Have you ever found yourself managing week to week (or even day to day), running on the treadmill of business as usual to meet pressing deadlines and support your team, but with that sinking feeling that you should be stepping back to survey what lies ahead, if only you could find the time?
Or do you know this is what you need to do, but – when you try to step your team back from the day to day – you find that your colleagues tell you they’re too busy doing ‘real work’ to be able to navel gaze on strategy?
I have struggled with both of these experiences (and no doubt been guilty of the latter in the earlier parts of my career!).
Steven Covey, author of the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, told a story about a crew of workers who were busily cutting a path through a jungle. The leader climbs up to the top of the tallest tree, surveys the entire situation and yells back ‘Wrong jungle!’, to which the crew replies something to the effect of ‘Shut up! We’re busy doing work!’.’
It’s important to step back and reflect on your team’s performance from time to time. This presents the opportunity to reflect on what’s working well, what can be improved and how actual impact compared to target impact. You can review both ‘working in the team’ aspects, such as the quality, quantity and timeliness of deliverables, as well as ‘working on the team’ elements, such as team cohesiveness, strategy, objectives and development.
In his book, The Advantage (read our summary here), Patrick Lencioni recommends that these review meetings be conducted quarterly and off site over one to two days. He also recommends that teams consider using an external consultant, to give the leader an opportunity to participate fully in the discussion.
Quarterly reviews also fit with the objectives and key results (OKRs) cycle recommended by John Doerr in his book, Measure What Matters (read our summary here). OKRs have been used by companies as large as Google and Intel for decades, where each team and individuals goals and targets are set and reviewed every quarter in alignment with the organisation’s overarching strategy.
At another extreme, Bill Gates famously took a ‘think week’ twice per year. He would get dropped by helicopter or seaplane to an isolated cabin in the forest with boxes of papers and other thinking material. He would review the material day and night, reflect and take notes on strategy. Thinking done during one of these weeks in the mid-1990s led to Microsoft’s launch of Internet Explorer.
Think weeks are a bit of a stretch for most people. But not taking any time at all to step back doesn’t serve us well either.
The sweet spot is the quarterly review. All managers can accommodate one day per quarter for an off site review with your leadership team. These are best scheduled as a series of invites several quarters into the future, to ensure that they’re prioritised in people’s calendars.
I think that holding the quarterly reviews offsite is important, because it puts people in a different frame of mind for the day and reduces the possibility of anyone getting drawn back into the day to day. It doesn’t need to be anywhere lavish: I’ve run them in public libraries, coworking spaces and universities, where comfortable meeting rooms can be hired at minimal expense.
Topics to be reviewed should include:
- Scoring progress against the previous quarter’s priority objectives (whether they’re in the form on OKRs or goals), especially actual vs target performance
- Changes in the organisation’s strategic context, including changes in the operating environment (e.g. competition, economic, political factors etc.) and within the business
- The organisation’s strategic risks and management controls
- Long term strategy and confirmation of whether the direction is still the right direction
- The organisation or team’s strategic plan or Team Alignment Canvas, to reflect on direction
- With consideration of all of the above, developing a set of priority objectives (ideally in the form of OKRs) for the next quarter that are aligned with long term strategy
A fundamental pre-requisite for the quarterly offsite is to have a clear strategy in place for the organisation. If you don’t, read about the six questions that every organisation needs to succeed and consider starting with a team strategic planning workshop and completing our Team Alignment Canvas. We have developed a step by step toolkit to make it easy for anyone to facilitate this work for any team.
Ready to run your own quarterly workshop?
Taking time for a quarterly review transforms team performance by aligning immediate priorities with long-term strategy. The Quarterly Planning Toolkit equips you with everything needed to structure these sessions effectively, ensuring your team’s efforts deliver measurable results. Learn more here.
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Quarterly Planning Toolkit
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New. Drive measurable results every quarter. Set clear priorities, track progress and align your team with long-term goals using practical templates, agendas and checklists. Integrates with our Strategic and Team Planning Toolkits.
