It is not uncommon for a company to stray slightly from its outlined strategy during times of crisis or when "putting out fires" becomes necessary. The pressure to achieve financial goals and increase revenue forces organizations to focus heavily on short-term problems, often sidelining previously established strategies.
This is why results review meetings are fundamental in keeping the need to avoid deviations alive in employees' minds. To be clear, we are not suggesting your company ignore daily issues, but it is crucial to make informed decisions rooted in the overarching strategy. This approach integrates organization (strategy) with goals (execution).
Preparation for Results Meetings
Generally, the purpose of a review meeting is to monitor results, validate hypotheses, and make necessary adjustments to keep operations aligned with the established plan.
For these meetings to be productive, they should involve the operations team, sector leaders, and key stakeholders. This ensures all organizational areas are represented, and the resolutions can be shared with the rest of the teams.
Firstly, it is essential to define the participants of the event. We mentioned some roles above, but it is crucial to include the following: the general manager, executive directors, department heads, and team representatives. If needed, other members can be invited, but decision-makers must have a clear role and presence in these meetings.
Secondly, set the date and agenda. For the date, schedule meetings at least a week in advance. This gives everyone time to gather information, update themselves on the current state of processes, and participate with concrete data. Surveys, KPIs, and reports should all be prepared and available for review during the meeting.
Regarding the agenda, informing participants about the topics to be discussed helps maintain focus during the meeting and avoid unrelated tangents. The agenda should be clear and objective. For instance, your team might consider covering corrective actions for unmet objectives, approving or rejecting suggestions for strategy-related initiatives, reviewing KPIs, etc.
Conducting the Meeting
A results review meeting should not be confused with a process briefing session. Participants may update others on process progress or task execution, but the meeting should not focus on identifying failures or assigning blame to specific areas. It is not always easy to obtain quick responses or results, especially in more complex organizations.
For this reason, an efficient meeting must involve the entire team to collectively identify solutions and resolve issues. The leader plays a key role in encouraging active participation from all executives, fostering a conducive atmosphere. The goal is to stimulate a sense of shared responsibility, ensuring that successes and challenges are acknowledged collectively.
The meeting must also remain objective. Encourage participants to put away their phones during the session, discourage unrelated side conversations, and if relevant but time-consuming topics arise, note them for inclusion in the next meeting’s agenda.
Lastly, the person responsible for convening and following up on the meeting must consolidate all decisions and document them in minutes.
Frequency of Results Meetings
The frequency of results monitoring meetings can vary with predefined standard agendas. Each company finds its optimal approach.
However, we have observed that organizations with two cycles—one shorter, called monitoring and control, and another longer, called strategic learning—tend to achieve better results. The shorter cycles can be monthly, while the longer ones can be quarterly.
Making Results Meetings More Practical
To make your results review meetings more practical, we suggest the following routines to maintain focus and increase productivity:
1. Present the results of one of the hierarchically subordinate areas.
2. Check if there are unmet goals in the area. If so, discuss corrective actions to prevent the issue from recurring. Additionally, examine the reasons for unmet goals and their justifications.
3. Review the project timeline for the area. If there are project delays, add new tasks to correct the timeline.
4. Repeat steps 1 to 3 for all areas, following hierarchical order, starting with the most critical areas for the business.
Does your company hold results review meetings? How frequent are they? Are they effective? These types of meetings play a fundamental role in organizing companies, improving processes, and monitoring both departmental and global performance.
