
Louis Allegra is President of Allegra Management Consulting, Inc. He chairs CEO advisory boards in affiliation with Vistage, the world's largest CEO membership organization, to help Lexington-area executives improve their performance and enhance their lives. Lou can be reached at Louis@AllegraManagement.com.
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