I visited a client last week and asked to join their production meeting. It turned out that the meeting had been cancelled. After a little probing I found out that the meeting wasn't satisfying the owner's requirements.
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The meeting was broken, but it was there for a reason. It had a purpose and it added value to the business. The owner acknowledged this.
Pressures are on everyone at the moment, but dumping the meeting rather than fixing it?
A question I ask all my clients is 'what does good look like?'.
We debated this, my client and I. There were clearly a lot of good things that this meeting did. There were a handful of things this meeting didn't do. So, what did good look like?
Quickly we were able to define some clearer guidance for the attendees. They now all know what they need to bring to their meeting and what responses need to be prepared in advance.
My client even embraced the PDCA (Plan Do Check Act) approach. They refined the agenda and preparation notes after a couple of meetings had taken place.
If you have a process that isn't working for you then I urge you try out these two things:
- Ask what does good look like; define it.
- Tweak the results from experience; create something superb.
Over to you,
Giles
About the author:
Giles Johnston is a Chartered Engineer who specialises in helping businesses to grow and improve through better business processes and embracing Kaizen.
Giles is also the author of Effective Root Cause Analysis and 'What Does Good Look Like?'.