(S)caling a business for growth involves expanding the business and increasing its revenue and profitability. This often requires making significant changes to the business model and operations, such as entering new markets, launching new products or services, or increasing production capacity.
Running an established business and scaling a business for growth are two very different endeavors that require different strategies and approaches.
An established business is one that has already found a successful formula for delivering products or services to its customers. It is generally stable and has a steady stream of income. The focus of an established business is often on maintaining and improving its current operations, rather than on aggressive growth.
On the other hand, scaling a business for growth involves expanding the business and increasing its revenue and profitability. This often requires making significant changes to the business model and operations, such as entering new markets, launching new products or services, or increasing production capacity.
Here are a few key differences between running an established business and scaling a business for growth:
Risk vs. reward: Scaling a business for growth involves taking on a higher level of risk, as the business is venturing into new areas and trying new things. While the potential reward of successful growth is great, there is also the risk of failure. On the other hand, running an established business involves a lower level of risk, as the business has already proven its model to be successful.
Short-term vs. long-term focus: When scaling a business for growth, the focus is often on the long-term potential of the business. This means that short-term sacrifices and investments may be necessary in order to achieve long-term success. On the other hand, the focus of an established business is often on maintaining and improving its current operations, which may involve a shorter-term focus.
Investment of resources: Scaling a business for growth often requires a significant investment of resources, including time, money, and human capital. This may involve hiring new employees, developing new products or services, or expanding into new markets. Running an established business, on the other hand, may not require as much investment, as the business is already operating successfully.
In conclusion, running an established business and scaling a business for growth are two distinct endeavors that require different strategies and approaches. While running an established business involves maintaining and improving current operations, scaling a business for growth involves taking on a higher level of risk in order to achieve long-term growth.
“The unfortunate outcome is that the people managers most want to retain feel constrained and become more likely to leave, risking the performance metrics they were so keen to protect in the first place.”
Keeping Good People Longer
As a business owner or manager, you’ve likely experienced the time, effort, and resources that go into onboarding and training a new employee. It can be frustrating when those investments don’t result in long-term retention, and turnover can disrupt the productivity and morale of your team.
Here are a few tips for improving new employee retention:
Clearly communicate expectations: From the very beginning, set clear expectations for your new employee’s role and responsibilities. This includes outlining any performance goals and providing the necessary resources and support for them to succeed.
Offer ongoing training and development: Continuous learning opportunities can help new employees feel valued and invested in. Consider offering in-house training, workshops, or even tuition reimbursement for relevant coursework.
Foster a positive company culture: A positive work environment can make a big difference in employee satisfaction and retention. Encourage open communication, collaboration, and work-life balance to create a culture where employees feel supported and motivated.
Seek and act on employee feedback: Regularly soliciting feedback from new employees can help you identify any challenges or concerns they may be facing. Use this feedback to make improvements and show your employees that their input is valued.
Provide opportunities for advancement: Helping employees see a clear path for career growth and advancement within your company can be a strong motivator for retention. Consider offering leadership development programs or cross-functional training to help employees expand their skills and take on new challenges.
Overall, improving new employee retention requires a combination of clear communication, ongoing support, and creating a positive work environment. By taking these steps, you can help ensure that your new hires feel valued and motivated to stay with your company for the long-term.
What are the steps you or your organization is taking to keep good people around longer?
When we create or update processes and they are not fully understood by the people doing the work, they will find ways to get the work done based on their own experiences. Evidence of this is when you try to train someone with different people and the trainer remarks “we don’t do it that way on our shift.” LOL. This is probably heard more often than not.
It must be understood by those doing the work
It was Friday night November 5th. Several planning sessions were held the few days prior showing some statistics, trends, and other data to create a plan to optimize the weekend production run for a national customer of ours. About 11:30 PM I received the phone call from a seemingly nervous Batching Technician.
We were planning on transitioning from multiple pallets of #50 bags, very laborsome, to #2,000 super sacks where most of the labor would be done by a machine, except for one hiccup. The technician didn’t understand the process of how to use it.
But we were not ready for that yet. We had an internal agreement to delay the implementation due to some previous issues. Now, however, we were possibly being forced to move forward with the process.
The SOP Dilemma
I read through the SOP. It didn’t seem that difficult but then again, I will not be in the plant at 1:15 AM when they attempt to load the ingredient. I am not a fan when it comes to SOP’s. I align and agree that they serve a purpose in that they can document a process but too often they are miscategorized as a “training tool.” Fully support their use for ISO Standards and audits, etc. But when it comes to skill building in a competency matrix type of paradigm, their use is more for a general introduction and not in skill building.
Breaking Rule #2
If a process isn’t fully understood, it will result in individuals developing their own understanding of the process based on “educated guesses” and “trial and error.
Without a full understanding of this mixing process, we were at risk. We aren’t creating small batches or parts. We are mixing batches of liquids up to 15,000 gallons. To make a mistake would require scrapping an entire production order and facing a possible claim. This is unacceptable. But this is true of any industry or process.
When we create or update processes and they are not fully understood by the people doing the work, they will find ways to get the work done based on their own experiences. Evidence of this is when you try to train someone with different people and the trainer remarks “we don’t do it that way on our shift.” LOL. This is probably heard more often than not.
Back to our process. A mechanical delay caused just enough of a slow down that when we got to the point of needing to start this bulk mixing process, the early morning dayshift leader had already arrived. He had a lot of experience and was familiar with it. Needless to say, the batch went off without a hitch – or mistake! We focused on getting each team member familiar and fully understanding how to use the bulk mixer for supersacks.
“This approach is not unilateral however. It is necessary to play catch ball with those who will be doing the work. This will ensure they buy in to the process but it is up to the leader to define the parameters to make sure no effort is wasted.”
Rule #1 – It must be defined by those planning the work
This is the foundation of good process. In my experience with developing Standard Work and Leader Standard work, there have been variations on how to approach creating a process that is stable, repeatable, and effective to where the process produces the planned results.
One approach is very “hands off” where leaders delegate the formation and implementation to those actually doing the work. At first this sounds like an empowering approach but in reality it almost never works for standardization.
It usually occurs in actions and activities that are not aligned with the higher level strategy; a lot of effort and actions but little value or contribution the KPI or other metrics.
A better way is to, as the leader, own the definition of the process by answering one or more of the following questions:
What problem are we trying to solve?
What value is it trying to add?
What outcome is intended?
How will completion directly impact the target?
This approach is not unilateral however. It is necessary to play catch ball with those who will be doing the work. This will ensure they buy in to the process but it is up to the leader to define the parameters to make sure no effort is wasted.
Breaking Rule #1
If a process is not clearly defined, it will be up to the individual worker to know how to get the job done; this means that the process will be done differently by different people
A short time ago it became necessary to be present on the production floor for the night shift. Though a significant interruption to my normal schedule I welcomed the opportunity to observe a different shift / team perform the same activities.
It was interesting to talk to the operator through the changeovers and startups. They were aligned with the end goal – minimizing downtime during changeovers. The difference was how to get there.
The night shift operator did many of the same tasks , however, in a different order. But, they also did some of the steps differently. The data would support, less efficiently and effectively.
Fortunately the operator was open to some input and best practice sharing. To top it off, the next hour was the second highest production rate ever recorded since our startup 1.5 years ago.
Defining the process for the operator enable them to run at a rate they had never run before.
Kudos to the team and kudos to the 1st rule of process – It must be defined by those planning the work.
They need a leader to exemplify calmness, decisiveness, and to execute a plan toward the solution. So lead your team to the solution with calmness and respect
Escaping the weight of difficult circumstances at work.
“I sense your frustration.” That was the statement that was the catalyst to a personal “time out” for reflection and review. I normally don’t consider myself affected much by the everyday challenges that running a 24/7 production facility brings but apparently, I was wearing my frustrations on my proverbial sleeve.
I remember the drive home Friday evening and shared my thought process with my spouse; “how did I get to the point that I allowed my emotional state to be overwhelmed where it would affect my communication with my team members?”
The weekend was spent journaling, reading, reflecting, and processing the events of the past two weeks. While mentally processing, what became clear to me was this saying; “Things can happen that are frustrating, but I don’t have to get frustrated.”
Through the time of reflection, the pathway to return to the plant on Monday with a renewed sense of calm became clear and here are the points that helped me return to center.
FRUSTRATING CIRCUMSTANCES WILL ALWAY OCCUR
This is no surprise – but it came as a surprise. When you are in the thick of the crisis or multiple crises we can lose grip on that truth. It is normal for things to break, people make mistakes, shipments arrive late, computers glitch, etc. There is no end to them The best thing to do is to treat the unexpected as expected.
Knowing that we cannot possible own every situation – either the cause or the solution will free us from choosing to emotionally own the cause or individually own the solution. Understand your Locus of control – control what you can and manage your way through the rest.
LEAD YOUR TEAM THROUGH THE CHALLENGES
You are not the only one dealing with the difficult situation. Your peers and direct reports are as well. To become overwhelmed with frustration is to fail as a leader. They need someone who can point the way not sit in the muck complaining and getting angry with questions like “how did this happen?” or “who is to blame?”
They need a leader to exemplify calmness, decisiveness, and to execute a plan toward the solution. So lead your team to the solution with calmness and respect
“If a process is not clearly defined, it will be up to the individual worker to know how to get the job done; this means that the process will be done differently by different people”
I was reviewing my notes looking for these 4 rules of process. I remembered writing them down and then formulating my playbook and tools after them. Recently I wanted to go back to the original source. I found my notes but could not find the source or citation. This work is not my own but I cannot locate the source.
This series of blog posts will go through the 4 rules of process and explain their importance to real-world value stream improvement and efficiency gains.
4 Rules of Process
It must be defined by those planning the work
It must be understood by those doing the work
It must be easy to execute on the job
It must be measured to understand its results
Examples of ineffectiveness – Breaking the Rules of Process
If a process is not clearly defined, it will be up to the individual worker to know how to get the job done; this means that the process will be done differently by different people
If a process isn’t fully understood, it will result in individuals developing their own understanding of the process based on “educated guesses” and “trial and error.”
If a process isn’t easy to follow because of various obstacles (problems with equipment, materials, schedules, instructions, etc.) workers will be forced to work “around the system” to get the job done; this will produce differing results.
If a process is not measured with reliable data, no one will really know how well results are being achieved and whether or not changes to the process should be made.
“How do we know what to improve if we don’t know what’s happening?”
Six Questions that Guarantee Your Daily Win
Using SPC or Statistical Process Control charting and basic time tracking for downtime/defects
The backstory is that we were in the middle of our ramp up phase in the new plant. Managers, supervisors, and operators alike were all learning the equipment and production processes. We were struggling to improve performance. In a discussion with the team the comment was made – “how do we know what to improve if we don’t know what’s happening?” We had machine data available. We have various HMI screens that give current machine performance. But, as a whole integrated production line, we did not have visibility of how everything worked together.
That gap birthed the shift playbook. It was designed to give the supervisors a current state performance metric by capturing the hour by hour performance, visualizing the previous hour and the shift trend, identifying targets, and tracking abnormal conditions or events that led to downtime.
There are two parts. The first one is a standard SPC chart that displays each hour slot of a twelve hour shift. The minimum shift average of 40,000 parts per hour is designated by a change of color from green to red…simple yet genius
SPC Chart – The First Three Questions
The SPC chart is used to answer the following three questions:
How did we do?
How are we doing?
If nothing changes – where will we end up?
How did we do?
Depending on your operation there can be differing amounts of variation in your production process. Analyzing this particular process it was decided that hour by hour would be the optimal measurement and would allow some variability that occurs through each sixty minute cycle to normalized over time.
At the end of the hour, the supervisor places a dot on their playbook sheet in the closes square that represents the actual production performance number. Plotting the following data would result in the following visual representation:
06:00 – 07:00 – 47,521
07:00 – 08:00 – 54,596
08:00 – 09:00 – 34,234
09:00 – 10:00 – 32,335
Answering the question “how did we do?” is easy when represented with a simple SPC chart. We can see that we started off fine, things got better and then something happened that caused productivity to fall below our target minimum.
How are we doing?
We can also answer the question “how are we doing?’ by looking at the number in the shift average row. We see that given the current hourly performance, the shift average is starting to go down. It is easy to see that we are at risk.
If nothing changes – where will we end up?
A short while ago, I was doing a Gemba walk with the on-shift supervisor. We reviewed the Shift Playbook for the current state. It was a similar situation – the dots were pointing in a downward direction. I called an all-hands meeting on the production floor with the supervisors and leads. We looked at the playbook as a group. When I asked the question – “If nothing changes where will we end up by the end of the shift?” Everyone knew the answer. If nothing changes we will either continue to decline or remain below goal for the shift.
That quick answer then led us to the next section of the playbook where we answer the second set of questions.
The Production Delay Log
The production delay log is a simple yet powerful tool when combined with the SPC chart above. It helps answer these questions:
What is getting in our way?
What impact is it having?
What do we need to focus on to improve?
We had decided as a team that just like tracking the hour by hour at a minimum, that there was too much noise and busyness to track every delay. We aligned that we would only track incidents that resulted in delays greater than 10 minutes. Your operation may be mature enough to tighten the interval for tracking but as a startup facility we found it more value added to address the larger items first.
This would also keep us focusing on the critical items and not chasing everything.
Reviewing a sample delay log that would match the SPC chart example above we would see the following:
By keeping a general production delay log the information from different machines or areas of the production line can be brought together to see if there are any patterns.
The data answers the last two questions. 5/6 or 83% of our delay is caused by the occurrence of twisted cases getting to machine 3. We can also see that of the total downtime, approximately 60 minutes – 50 minutes are caused by one type of incident.
It is easy to see the pattern here. When the team reviewed the playbook there was agreement that we need to Gemba machine 3 and see where the problem is coming from.
That is exactly what we did. The whole team went to machine 3 to watch the delay happen. While we were there we saw a twisted case arrive – already twisted. We decided to move upstream. We went to the next machine which was a combiner. It takes two different source conveyors and combines them into one line a moves them to a palletizing machine.
We watched for about ten to fifteen minutes and then it happened. We saw a case get hung up on one of the side / edge rollers that merged the case to the other line. It didn’t happen every time but as we continued to watch we noticed that upon closer inspection, every case looked like it bumped something – it caused the case to shift slightly. The severity of it was random. Every ten to fifteen minutes it was severe enough to cause the case to turn 90 degrees and stop machine 3 downstream.
We called maintenance right away who made a slight adjustment to the angle. We then stayed to validate whether our hypothesis was correct. The “bump” was gone and no repeats of the incident occurred over the next thirty minutes.
The playbook was completed with a much improved hour by hour and upward moving average. By the end of the shift the team finished with the fifth highest shift production record as of that date.
Summary
Using and combining the two simple yet effective tools – an SPC chart and production delay log into a Shift Playbook can provide the data and visualization to help your team know what defines winning, understand the current state, and identify roadblocks that are preventing them from winning.
A simple form created for the incident management sheet allows inputs for notifications from a desktop, mobile phone, or tablet. No user license is necessary to be able to use the input form meaning you can deploy to anyone involved in any activity with your organization.
Why You Should Be Using Smartsheets to Manage Your Safety Process
Reason Number 1 – Real-time notifications
I have been an fan and avid user of the cloud platform Smartsheets – www.smartsheet.com for several years. I have used it to deploy production planning, logistics planning, quality management systems, project management, and safety incident management processes.
The last reason is what I’d like to highlight here – using smartsheet.com to eliminate waste in your safety incident management process.
Applying an 8 Waste Analysis we can see multiple sources of waste in the process.
The number one reason I have used and recommend using smartsheets is the ability to provide real-time notification via email, text messages, or Microsoft Teams the moment an incident occurs eliminating the waste of waiting for critical information about the current state of organizational safety.
A simple form created for the incident management sheet allows inputs for notifications from a desktop, mobile phone, or tablet. No user license is necessary to be able to use the input form meaning you can deploy to anyone involved in any activity with your organization.
I have created a sample Safety Incident Management Log to use as an example.
As an additional treat, I have included a QR code as another sample of what is possible to have real-time notification of a safety incident. This QR Code can be printed at various places in your plant or site for people who have access to mobile devices to provide a quick short cut for incident reporting purposes:
Enter the data for a sample incident and put your email address as the manager. You can even include some of your peers in the Contact 1, 2, and 3, boxes by entering their email addresses to allow them to see the capabilities first hand. Note that they will also receive the notification. When you push submit you (and any additional contacts) will receive an email notification of the incident details. Imagine the simplicity and efficiency of scaling this to your organization where incident occurrences and critical details are shared real-time.
Just a moment or two after pressing submit you will receive an email with the details you entered. As an example, here is one I received for a sample incident that I entered:
Imagine being able to keep every stakeholder in the loop with necessary details of critical safety incident information.
As a sneak peek into the next reason why you need to use smartsheets, you can see the result of data on a sample safety dashboard that updates real-time when a form is completed:
This dashboard allows you to see the current state of all your incidents, what phase or stage they are in, a chart of incidents by type, injury, location, root cause, etc.
I welcome your feedback and recommendations on this process.
This is only scratching the surface so if you’d like more information before the following posts are uploaded feel free to reach out and contact me directly.
The difference between a successful Kaizen event and an unsuccessful one is getting buy-in on these six key items. Downloadable template included.
6 Keys to Frame Your Next Kaizen Event
He came into my office and asked if I could come and help “reign in” the kaizen event that he was leading. I asked what was going on and he replied “we are so off track. I don’t know how we got there or how to get us back. I’m close to just calling it quits if we can’t focus and get our deliverable done in time.”
The team was on a short unscheduled break to let the energy come down. We went to the training center and did a quick review. Looking at the room arrangement, the sticky notes, the writing on the walls, and reviewed the agenda. Things looked in order except for one missing ingredient.
He was not facilitating with a presentation deck but just using an easil and paper with some sticky notes and a black marker. No problem still except two key items were missing.
The first thing I noticed was the absence of a Parking Lot. I asked the facilitator “how are you capturing the out of scope ideas?” He answered “we aren’t. We are talking about everything as it come up.” Parking Lot use is not one that I will address here but it is a gap that contributes to Kaizen event scope creep.
The second and most important thing missing was the Kaizen Code of Conduct; an agreement between the team members that will frame how we act and interact during the event.
The difference between a successful Kaizen event and an unsuccessful one is getting buy-in on these six key items.
I asked him to describe the things that are happening that are contributing to the derailment. See if his response sounds similar to any of your experiences:
“The process owners were late and keep leaving the event”
“A few of the them are spending more time checking e-mail than participating in the brainstorming. Then when they tune in we have to recap what we just taked about”
“Two of the participants have strong personalities and are reacting in ways that is causing others to remain quiet and not participate”
“The engineers got up to go get coffee 15 minutes before the coffee order I planned for arrived”
“The room is a mess and is going to take me forever to put it back at the end of the day”
Any of those ring a bell? They do with me. So here we will go over setting up your event for success by using a code of conduct around six key items.
Most Kaizen events will include participants from varied departments in an organization or even people outside the organization who may be unfamiliar with the safety norms. Review key safety items that are specific to your industry. Are there any special hazards that participants should be aware of. At times this may seem like a waste but it is important to remember that often, participants are pulled from their normal work areas so the hazards or evacuation routes may be different than they are accustomed to.
Also review general safety items like locations of first aid items, AED availability, and your organizations procudure for emergency situations, evacuation routes, etc.
Refreshments and Restrooms
Ensure that you provide refreshments prior to the kickoff of the event and communicate that they will be available. Be sure to arrange refills to be available during the schedule breaks. Doing so will provide structure to the breaks.
As an addition to the agenda, let your participants know when lunch will be served (if applicable)
Going along with refreshments, make sure you communicate to participants where the restrooms are.
Time Managment
Gain committment from the group to start on time and end on time – including starting and returning from scheduled break times. This will will keep the flow of the meeting on track. Another key to good time management is to follow the agenda. One caveat is that there may be situations where new data is presented that warrants a pivot from the agenda. This should be the exception and with thte support of the Kaizen sponsor.
Post Event 5S
Recently I walked in to a room to set up for an event. Luckily I was very early because the room had not been put back to its normal condition. After moving tables, chairs, erasing the dry erase boards, and setting up the AV equipment to the standard I could get to the work of preparing for the event.
Don’t be the facilitator that leaves the room a mess. Get committment from the participants to put the room back to standard and properly dispose of waste.
Minimize Distractions
This is probably my biggest pet peave as a facilitator and a participant. Most likely yours as well – people constantly on their phones or laptops doing work unrelated to the event. Getting committment from the team to minimize cell phones, tablets, and laptop use except for value added activity such as taking notes will keep the group engaged and focused.
Be Respectful
Have you ever been part of an event where the discussion got heated? I have. Not fun! This is important to gain buy in at the beginning, especially if there are supervisor or managers interacting with direct or indirect reports. Team members will begin to feel uneasy about participating if leadership or others with strong personalities begin to treat others with disrespect. Establish that everyone’s value and ideas in the room are equal.
Conversations can get heated so give each other permissiong to call timeout if necessary and let the energy subside.
Summary
These six items, shared and committed to by the event participants, will provide parameters that help ensure the success and effectiveness of your next Kaizen event.
Answering these critical 7 Questions will enable you to increase your meeting effectiveness, increase the value proposition, and reduce the time you spend on non-value activities.
Best Practices for Meeting Leaders
7 Questions to Answer Before You Plan Your Next Meeting
1. Is It Necessary?
Have you ever been a participant in a meeting and wondered to yourself “why am I here?” Or said, “this is such a waste of time.” Often times, we are subject to habitual meeting scheduling. We have meetings just because we’ve always had meetings. Regularly scheduled meetings may be value-added. Most, in my experience, are not, however. A good question to qualify the need for a single or recurring meeting is by asking “Is there any other way to exchange the information?” This could be via email, a corporate discussion board, or a simple memo. Beware of meetings that exist solely for the exchange of information. If there is any way to get or give the information then do it that way. Save yourself and others from the time-wasting.
2. What Is The Purpose?
Consider this idea before determining whether you should plan a meeting. Every meeting is a transaction; a value proposition. People are exchanging their time for your meeting content. Though you may have stated expectations of engagement with group Codes of Conduct or meeting charters, we have all seen the gradual decline of engagement where cell phones are checked more frequently or the tapping of laptop keyboards can be heard around the table by people pretending to be present but are focused on more pressing issues. When people receive little to no value, they check out. You can force people to turn off their communication devices or close laptops but you cannot force engagement. So before you send the meeting invitation, make sure you have a specific goal to be achieved by the adjournment.
A big help is to prep the participants for your goal. Will there be a vote where consensus will decide or are you facing a tough decision and seeking the input value form the team members? Define the purpose, set the goal, and prep the team before they meet.
3. Have You Invited The Right People?
This question is related to number 1 where the necessity for a meeting was addressed. While you are evaluating who or how many people to invite a general rule to keep in mind is “less is more.” To be effective, a meeting group should be limited to around 7 – 12 people. You may consider having more but only if there is an explicit value or contribution by the additional team members. Any more than that and you can literally feel the stalling effect as too many voices and too many opinions steer the focus away from the meeting purpose. Remember, value is the important factor not diversity of inputs. During your meeting planning process ask yourself “how valuable is this person’s contribution to the meeting purpose?”
For clarification, it is not meant to measure the value of someone’s contribution to the organization. It is about being respectful. You are respecting the value of their time to be spent on other important things instead of wasting their time in your meeting.
Develop your traditional attendee list and then filter it through the lens of value contribution. If they only need the information shared during the meeting they can be added to the meeting minutes distribution list mentioned later in question seven.
4. Are You Prepared?
Now we break from the things that make meetings only mildly frustrating to those things that cause them to be labeled as “cruel and unusual punishment.” I am unable to quantify this but a casual recollection of all the meetings I have participated in, around 80 percent should not have been called meetings but working sessions.
A working session disguised as a meeting is where the meeting chair or facilitator has called a meeting to produce a deliverable for which they are accountable. During the meeting time, ideas are exchanged or discussed. Someone may even Google a topic for clarification. The meeting organizer fills out the spreadsheet or report items on the screen with everyone watching. The meeting is over and the only value that can be ascribed is that the organizer’s report has been completed. During that process though, everyone else has heard the sucking sound as their valuable time has been stolen as a consequence of the organizer’s lack of execution or preparation.
If you require a working session, hold a working session but be clear. It is not a meeting. If you do not clarify, you will undoubtedly waste someone else’s time. Here are the minimum requirements that need to be part of your regular meeting structure to ensure that you are prepared and can capitalize on the value contribution of those attending.
Pre-reads – send them out early and give them plenty of time to get through the material. Opinions and feedback can be prepared and even forwarded prior to the meeting increasing the meeting efficiency.
Agenda – Only items that add value and contribute to the meeting purpose should be added. Anything else will reduce the value proposition for each member’s time. State them clearly and completely. Format your agenda items in a way that will ensure your ability to accomplish your purpose within the established meeting time frame. This should include a “What,” a “Who,” and a “How Long.” Having an agenda allows people to come to the meeting prepared and lets them know the time frame they will be allowed. Here is the same agenda that I used recently and made the meeting very quick and very efficient. Example:
“Fixed Cost Improvement Recommendation – John Doe – 10 min.”
Attendance Roster – Required and optional
Meeting Expectations
Deliverables
Open Actions
Escalation Items
Parking Lot
5. Do you have a way of handling off-topic issues? (Parking Lot)
Nothing can derail a meeting quicker than issues that are truly important but are out of scope for this particular meeting. There are a few notable characters that I am sure everyone reading this post have met and may still be sitting across the table from.
Terrorist Tony
The first character is who I like to call Terrorist Tony. This person seems unable to get a forum to discuss issues that they alone are zealous about so they choose to bring them up whenever they can get an audience – in your meeting. Though not directly related, they feel that because it is important, it needs to take up valuable time in your meeting.
Distracted Dave
The second character is “Distracted Dave.” He allows his mind to wander while he speaks covering every possible rabbit trail and somehow never ends up at the solution that prompted his input.
Politician Patty
A third character is Politician Patty. She just loves to hear herself talking – regardless of the value of what is being said. She often reiterates what others have said, rarely offers new insights and never creates value. Politician Patty will even give voice to Terrorist Tony’s important issue just so she can seem to care.
Back to the Agenda
A danger in trying to steer towards the agenda is the public de-marginalizing or devaluing the people who are raising the issues. An effective way to handle these important but off-topic issues is the Parking Lot. You can assign value to the person, acknowledge the importance of the issue, and stay on topic by immediately recording the issue to the Parking Lot. Remember though, it is not your responsibility to resolve the issue. You are just acknowledging the potential value.
6. Will there be any action items?
If there are no resulting action items at the meeting’s conclusion you need to question its value. All “meetings” should result in action items. Work sessions are different, so are brainstorming sessions. With meetings, however, problems should be addressed which require further action. Make sure you do the five following things (S.M.A.R.T.) to keep an active Action Register:
Describe the action in detail including what the end state or deliverable looks like
Assign an owner. This person is responsible for the completion of the deliverable
Establish a due date
Describe the escalation process. If the completion date is missed – what is the next step?
Follow up at the next meeting. Review the Action Register at each meeting to ensure everything is on target and no new issues have presented
7. How soon will you send out Minutes?
Sending meeting minutes is critical to your meeting effectiveness. Providing a record of issues, discussion, and resolution allows you to trim down your member list as mentioned in question one. It also provides an opportunity for clarification. People can read minutes and reframe their understanding making an addendum to the minutes at the next meeting. Another value is that owners can review action items that were assigned to them.
Summary
Answering these critical 7 Questions will enable you to increase your meeting effectiveness, increase the value proposition, and reduce the time you spend on non-value activities. The 7 Questions reframed as 7 Best Practices for Meetings are:
Evaluate the need
Define the purpose
Invite the right people
Be prepared
Stick to the agenda
Record action items
Publish meeting minutes
Resources
Dieken, C. (n.d.). Talk Less, Say More: Three Habits to Influence Others and Make things Happen: Kindle Edition. Wiley
Elliot, B. (n.d.). MAKE YOUR POINT!: SPEAK CLEARLY AND CONCISELY ANYPLACE, ANYTIME: Kindle Edition. AuthorHouse
Granville, T. (n.d.). The New Articulate Executive: Look, Act and Sound Like a Leader: Kindle Edition. McGraw-Hill Education
Lencioni, P. (n.d.). Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Field Guide for Leaders, Managers, and Facilitators (J-B Lencioni Series): Kindle Edition. Wiley
Wortmann, J. (n.d.). Mastering Communication at Work: How to Lead, Manage, and Influence. Kindle Edition. McGraw-Hill Education
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