There is something about board room conversations and top management business reviews that never stops to alarm me. By definition these are the higher amongst equals, most expensive resources of any business….set of employees who are expected to create maximum business impact. Board room meetings are supposed to be brainstorming sessions just for that very purpose. These are meetings, workshops, sessions, battle ground…call them by whatever name….where they discuss business strategies and more importantly decide future course of action.
I have been witness to these discussions at various corporate houses. It’s fascinating the kind of discussion and brainstorming that takes place. However that’s pretty much what they remain mostly…discussion. The simplest yardsticks of efficiency of these discussions is to check how will anything in business be different from next day as a result of these discussions and then monitor gains or losses due to that. However if nothing is changing then great discussions is all it was. Somehow everyone assumes that a strategic call has been taken. It reminds me often of the old Jaspal Bhatti jokes…”sir we had a very successful meeting…..what got decided…well we decided the next meeting date”. I so wish the amount of time that is spent in detailing logistics, meeting date, venue, lunch order etc. was spent on detailing business actions and not just leave it at discussion level.
Simple yardstick I recommend for any organization as a yardstick is to pen down discussions that took place during the last 7 or 8 meetings and see the state of those decisions currently. Well if your answer is less than 25%, you have been spending too much time doing facial exercise and not mental exercise.
Some very simple basics to remember like a check list in my view for every decision taken:
· Who all does it impact?
· Is there some formal/informal communication required and who will do that?
· What does everyone involved need to do differently as a result?
· Does any MIS or reporting need to change as a result?
· Will any of the existing business activities get impacted and would they need any support?
Well it might seem unglamorous detailing compared to the glamorous strategic brainstorming…..but then I am not particularly a big fan of glamour in business for the heck of it….I guess that’s a separate discussion J
~~Rohit~~
Rohit Jain