In articles I published recently, I explained how we run daily, weekly and monthly meetings. These meetings are tactical/operational meetings and are focused on execution. But we also need to look further ahead, to where execution meets strategy. That is where Quarterly Meetings come in.

Quarterly meetings signal the start and the end of each 13 week race and they provide leadership teams with the opportunity to review how the last quarter went, review strategic issues and set the quarterly targets and priorities for the next quarter. My clients normally dedicate a full day to quarterly meetings depending on their size and how established they are on their scale up journey.

Who goes?

Just the leadership team.

When are they held?

I normally hold quarterly meetings at the end or beginning of each quarter so June/July, September/October, December/January and March/April. Some of my clients want to get ahead so run theirs at the end of the quarter ready for the start of the next quarter, others want the quarter finished before they review and set their priorities for the next quarter. The key thing is to have quarterly meetings finished by the second week of the quarter or your 13 week race just became a 10 week race and you'll be on the backfoot for the rest of the quarter.

What is the Agenda?

Good News

The power of good news stories is underestimated in most businesses. Day to day issues and challenges are almost always negative and they get the air time. Taking a few minutes to share a round of good news sets the leadership team in the right frame of mind to attack the meeting positively. It frames the conversation within the context of the good things that have happened in the personal and professional lives of the people in the business.

As a group I get my clients to share:

•  Great outcomes and results since the last meeting; DiTcult problems addressed or resolved;
•  Recognition of eVort or achievement "above and beyond";
•  Stories of employees living and demonstrating the company's core values.

Cohesive Question

At each quarter I ask a different question intended to get the leadership team to reveal a little more about themselves. It might be professional (what was your biggest learning over the last quarter?) or personal (what were your family special weekend meals like?). This is all about creating vulnerability within the leadership team as you need trust to make yourself vulnerable in front of your peers. This is taken directly from Patrick Lencioni's "Five Dysfunctions of a Team" book.

Functional Review

Then we review the Function Chart and the Key Function Flow map to identify any changes or issues with accountability or execution. What are the Red, Amber, Green statuses of each of the functions that are directly involved in getting money into your bank account. If necessary we'll also run an A-Player assessment for each of the leadership team's direct reports and capture any actions for B & C players.

Culture/Strategy Review

From then we move onto a review of the Culture and Strategy systems. Really, we are just validating and identifying where we might need to focus our attention. We review:

•  Core Purpose
•  Core Values
•  BHAG
•  Profit/X
•  3HAG
•  And any of the strategic tools we have developed over our previous sessions.

Some of these might need refining or evolving and if the change is minor we do it there and then. If not, we add it to the list of potential topics for the next session in the meeting.

Review the 1HAG (Annual Targets and Priorities)

Each quarter, we check in on how we are going to achieving our quarterly targets and priorities. Are we on track? If not, what do we need to do to get back on track?

Review the Previous Quarterly Targets and Priorities

Next, review how you went on the quarterly targets and priorities. Did you complete your quarterly targets and priorities by the end of the quarter (or when we planned to complete them)? Does everyone have shared visibility on how we did? If we didn't complete them what prevented us from completing our priorities? What can we learn from our performance over the last quarter

Set the Next Quarterly Targets and Priorities

As a leadership team, review and set the next quarterly targets and priorities and the critical numbers you will use to track your progress against these quarterly priorities.

Finalise Outcomes (Who, What, When)

Finally, capture and replay the outcomes with a Who, What, When or similar.

One Phrase Close

Close with a one phrase close; how is the team feeling, did they meet their objectives etc whatever they want to end the day on.

This format really works for me and I find the leadership teams I work with normally come away amazed at what they managed to accomplish as a group. Productivity and execution just doesn't happen like this when you are buried in the wirlwind of every day business as usual.

What are the outputs?

1. An updated One Page Strategic Plan
2. A Who, What, When (Actions List)
3. An Updated Issues List