Well, that was an ugly meeting. No one circulated their updates in advance. People didn’t follow the meeting format. It ended up being a free-flowing conversation instead of an update. I thought I had set the direction in advance. But they weren’t seeing things the way I did.
Part of me expected this to happen because I know it generally takes a couple of milestone update meetings to establish a rhythm. I know we have to get through these bad meetings early on to get to the good ones later and consistently moving forward, but it did seem like a waste of time.
We did a good job at the end agreeing on what was particularly valuable about the meeting. (And there were some valuable conversations.) Then we agreed what would make these meetings even better going forward. Step-by-step.
Reflections
Milestone management is a process, not a one-time event. In some ways, the 100-day action plans are really about jump-starting the strategic, operational, and organizational processes. Milestone management is a core operational process. Hugely valuable. Requires persistence to get operating right.
Had a good conversation with my boss, Jack, earlier this week. I’m so glad I took him through the plan early on and have been keeping him up to date with how it’s working. He definitely bought into the “go slow at first” approach, but is even more pleased now that we’re moving things forward. He was particularly pleased with the output from our imperative workshop and heard good things from some of the participants.
The New Leader’s Journal is a fictional exercise illustrating the prescriptions and tools in the 3rd edition of The New Leader’s 100-Day Action Plan. Click here to request an executive summary of the book. Click here to order a copy.
