How to get every team member rowing in the SAME direction

Most business owners think that a strategic plan is about having a big vision.

The truth is that strategic planning is mostly about alignment.

The most powerful thing you can do as an executive leader is to get everyone rowing in the same direction.

The way to do that is to have everyone understand the same thing.

And the best way to reach this level of understanding is through implementing a team meeting rhythm.

What is a team meeting rhythm?

A disciplined rhythm of recurring team meetings focused on goal setting, alignment, reporting, and accountability that occur on an annual, quarterly, monthly, weekly, and daily basis.

Watch the video to learn more – or scroll down if you’d prefer to read!

John’s recommended Team Meeting Rhythm

I recommend that you take on a rhythm of team meetings as follows.
Annual

• Time: 1 – 2 days
• Agenda: deciding on new annual goals to support 3 to 5 year targets
• Attending: management team

This meeting is best held offsite and may be professionally facilitated.

Quarterly

• Time: 1 to 2 hours
• Agenda: communicating new quarterly priorities to support annual goals
• Attending: entire team

The focus of this meeting is reviewing what got done, what didn’t get done, what still needs to get done in the next 90 days coming up.

Monthly

• Time: 1 hour
• Agenda: discussing 1-2 strategic items, learning and reviewing
• Attending: management team

Your monthly meeting is a good time to discuss specific strategic items and learn by reviewing progress.
Weekly

• Time: 1 hour
• Agenda: news, KPIs, who/what/when
• Attending: management team

Most importantly…if you’re only going to do one meeting, make it the daily huddle!

Daily

• Time: 10-15 minutes
• Agenda: news, KPIs, bottlenecks
• Attending: entire team in cascading huddles

The focus of this meeting is learning what’s up, what’s stuck, and how are we doing on KPIs.

What’s up is a chance for everyone on the team to talk about what’s on their plate for the next 24 hours.

What’s stuck is a chance to address whatever is preventing any team member from doing what need to get next.

KPIs are the numbers that you’re tracking for each team. These could be sales goals or the percentage of a project that has been completed.

Everyone in the company should be involved in a daily huddle at their level.

Begin with the team on the floor, then cascade up through management to the executive team.

All it takes is 15-minutes, no more, no less, and when it’s conducted properly, everyone leaves with a solid understanding of what each person is working on over the next 24 hours as well as what their team is expecting of them in return.

For more information on Daily Huddles, I recommend that you watch this Verne Harnish video:

When I think about implementing a team meeting rhythm, it brings to mind this quote:

“the art of progress is to preserve order amid change and to preserve change amid order.”

~ Alfred Lord Whitehead

A well-established team meeting rhythm will help you accomplish what seems like 2 competing ideas!

On a scale of one to five, where would you currently rate your team meeting rhythm?

Do you and members of your team feel like team meetings are haphazardly scheduled, even a waste of time?

Or are all levels of your team up to date at all times on what’s going on in the business?

For a business to work effectively, everyone from administration to senior management needs to be on the same page. And the best way to do that is properly structured meetings.

Would you like some help incorporating a team meeting rhythm in your business?

Creating simple systems to help the business run better is one of the things I help my clients with.

The first step in my “system” for working with clients is a 15-minute Fast Track Call.

There’s no fee and no sales pressure.

You can book one here: book 15 minutes with John