Effective executive team meetings can influence your business
When working well, meetings can be a highly efficient and effective forum for robust discussion and debate, an opportunity for executives to align on future action, commit to it, and hold one another accountable
Chedid Haddad, Director of Strategy & Operations at Bain & Company (Middle East)
The first law of thermodynamics states that energy cannot be destroyed, yet most executives can point to meetings on their calendars that would seem to refute that rule. Meetings might look and feel a bit different these days—“you’re on mute!”—but they are still the primary forum for executives, live or virtually, to share important information, collaborate, gather input, monitor results, and make decisions.
When working well, meetings can be a highly efficient and effective forum for robust discussion and debate, an opportunity for executives to align on future action, commit to it, and hold one another accountable. Taken together they build an integrated operating rhythm that becomes the heartbeat of the organisation.
Executives spend a lot of time in meetings, and far more goes into planning and preparing for them. On average, senior executives devote more than two days every week to meetings of three or more colleagues, and 15 percent of an organisation’s collective time is spent in meetings, Bain research has found. When our colleagues looked into the ripple effect of a single regular senior review meeting, they found that something in the order of 300,000 additional hours were put into its planning and preparation over the course of the year, the equivalent of roughly 150 full-time employees. Research has found a connection between meeting behaviour and market share, and between innovation and employment stability. It has also found that workers’ feelings about meetings correlate with general job satisfaction.
When executives talk about “fixing meetings,” they often mean meeting hygiene—things such as the agenda, who participates, their roles, meeting norms, and materials. All should fit the focus and goals of the meeting, and simple changes can make a big difference.
Getting the most out of executive forums goes beyond improving hygiene, however. It requires distinguishing between two critical parts of the executive portfolio: operations (or running the business) and innovation (or changing the business).
Run-the-business meetings and change-the-business meetings
Distinguishing between run- and change-the-business efforts helps the executive team think through and align around their purpose and intent as a group. Often this leads to a realisation that they need to focus more of their team’s time on changing the business. Yes, they still need to monitor operations and remove roadblocks, but they also need to delegate run-the-business issues whenever possible. With this distinction in mind, executives can then begin to tailor their meetings’ structure and cadence to fit their focus, whether run-the-business or change-the-business.
Clearly, run-the-business and change-the-business meetings benefit from different designs. Run-the-business meetings focus on the best ways to execute everyday operations effectively and efficiently. This is where executives monitor performance, highlight warning signs, and course correct as needed. They focus on establishing repeatable procedures that create predictable outcomes.
Run-the-business meetings typically have the following characteristics:
Focus on key outcomes and concentrate on those that are deviating meaningfully and materially from the original plan
Aim to surface the root causes of the issue and then decide how to course correct
May warrant shorter, more frequent “pulse checks” rather than lengthy, holistic reviews
Change-the-business meetings, on the other hand, focus on innovation, capturing business opportunities, and creating competitive advantage. They concentrate on determining future direction and how to pivot as priorities shift.
Change-the-business meetings differ from run-the-business meetings in the following ways:
Focus on sharing lessons learned and removing impediments to progress
Leaders provide input and feedback, but support innovation by empowering their teams to test and learn, embracing an Agile leadership approach (For more on this, refer to “The Agile C-Suite” in Harvard Business Review.)
Often need to take place frequently—monthly, or even weekly—to keep pace with innovation and provide teams with timely coaching and guidance
Moving forward
Whatever its industry, maturity, and current health, any executive team wants to ensure they are working on the right topics in the right ways. Are they spending enough of their time together on changing the business? How can they keep a finger on the pulse of operations in the most efficient manner? Do their meetings match the different needs of running and changing the business?
A good place to start is with a periodic review of each meeting on the calendar. Do their agendas match the executive team’s proper focus? Where are run- and change-the-business topics converging, and should they be separated? Additional questions flow from that, including whether the right people are attending, and if the cadence is right. Ongoing attention to good meeting hygiene is important, too.
It is worth the effort. Well-designed meetings spearhead the conversations and mindset that lead to better decisions. Rather than destroying energy, these meetings focus and feed it.
Chedid Haddad, Director of Strategy & Operations at Bain & Company (Middle East)
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by Staff Writer
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Effective executive team meetings can influence your business
When working well, meetings can be a highly efficient and effective forum for robust discussion and debate, an opportunity for executives to align on future action, commit to it, and hold one another accountable
Chedid Haddad, Director of Strategy & Operations at Bain & Company (Middle East)
The first law of thermodynamics states that energy cannot be destroyed, yet most executives can point to meetings on their calendars that would seem to refute that rule. Meetings might look and feel a bit different these days—“you’re on mute!”—but they are still the primary forum for executives, live or virtually, to share important information, collaborate, gather input, monitor results, and make decisions.
When working well, meetings can be a highly efficient and effective forum for robust discussion and debate, an opportunity for executives to align on future action, commit to it, and hold one another accountable. Taken together they build an integrated operating rhythm that becomes the heartbeat of the organisation.
Executives spend a lot of time in meetings, and far more goes into planning and preparing for them. On average, senior executives devote more than two days every week to meetings of three or more colleagues, and 15 percent of an organisation’s collective time is spent in meetings, Bain research has found. When our colleagues looked into the ripple effect of a single regular senior review meeting, they found that something in the order of 300,000 additional hours were put into its planning and preparation over the course of the year, the equivalent of roughly 150 full-time employees. Research has found a connection between meeting behaviour and market share, and between innovation and employment stability. It has also found that workers’ feelings about meetings correlate with general job satisfaction.
When executives talk about “fixing meetings,” they often mean meeting hygiene—things such as the agenda, who participates, their roles, meeting norms, and materials. All should fit the focus and goals of the meeting, and simple changes can make a big difference.
Getting the most out of executive forums goes beyond improving hygiene, however. It requires distinguishing between two critical parts of the executive portfolio: operations (or running the business) and innovation (or changing the business).
Run-the-business meetings and change-the-business meetings
Distinguishing between run- and change-the-business efforts helps the executive team think through and align around their purpose and intent as a group. Often this leads to a realisation that they need to focus more of their team’s time on changing the business. Yes, they still need to monitor operations and remove roadblocks, but they also need to delegate run-the-business issues whenever possible. With this distinction in mind, executives can then begin to tailor their meetings’ structure and cadence to fit their focus, whether run-the-business or change-the-business.
Clearly, run-the-business and change-the-business meetings benefit from different designs. Run-the-business meetings focus on the best ways to execute everyday operations effectively and efficiently. This is where executives monitor performance, highlight warning signs, and course correct as needed. They focus on establishing repeatable procedures that create predictable outcomes.
Run-the-business meetings typically have the following characteristics:
Change-the-business meetings, on the other hand, focus on innovation, capturing business opportunities, and creating competitive advantage. They concentrate on determining future direction and how to pivot as priorities shift.
Change-the-business meetings differ from run-the-business meetings in the following ways:
Moving forward
Whatever its industry, maturity, and current health, any executive team wants to ensure they are working on the right topics in the right ways. Are they spending enough of their time together on changing the business? How can they keep a finger on the pulse of operations in the most efficient manner? Do their meetings match the different needs of running and changing the business?
A good place to start is with a periodic review of each meeting on the calendar. Do their agendas match the executive team’s proper focus? Where are run- and change-the-business topics converging, and should they be separated? Additional questions flow from that, including whether the right people are attending, and if the cadence is right. Ongoing attention to good meeting hygiene is important, too.
It is worth the effort. Well-designed meetings spearhead the conversations and mindset that lead to better decisions. Rather than destroying energy, these meetings focus and feed it.
Chedid Haddad, Director of Strategy & Operations at Bain & Company (Middle East)
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