infinite pie thinking

Honestly though, sit back and think through all of the meetings that you have sat through that ran over time.

Some agenda points, all business critical, the discussions were lively, points of views were made clear, there was some disagreement and a decision was made, all within the allotted time; fabulous.

Then, just as people were packing away their notebooks whoever is sat at the head of the table leading the meeting decides to go round the table for anyone’s AOB.

The word-hole flapping begins, it might be that there isn’t enough support, or delivery is threatened by that cut in budget, the timeframe is just unrealistic and so on.

Don’t get me wrong, all of these things are likely to be important and should be discussed, but think it through, if it is that important then it needs the proper forum; the right people armed with the right information.

If you are running a meeting, ad hoc or regular may we suggest the following process to ensure that everyone sat around the table gets the most out of the time that they invest.

1.       Notify the invitees about the upcoming meeting and ask for agenda points.

2.       Pull the agenda together and send it out to everyone, asking for confirmation of their attendance with the minutes from the last meeting including updates of any outstanding action points.

3.       Ensure that AOB is nowhere to be seen and remind everyone they have until 24 hours before the meeting starts to add any additional items for discussion.

4.       Run the meeting on time.

If someone then strays off topic organise a follow up conversation, get the experts in the room after your meeting has finished or allow those who are not needed to participate in the follow up leave after your meeting has finished.

It’s not too difficult; just give some thought to the amount of time and money that is being invested at that exact moment. In terms of salary alone 6 people being paid an average salary of £50,000 a year sat around a table going off agenda costs your business about £150 an hour, and that doesn’t include the cost of the facilities or the opportunities that are being missed as a result.

Ensuring that you and every other person in the room gets what they need out of the meeting that you’ve organised is one of your primary responsibilities. Do us all a favour. Kill off AOB.

 “Management is doing things right, leadership is doing the right things.”

Peter Drucker

How can we tell the difference? We talk at infinite pie about leaders lifting themselves out of the tools of the technician and inspiring others to follow out of more than morbid curiosity, which sounds fantastic on paper but how can we be sure that we are doing the right thing and not simply following a process correctly?

It’s simple, ask yourself this question, am I doing this for me, my ego, my company or my team? As simplistic as the theory might be; if you are not looking after your team, they will not look after your business, if they are not looking after the business, you’re not doing the right thing. As for your ego, come back tomorrow to find out how you can tame that.

It is truly amazing to watch a team form and attack a problem that is far removed from their normal day to day activity. The team will probably try to tackle issues using their normal tool kit, and if that fails as can happen in novel situations, the failure of the established way of working can on occasion make room for creativity to blossom; assumptions can be stripped away and good old fashioned problem solving occurs.

What is truly awe inspiring however is to watch this process being driven by a group of people  who have little or no ego, no concerns about whether they are the most important person in the group or how they are perceived by their colleagues or those outside of the team. In the rare instances you might find yourself observing such a team it can be truly inspirational.

I was honoured to be invited to Plymouth University this week to take part in ‘Chemistry Flux 2012’ which involved teams of students faced with the task of setting up a business and business planning in chemistry or chemical engineering

Every participant was in the second year of studying for their chemistry degree, rather than a business or marketing degree. They were given one of four briefs at nine in the morning, and had to form a plan, come up with a number of questions for a panel of experts and then make a pitch for investment in the style of Dragons Den, all before three that afternoon.

The team work displayed was frankly humbling; they easily divided jobs according to talent and knowledge and then gave each other the space to function within their allotted role.

The winning team created a measured and measurable business plan that we all found not only ambitious but realistic and well thought through.

It is surprising where you can find inspiration, but a good place to start would be here

MD

infinite pie

When you plan a veggie patch, you will consider the type and amount of space required and how to arrange it effectively etc and ensure we plant the seeds at the right time (you can’t cram for a bumper harvest like you can cram for an exam ie the night before the test).  By beginning with the end in mind, or setting a desired outcome, you will take action and constantly review and enjoy the journey and process with no guarantee of the end result.  The outcome/outputs will often depend on the quality of the inputs.

AF

infinite pie

I notice that the UK film industry is critical of how the prime minister defines success in today’s papers. (http://ind.pn/Agb9Ro); British director Sally Potter was quoted as saying “The success of a film cannot be measured in purely financial terms.”

This may very well be true, but whatever success means to you or your organisation its definition will eventually boil down to a very simple equation.

Success = Achievement of a predefined outcome (of specific quality) within a predetermined time

Looking back over a project and then ambiguously calling it successful does a disservice to everyone involved, from stakeholder to technician. Whether your predefined outcome is based on financials, competition, distance travelled or number of donuts eaten, success must be defined up front, otherwise how do you really know whether you’ve been successful or not?

MD

infinite pie