{"id":2901,"date":"2016-04-21T00:01:24","date_gmt":"2016-04-21T04:01:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/terrencemetz.com\/?p=2901"},"modified":"2026-05-01T15:53:34","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T19:53:34","slug":"review-meetings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/review-meetings\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Review Meetings: Operational, Strategic, and Strategy Renewal"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"3Deliverables should drive meetings, even review meetings.<\/h2>\n

Meeting time is too expensive to conduct\u00a0unstructured<\/a> discussions and hope some of it sticks. Here you will find three strong reasons for conducting review meetings. Moreover, you will better understand the different types of deliverables<\/a>, frequency, and structure<\/a> for each.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\u00a03 Review Meetings<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n\n

Operational
\nReview<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

(HOW)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\u00a0Strategic
\nReview
\n<\/strong><\/span><\/span>
\n<\/strong><\/span><\/span>(WHAT)<\/span><\/td>\n		\n

Strategy<\/span>
\n Renewal<\/span>
\n<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

(WHY)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Meeting Purpose<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\nTo review the performance of products, projects, or operating departments and build the next steps<\/span><\/td>\nReview performance indicators and initiatives to assess progress and barriers to strategy execution<\/span><\/td>\nReview the strategies and modify or supplement as required<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Deliverable<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\nActions and activities for quick fixes and solving short-term problems<\/span><\/td>\nPlans for a product or project acceleration or deceleration and other adjustments such as personnel assignments<\/span><\/td>\nNew, improved or transformed strategies, targets, and authorization for expenditures<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Frequency<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\nFrom daily to monthly<\/span><\/td>\n. . . monthly to quarterly<\/span><\/td>\n. . . quarterly to annually<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Topics<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n\n
    \n
  • Operating dashboards<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Sales, bookings, shipping, and inventory reports<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Customer\u00a0complaints<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Late deliveries<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Defective production<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Knowledge gaps<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Equipment or process breakdowns<\/span><\/li>\n
  • New opportunities<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Departmental specific (e.g., resource balancing)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n
\n
    \n
  • Scorecards<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Strategy map<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Workforce development<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Brand identity<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Product innovation<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Customer satisfaction<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Business process improvement<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Strategic objectives and themes<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Focused theme(s) that are rotational<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n
\n
    \n
  • Strategic assumptions<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Strategic targets<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Budgets and allocation balance<\/span><\/li>\n
  • The strategies themselves<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Shaping curves<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Analytic reports (e.g., correlations)<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Market analysis (e.g., industry updates)<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Technology developments<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Agenda Construct<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\nUse the\u00a0\u201cFacts, Implications, Recommendations<\/a>\u201d<\/em> tool; aka<\/em> \u201cWhat, So What, Now What\u201d<\/span><\/td>\nUse the\u00a0\u201cAfter-action Review<\/a>\u201d<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>tool; aka<\/em> \u201cHotwash\u201d<\/span><\/td>\nConsider Quantitative<\/em>\u00a0TO-WS<\/em><\/a> and other portfolio prioritizing methods (e.g., Perceptual Mapping<\/em><\/a>)<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Comments<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\nAvoid discussions about strategic issues or put them in the Parking Lot<\/a><\/span><\/td>\nAvoid discussions about operational issues or put them in the Parking Lot<\/a><\/span><\/td>\nThe approach and procedures for renewal can be substantially modified, even going back\u00a0to Mission, etc.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

Make Review Meetings Participatory<\/h3>\n

Participants should NOT spend their time listening to report presentations during review meetings. However, they should have become familiar with the main topics through their pre-read<\/a> and preparation<\/a>, and have developed some input\u00a0for consideration. Build your agenda<\/a> for review meetings around discrete deliverables from each step, and make sure the deliverables can be documented. If your deliverable is too abstract (e.g., \u2018shared awareness\u2019), then it is inappropriate for these three types of meetings. Remember that a world-class strategy is impotent if it is not converted into operational plans that are executed against the agreed-upon performance targets.<\/span><\/p>\n

The role of session leader (aka<\/em> facilitator) is frequently filled by the same person who also provides the role of meeting designer. Since there is usually more than one right answer (or meeting design, that leads to the deliverable), how do you determine the optimal approach?<\/span><\/p>\n

As you may know from\u00a0MGRUSH<\/span><\/em> structured facilitation, a robust decision-making<\/a> method suggests creating your options and then separately evaluating them against a set of prioritized<\/a> criteria; including SMART<\/a> criteria, fuzzy criteria, and other important considerations.<\/span><\/p>\n

Additionally, the International Association of Facilitators (IAF) encourages you to “select clear methods and processes that . . .<\/span><\/p>\n