If weekly meetings are run badly, they most certainly are a waste of time.
Life is too short.
EOS leaders run their companies with a meeting pulse. A two day annual planning session. A one day quarterly planning and review session. And a weekly 90 minute Leadership Team meeting. The weekly leadership team meetings have 5 characteristics:
- They take place on the same day each week.
- They take place at the same time each week.
- They have the same agenda.
- They start on time.
- They end on time.
Additionally, great meetings solve problems, not regurgitate information that can be found in reports outside of the meeting. That is the magic. Is this how it works in your company?
A fellow EOS Implementer,
Jim Coyle, came across this article which supports our point of view. It’s title is “
Bad Meeting Survey and Tips for Better Meetings“. It would appear as if we paid for it, but I swear we didn’t
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This guest post originally was written by and appeared in the monthly newsletter of my fellow Certified EOS Implementer, Rene Boer, who is based in greater Chicago. I am republishing it here with his permission. A Purpose, Cause or Passion is what is at the heart of any company’s soul. Have you figured out what your company’s purpose is?
On a recent return trip from Alabama where I had spent a week cycling, the instrument panel of my Subaru Outback Wagon suddenly began flashing and if the “Sub”could have talked it would have shouted “Warning! Warning! Warning! Will Robinson”. The window wipers slowed down, the power steering failed and my cycling buddy Chris started hypothesizing about the probable cause … Battery? Alternator? Cyber Attack? Chris quickly located the nearest service center with his smart phone and we pulled off the freeway into Montgomery, AL. It being Saturday morning we weren’t too hopeful that we would find a place that could diagnose the problem, make the repair and send us on our way without too much delay.
You can appreciate the emotions of anxiety, hope, apprehension and fear when you’re vulnerable and pretty much at the mercy of whomever it is that could help you with your problem. That’s how I felt when we pulled into the Cloverdale Service Center in Montgomery, AL. John, the owner, was busy with a customer but told us that he’d be with us in a minute. A minute later he was looking under the hood and quickly found the problem … broken fan belt, caused by seized bearings in a tension pulley. He assured us that if he could get the parts, he could fix it quickly.
I followed him back into the garage while he made a couple of calls. The Parts and Service department at the local Subaru dealership was closed (I’ve never been able to understand this) and so John called a couple of friends who quickly located the belt and the bearings needed to make the repair. I was greatly relieved and thanked John profusely. I then said “John, you seem to really get a kick out of helping people.” John smiled and replied “God put me on this earth to fulfill a purpose. I’ve been fortunate to find my purpose … I love what I do and I’m pretty good at doing it too!” He added, “I know too many people who’ve been given a gift but just won’t accept it, even though it’s right in front of them.” Wow! “Be great at doing something that you love to do” … nice to see it in action.
After making the repairs, John checked the alternator and battery, proclaimed them fit for duty and we were underway. Thank you John! Chris and I made it home to our wives safe and sound. And the Subaru is still on the planet and not lost in space.
A
Visionary often is the person who conceived the company, who had the original great idea and who continues to have ideas about how to expand the business and make it all he ever conceived it would be. Visionaries often focus on the big picture, culture, client relationships. An
Integrator is the person who thrives on creating order out of chaos. She is the person who is naturally suited to setting priorities, solving conflicts, removing obstacles, getting the company from point A to point B. Its not that the Visionary couldn’t do what the Integrator does; he would just get bored and be working far harder than necessary.
One of my EOS clients finds themselves in a very common situation in this regard. The founder is by type a Visionary and by fiscal constraint finds herself not able to hire an Integrator. Does this sound familiar? What to do?
The company has to live with this situation until they can afford to change it. So the leadership team in that company has created both seats on their Accountability Chart – Visionary and Integrator. The founder is in both seats. The advantage is that is that they very carefully defined the roles and responsibilities for each seat so that when the company can afford to hire a true Integrator it will be clear to the founder what her role as the Visionary will be from that point forward. It will also be a very useful recruiting tool, spelling out very clearly what the expectations are for the person who will be hired to fill the Integrator seat.
Maybe more founders would be stay on in their companies if they were actually doing the things that they are great at and love doing to do and not those tasks which they can do but don’t like doing? Strong Visionaries should hire strong Integrators.
Would this be helpful in your company?
Graphic: EOS Worldwide
