The essential meetings that actually boost team performance

The ‘rhythm of the business’ (ROB) is the regular cadence of meetings that keep an organisation or team clear, aligned and focused on performance. The discipline of holding the right meetings at the right time to review performance against strategic objectives is essential, writes Steve Vamos, former CEO of Xero.

The nature of the rhythm can vary depending on the size and maturity of an organisation. I often hear people complain about the time they spend in meetings, which reflects the low value of the meetings they attend. I believe strongly that until an organisation or team can say they are clear, aligned and performing well, they need meetings and plenty of them; however, the agenda must be right and the difficult conversations and hard choices must be had.

Many organisations I’ve advised have not had an established or adequate ROB for the strategic change they were initiating or responding to. Meetings should take place at least once a month for any team to discuss strategic priorities, actions and performance against objectives. In large organisations, each division or functional senior management team should be meeting monthly. Weekly one-hour ‘update’ meetings and short ‘stand-up’ meetings are acceptable but are not a substitute for detailed discussion of key strategic objectives, particularly those not performing to expectation.

Organisations with team members dispersed around the world should meet face-to-face for two or three days, up to three times a year if possible. Communicating using Hangout, Skype or Zoom is common practice and convenient, but it doesn’t replace the benefit of spending time together in person as a team. The difficult conversations regarding progress of executing strategic priorities and actions are more effective and productive if people are in the room together.

At Xero, the ROB meeting cadence evolved each year as the business grew and conditions changed. During the pandemic, we increased the frequency of meetings as we adjusted our budget settings in response to our assessment of changing business conditions. The meetings I found most valuable were:

• weekly sales performance update —chaired by our Chief Customer Officer, for 30 minutes every Friday morning on the sales performance of the week. The Top 60 leaders across the business were invited to dial into this virtual meeting.

• weekly leadership team meetings —with a rotating Chair and the agenda set by our Head of Operations
• quarterly business review —with the Top 60 leaders, to review progress in executing our strategic priorities
• people leader meetings —held three times a year to update our people leaders on the state of the business, and to focus on the development of a specific area of skill, such as career planning and development.

To make sure the ROB your team employs is the right one, have a conversation with your team that specifically asks these questions:

• Are our meetings productive and of good quality?
• Are they held at the right time and with the right agenda?
• If not, when should we meet and what agendas should we set for our meetings?

If possible, these conversations are best when facilitated by an objective third party in a safe environment.

This is an edited extract from Through Shifts and Shocks: Lessons from the Front Line of Technology and Change (Wiley, $34.99) by Steve Vamos. Find out more at www.stevevamos.com

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