Ask 100 business owners if there's anything they want more of and 99 will give you the same two answers - "Time" and "Money." And who can blame them? It's hard to argue with the fact that more capital and more time for leaders to develop and implement winning strategies would positively impact any organization.However, the lack of those two precious commodities are so frequently mentioned as the reason companies don't become their best that I am reminded of John F. Kennedy's famous line, "We must use time as a tool, not a crutch." After all, the lack of time and money are not so much causes of problems in an organizations as they are symptoms of other problems that can and should be addressed systematically and permanently.
Kennedy's comment resonates whenever a client's leadership team struggles to find time to work ON the business because they're working so frenetically IN the business. Often these teams rarely even meet as a group to review results, discuss the future of the organization, and solve problems. And for good reason - each of them is already putting in 60-80 hours per week on stuff that has to get done, and when they HAVE met in the past those meetings have been so long, unfocused and unproductive that calling them a "waste of time" is too kind.
If this sounds familiar, getting better at four things that may help you solve the "not-enough-time" problem at your company:
- Make sure important tasks are assigned to those who have the skills to do them well
- Document your core processes so that everyone in the organization can excel without having to be constantly monitored, coached or audited by key leaders
- Get better at making problems and obstacles go away forever
- Make your meetings more frequent, shorter and more productive
-Mike
3 comments:
Why more frequent meetings? Are meetings with groups of people ever really productive? They may serve some role - every once in a while, but why frequently? What is the objective of more frequent meetings?
Holly -
You hate meetings because the meetings you participate in suck. They last forever, they lead nowhere, and nothing ever gets done. I've been there.
Meetings help get everyone in an organization rowing in the same direction. Regular communication throughout the organization is critical, but I only advocate more meetings when a team is committed to a meeting pulse that's predictable, productive and efficient.
These meetings occur on the same day and at the same time each week. They start and end on time. There's no politicking, no assigning of blame, and most of the time is spent prioritizing and resolving "issues," those things that are holding your team back.
Hope that helps.
-Mike
Our meetings used to suck, too. We revamped our meeting format and it made a big difference.
We have two "can't miss" meetings each week. Monday we have our "Level 10" meeting (as described in the EOS) where we discuss our goals and strategic stuff. Friday we have an operations meeting to plan the next week from a tactical level.
Two things that make our meetings rock: 1) we ALWAYS create an agenda, complete with times for each item and, 2) We use a timer to keep us on track. We allocate a certain amount of time for each item and the timer assures we don't get off track or go over time.
Our meetings are energetic, focused, and most importantly, PRODUCTIVE.
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