Bottleneck Breakthrough Audiobook - Chapter 8 - Weekly Meeting | Ep 29

Speaker A

00:00:01.520 - 00:20:16.030

Chapter 8 weekly implementation meeting Management by Objective Works if you know the objectives 90% of the time, you don't. It's from Peter Drucker.

In 2003, a couple of HR executives at best Buy started experimenting with ways to improve productivity and employee satisfaction.

In the process, they created some very effective innovations in the management world, resulting in the model they named the Results Only Work Environment.

Plainly defined, it says that employees could work whenever and wherever they wanted as long as they delivered the results that were agreed upon between them and the manager. So what happened when Best Buy implemented the Results Only Work Environment? Employee productivity in this Fortune 500 company increased by 35%.

Even more impressive was that voluntary employee turnover went down by 97%. Clearly, the employees loved this new model and the company profited from it too.

Like anything that bucks the norm, there was a lot of resistance to this approach from leadership in other companies when they assessed whether to implement it comically.

The most common gripe about a Results only work environment was how to account for vacation and sick time benefits, since those became obsolete once anyone could work or not work anytime they wanted.

The biggest challenge I have seen for any company implementing ROW is that it requires management to clearly define what employees are actually responsible for and measured on. For the most productive employees, the slippery slope was having more work piled on to fill the proverbial 40 hours a week they owed to the company.

To combat this, RO forced companies to define very clear scope and performance metrics for everyone. This model is very challenging to implement, especially in growing companies where the tasks and priorities are in a state of constant evolution.

If you think about it, most business owners end up relying on employees as a kind of indentured servant. Show up for 40 hours a week and do whatever I tell you to do is the common edict.

I'm a big advocate of roe, but I would never suggest trying to tackle it until your management fundamentals are securely in place. The reason I've highlighted it here is to help you set an ideal for you to strive toward as you try to improve your management skills.

How great would it be if you could get to a point where your employees were as productive as they could possibly be, while loving their work so much that they never thought of looking for another job?

As I said in the last chapter, I found a single activity that helps solve all of your management problems while also setting you up well to move towards the Results Only Work environment model in the future.

If you want Weekly Implementation Meeting as the title suggests, the activity is a Weekly Implementation meeting one on one with each of your employees. Now don't start whining that you don't have the time to add these meetings to your already full schedule.

I guarantee you'll get back at least three hours for every one you invest in these meetings.

If you're not looking forward to meeting with certain employees because they're abrasive or you just don't get along, then I'd suggest diving into chapter nine on confrontation after this, you're the owner and it's up to you to create the ideal environment you want. Remember, the fish stinks from the head down. Before we dig into the structure of these meetings, know that the benefits are numerous.

I've seen employee productivity go up dramatically, fires reduced, so you're not walking around like a reactive firefighter all the time and owners empowered to effectively discipline staff. Moreover, you will gain time that you can use to focus on strategic initiatives or simply claw back to have a life outside of work.

First Meeting as with almost anything new, the first one is always the most difficult.

If you've had a culture with no accountability to this point, there will likely be a few blow ups by staff as they start feeling uncertain about their place in the company. Even the most mild manner employees can lose it. Just like Pinky the Cat did in this adoption video.

You can see it at BBG LI pinkythecat so be prepared for some blowback as you start down this path of accountability, going back to eliminating unstated expectations. This is a great time to over communicate why you're implementing this change and what your goals are for it.

All you need to say is something as simple as hey team, we're at a point where I know my management skills need to improve to help us grow.

So I'm following some advice that I know has worked with other companies like ours and I'm going to start having one on one meetings with each of you every week.

It's going to be a great time for both of us to talk about what you're doing, what you need from me so you're as equipped as possible and any ideas you have that could help improve the company. And don't worry, this isn't some elaborate setup to start laying off anyone or replacing you.

I just know that I need to improve my management skills and this is the easiest way to do it. Now I recommend batching all of the meetings so they're all back to back on the same day every week.

They typically don't last more than 30 minutes, so if you have six direct reports you can knock them out in less than three hours. That's only 5 to 10% of your entire work week, and it's one of the most productive activities you can do. So make the time and stick to it.

In your first meeting with each employee, you won't have anything from the prior week to review, so you can just jump right into establishing a baseline for their role with the company. If their role is not clearly defined, then that's the best place to start.

I like starting with statements like the let's put everything on the table that you've been doing over the past few months and start organizing it into a clearer list of responsibilities. To be honest, we might find that there are some things you've been doing that should be given to someone else.

In the end, I want you to be doing what you do best. Then get out a piece of paper and start jotting down tasks that both of you can think of.

Don't spend a lot of time trying to include every activity since they can be added later. The weekly implementation meeting is a system, so it is more like a marathon than a sprint. It will evolve from that list of tasks.

You will likely see some patterns that will provide a basis for organizing them.

The employee might have been paying bills, calling clients with outstanding balances, answering the phone, ordering office supplies, and answering customer questions that come in through email. From this list of tasks, they appear to fill three different roles, which include bookkeeping, office management, and customer service.

I've had situations like this where the employee was clearly capable and interested in one role more than the others.

Even though she was hired for another role, we shifted her to the new role where she thrived while passing the other tasks over to others who enjoyed them more. Once Once their role is clearly defined and agreed upon, you can then find out what they need to do it better.

I simply ask what do you need from me to make your job easier to do? You have full immunity to say whatever you want, and I promise to keep it between us.

If it involves someone else in the company, you can bring up anything you think would make the company better too. And don't worry about forgetting something important here because you'll be able to bring this stuff up every week. In these meetings.

Get ready to listen and write a lot of information down. Most employees have a lot to talk about because they have bottled it up over the years.

I keep a spreadsheet on Google Drive that lists any idea that can't be implemented immediately. I also include the name of the employee who came up with the idea so they can get credit if it turns out to be a winner.

The final topic for the first meeting is to talk about what their priorities are for the next week. If they've not kept a list of to dos up to this point, then you'll want to write some out with them in the meeting.

I'd suggest reviewing their email inbox too, since it's probably full of things waiting to be done. Otherwise, have them grab their to do list and bring it to the meeting.

Go through it with them and mark the most important tasks you want them to complete before your meeting next week. An important step that might not seem obvious is to let them know why these top tasks are so important to the company.

Every employee wants to be of value, so if you can tie any task you give them to some greater outcome that it helps support, you're going a long way to increasing their personal feelings of value. One disclaimer I give everyone when starting this process to be transparent.

I'm not sure how hard each of these top tasks are, so if they end up being too much to handle, don't worry that I'm going to be upset next week when we review them. Really, I just want to figure out how much you're capable of accomplishing over time so we're both better at predicting what's realistic in a week.

I don't want to end up just burning you out by burying you all the time.

I find that this takes a lot of pressure off employees who are eager to please but not vocal enough to push back when they need to, especially since I have a very dominant personality.

Be sure to write the top three to five tasks you prioritized for them in the Weekly Implementation Meeting template so you can have them at your fingertips in the next meeting. You can download that template at BBG LI meeting. @ this point, you just need to ask them if they have any questions before wrapping up the meeting.

These first meetings might take longer than 30 minutes each, but it's worth every second you invest in them to set the stage for the new Weekly implementation meeting system. The better you kick off this system, the more momentum it will carry, increasing your chances of successfully continuing it.

Ongoing Meetings Once you get going, the agenda outlined in the template above will drive everything. I recommend printing a new template every week for each employee and keeping it in a folder that is used for these meetings.

We'll revisit this folder later in the chapter, but you'll need a new Weekly implementation meeting sheet to start every meeting with. The first thing to check on is the status of the top priorities from the prior week.

This is not the time to focus on discipline or disappointment if they weren't done. I'm not suggesting you just let them off scot free, but the last thing you want to do is hammer them for not performing.

While you're trying to get this weekly implementation meeting system up and running, be sure to write down the status in the first box on the sheet so you can see what's not getting done from week to week. This will uncover patterns down the road that are only visible by writing these uncompleted tasks down.

Then ask the employee what prevented them from completing these tasks.

This information will most likely lead to other areas you'll need to fix in their role, particularly if they're being inundated with distractions or fires they have to put out.

It may also shine a light on their lack of ability or knowledge about how to actually perform the tasks, which will provide you with the opportunity to train them.

Or, as occasionally happens, they will end up admitting that they hate the tasks and aren't wired for them like they thought they were, in which case you can decide whether to reassign those tasks to someone better suited to completing them. Whatever the reason, these are all positive data points to uncover so you can work to resolve them and set the employee up for future success.

If they got all their tasks done, then I'd suggest stepping up the game a bit by assigning them more challenging tasks. The following statement is a useful reminder at this stage.

Remember, I don't want to just keep piling stuff on you, but I do want to find the happy medium where you're feeling challenged and delivering on important things for the company. So what do you think about adding X, Y or Z this week? If they're unsure, don't pressure them.

You can ease into it after they have a few more successful weeks and feel more confident in their abilities.

The goal here is positive reinforcement, so it's all about encouragement and providing a vision for seeing more of the potential that you see in them. After you review their task completion, move on to asking them what kind of support they need from you.

This may already be clear from the previous section if they couldn't get their tasks done, so don't feel that you have to force something here. However they respond, be sure to write it in the box on the implementation meeting sheet since it will reveal patterns over time.

They will help you see blind spots where you're not providing your employees what they need to do their job well. Then work with them to set the priorities for the next week.

Remember to write those down in the box so you have something to refer to in the next meeting. They should include whatever tasks rolled over from the previous week that are already at the top of this sheet.

Feel free to change priorities anytime you're the boss and what matters today is what's most important at all times. Don't let what is written down on this sheet dictate your priorities between meetings.

David Allen is a thought leader in the productivity field, having written the timeless bestseller on the topic titled Getting Things Done.

After reading his book in 2005, in an effort to learn how to stop being a full time firefighter at my mortgage brokerage, I went to one of his two day workshops. He told a story about a business owner who had paid his princely $10,000 fee to spend two days with him to learn how to get his life back in order.

David followed him around for the first day, making recommendations where possible, watching the owner's life be sucked dry by one got a minute meeting after another to start the second day, David made a recommendation to create folders for each of the 15 employees who reported directly to the owner. They set up a file rack like the1@bbg ili file rack on his desk and filled it with the folders.

Then he grabbed a stack of loose sheet paper and put it right next to the rack. He told the owner to write down anything he wanted to review with each employee on those sheets and stash them in the related folder.

Only one topic or task per sheet.

Then five minutes before each one on one meeting, he would pull the employee's folder out and go through his notes from that week to prioritize them and review with the employee.

As part of the meeting, David said that the owner went from working 60 hours a week feeling out of control and in reactive mode, to only working two days a week batching the 15 meetings across both days. Everyone was more productive and the owner could tackle more strategic initiatives with all of his newfound free time.

I was clearly sold on the concept and have used it with employees and freelancers ever since.

I end up using scrap paper, cutting it into quarter sheets that are five and a half by four and a quarter inches and and stacked up nicely next to my phone and pen holder for quick access. Obviously the paper type and size doesn't matter as you just need to capture the thought.

The best part of the weekly implementation meetings is that you can force your employees to save their hey, got a minute. Requests to be handled in those meetings.

It's amazing how many interruptions you can eliminate when you have a place for those requests to be handled. Now you'll have to train your staff on what is actually a fire that needs your immediate attention.

It's a great opportunity to show them that it should have gone on their list of things to review with you during your next weekly implementation meeting. Or it could be an opportunity to tell them that they have the authority to deal with the problem without your input.

You may notice that the weekly implementation meeting template includes a fourth box at the bottom that wasn't addressed in my meeting outline above. That's where you include items captured throughout the week in their folder. Discipline to be honest, I dislike disciplining employees.

I may come across as a bit gruff or blunt, but my empathy is too high to lay into someone when they don't deliver.

One of the better surprise benefits from the weekly implementation meeting system is the fact that you can actually discipline employees in a clear, healthy manner since they're agreeing to complete the tasks you're helping them prioritize. Accountability is very clear.

Managing by agreements removes any uncertainty around your expectations, and their only way to avoid being accountable comes down to their excuses, whether reasonable or fabricated. I've also found that nearly all employees beat themselves up more for not coming through when they agreed that they would.

This is usually all the punishment they need to shape up, and it frees me to be an encourager who helps them focus on coming through next time.

If you've ever been in a situation where you felt powerless and hung out to dry when an employee fails to deliver, then the weekly implementation meeting will solve that for you in short order. Plus, the meetings help build your HR documentation should you need to fire somebody.

Additional Benefits in addition to all the benefits listed above, there are a few more that are great to keep in the back of your mind so you can exploit them as much as possible. The first is the ability to keep your finger on the pulse of your company.

There's nothing more frustrating than to uncover a major issue or cancer in your company after it has wreaked havoc for months and months. One client of mine found that her bookkeeper had been stuffing bills in a drawer without opening them.

It wasn't until suppliers started emailing the owner asking for payment months later that she uncovered the issue. The worst part was that the company was very profitable and could pay the bills on time with ease.

It was simply laziness by the bookkeeper who is subsequently fired, leaving a mess to clean up that could have been caught with a weekly meeting. Another benefit is the ability to track progress more accurately.

We entrepreneurs are an optimistic bunch so we tend to put a rose colored filter on everything. Exaggeration is common, as is feeling like things are growing faster than they really are.

By having these weekly implementation meetings, you will better calibrate your optimism closer to reality which will help you make better decisions.

Custom Meetings if you have others managing key areas of your business, I suggest adding some specific details to your weekly implementation meetings with them. It will make your time with them that much more effective and is also likely to eliminate the need for other meetings you have with them.

Bookkeeper this is the most important meeting, but it's one that business owners neglect all too often.

Whether you feel intimidated by accounting reports, specifically the profit and loss statement, or it just bores you to review this stuff, you need to put on your big boy pants and get over it. This is a critical area you need to keep in check, especially while your business is growing.

It's very easy for cash flow to get pinched with big invoices outstanding while you continue to pay bills and payroll draining your bank account in no time.

The profit and loss statement should be on a cash basis, not accrual, so you can see what was actually received as income for the month as well as what was spent. Cash is the lifeblood of your business. You're not filing your taxes on this report, just monitoring the health of your company.

I recommend reviewing it by the 10th of every month for the previous month, so in your implementation meetings, make sure that it's part of recurring priorities for your bookkeeper. You should also review accounts receivable every week to see what invoices you're waiting to be paid on so they don't fall through the cracks.

You're not a finance company.

Make it a priority to keep everything well under 30 days and call clients at least twice a week for payment once they start running up against that timeline. Sales Rep and Manager if you have sales staff, reviewing their pipeline is a top priority.

During your weekly implementation meetings, write down their forecast estimates on the implementation sheet and review them regularly to see how accurate they are. You'll notice trends and can help them improve the accuracy of their forecasts over time, which will give you great insight into upcoming growth.

In addition to getting the sales rep status update on each lead, I like to do some role playing with them to keep improving their engagement and closing skills.

It doesn't have to be every week, but if you find them stalling out with certain leads, share how you would approach them or brainstorm an approach together and then have them practice going through it with you acting as the prospect. Finally, if their pipeline is light, brainstorm some lead sources for them to pursue.

Maybe they should check in with the current or past clients to see what testimonials or referrals they can get from them in the process.

More Marketing Depending on your marketing staff's skill and responsibility, the following advice will need to be adjusted to match it Marketing directors today function more like project managers of the various vendors, freelancers, and software needed to implement a comprehensive campaign.

If you have them committed to building out your traffic pillar, then everything should be focused on the next steps of implementation and how they are tracking that implementation.

You should be getting data on how much they spent, how many leads were generated, how many of those turned into qualified prospects for sales, and how many were closed. Helping them see the upcoming steps in any campaign so they can effectively manage them is a huge benefit you can provide in those meetings too.

If the employee is only responsible for a piece of marketing, like managing the email list or creating proposals, then you'll want to include data from those areas as part of the meeting with them.

This could be open rates, click through Rates Inquiries, unsubscribe requests for emails across campaigns, or it could be in process delivered closed installed for proposals Action Steps Follow these steps to start your weekly implementation meetings today or tomorrow at the latest. First, get the template.

Add the Weekly Implementation Meetings template to your Google Drive or download it to save on your network here at BBG LI meeting. Second, talk with staff. Tell them what you're doing and why. Use the script I said previously.

It's on page 126 in the printed version of this book if you need some guidance. Third, schedule meetings. Get them on the calendar and batch them back to back, even if you can only fit in 15 minutes for each one.

Tomorrow, get started. Fourth, print the template. Print a copy for each employee and use it for your meetings with them. 5.

Create meeting folders Create a folder for each employee to store the weekly meeting notes in, as well as topics to cover that come to mind during the week.

Now, if the crazy roommate in your head is coming up with all the sorts of excuses why you can't get to this right away, tell it to shut up and push through to get it scheduled. The more you want to resist this, the more you need these meetings.