Practice Management

Weekly strategy meetings

Invesco Global Consulting
Invesco Global Consulting
Weekly strategy meetings

"What got you here won't get you there."

Outstanding long-term companies survive long-term by constantly adapting to evolving markets, technological innovations, and new competitive entries. You can do the same by continually challenging your assumptions and value proposition in three critical areas:

1. Product/process leadership

  • Stay abreast of new products, processes, and technologies in your marketplace to help you enhance and diversify your revenue streams.
  • Hire a diverse talent pool that allows you to constantly expand your product and service offerings.
  • Embrace and reward innovation and education.

2. Operational efficiency

  • Create an assembly line "behind the curtain" and a concierge service in front of it.
  • Define roles and responsibilities and disciplined teamwork.
  • Control your calendar to allow adequate prep time.

3. Client intimacy

  • Know your clients personally and professionally, and respond accordingly.
  • Help each client navigate his/her unique and complex financial journey through your comprehensive and integrated approach.
  • Don't just fulfill your clients’ needs; instead, get to a point where you can anticipate them.

Overview

The focus of these meetings is to enhance and refine your existing practice in the three areas above.

  • Use the toolkits: Utilize our Diagnostic Toolkit, designed to be a systematic blueprint and meant to not only help you begin this journey, but to actually complete it. Incorporate the other toolkits as you get to those topics and systems.
  • Foster collaboration: This is a highly collaborative exercise because we believe you need the collective insights of all team members, based on their unique perspectives from their respective positions on the team.
  • Create accountability: Work to ensure that each team member is clear on their respective responsibilities and timeframes by the conclusion of each meeting.
  • Be solutions-focused: No team member is permitted to state a problem without also having thought through a couple of potential solutions. This diffuses the risk of team meetings becoming nothing more than gripe sessions.
  • Practice time management: Start and end on time, keeping in mind that this meeting is nothing more than another system in your practice.
  • Maintain a controlled environment: Hold these meetings in a small conference room, preferably late Thursday afternoon. This may help you avoid distraction and "gets the week behind you," potentially allowing you to focus on the long-term structural evolution of your practice.

Potential items to discuss

  • Take the diagnostic checklist individually and then come up with a "team consensus."
  • Discuss the "room" you're going to start with and then work through the "filling the gaps" worksheet to begin to enhance that room.
  • Have each team member answer the question, "What are the three to five things that only I can and should do that will have the greatest positive impact on the team each week?"
  • Discuss ways to help each team member spend at least 60% of his/her week doing those three to five things.
  • As a team, answer the question: "What should we stop doing?"
  • As a team, answer the question: "What should we start doing?"
  • Give each team member a monthly "book report" in an effort to broaden and deepen the team's education and insights.
  • Acknowledge weekly successes.
  • Discuss weekly challenges.
  • Review commitments and accountabilities.
  • Brainstorm best practices ideas.
  • Conduct an educational conference call on peer-to-peer best practices, client service, new products and services, and/or technological capabilities both within the firm and outside the firm.

 

Meeting Diagnostic Tools

Fostering an open, collaborative, and consensus culture

Question

Y

N

Possible solutions
Do one or two people dominate the meeting?    

1. Topical leadership rotates based on topical role and specialization.

2. Each topic goes "around the horn" for insights and potential solutions.
Are decisions made without consensus?    

1. Budget adequate brainstorming and discussion time.

2. Always have a flip chart or whiteboard available for these sessions.
After the meeting are there many behind-the-scenes discussions and critiques?    

1. Autocratic leadership styles usually drive conversations underground.

2. In a culture of fear, compliance often masquerades as consensus.

 

Creating a culture of accountability and follow-up

Question

Y

N

Possible solutions
Is there lots of talk but little implementation?    

1. Appoint a "meeting scribe."

2. The scribe writes down what is decided, who is responsible, and when it will be completed.

3. All meetings open with accountability sheet review.
Are people coming to the meeting ill-prepared?    

The scribe emails participants one day before the next meeting to update the accountability sheet.
Does the meeting end in ambiguity and/or indecision?    

1. Every meeting closes with a review of “what, who, or when” decisions.

2. The scribe types this up and emails it to all participants at the conclusion of the meeting.

3. Always complete one topic before moving on to the next.

 

Meeting mechanics and logistics

Question

Y

N

Possible solutions
Do some people come late, leave early, or miss meetings entirely?     Establish the classic "penalty pot" to control this behavior in a fun way. By the way, this should be a "progressive tax.”
Do team members have trouble staying on track?     Utilize our toolkits and your written agenda to keep the meeting focused and on track.
Are there too many interruptions?    

1. Your daily huddles are designed to defuse this significantly.

2. Block the first 10 minutes to get this out of the way if necessary, basically starting your strategic meetings with a little huddle.

3. Stick to the agenda.
Is there too much discussion on "housecleaning"and/or "heads up" issues rather than the more serious work of structurally enhancing and refining the practice?    

Hold these meetings in a conference room to avoid the ringing phones and occasional "pop-ins."

 

General accountability

What must be done

Who's responsible

Target date

Completion date
       
       
       
       
       
       

Related insights

success failure

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