Planning to Plan – The ‘Reverse-Flow’ meetings. Part I

While our IBS (Issues, Barriers, Strategies) process identifies and prioritizes, the truth is, deciding to do something without accountability and consistent monitoring is useless.

Three frogs sitting on a lily pad. One decides to jump off. How many are left on the lily pad. Lots of different answers however, in this example the answer is three. Deciding to do something does not ensure that you will get it done.

The implementation factor is critical, and this is what makes our system work. At least once a month the team has a meeting. The Team can be a collection of employees from different departments (The Employee In-Put Team) or from a specific group (Install, Service, Office, Sales, Management).  We call these meetings ‘Reverse-Flow Meetings’ because in many businesses’ communication flows downhill and the purpose of these meetings is to reverse the flow of ideas back up to the top.

These Facilitated Monitor/Review Meetings focus on identifying and prioritizing Issues. Working with Barriers and Strategies is done with groups between meetings. (tweeners). The key to the success of these meetings is that a person will volunteer to “Own” a Task Card. This makes him the captain of the team of people who will identify barriers and determine a strategy which they will recommend to the decision maker.

The ‘Owner’ will report at subsequent meetings the ‘status’ of the card. Each meeting begins with the facilitator asking each owner, “What is the current status of your card? The ‘Card Owner’ will respond by indicating what his/her team has accomplished since the last Monitor/Review Meeting. If they have decided upon a strategy and offered the three-part form to the decision maker, they will review that strategy with the group.

Next week “Three Frog Part II” The Accountability system.

 Some with interesting methods for improvement in business or self.

When I find a book that you should read, I’ll share.

Here is one.

The Speed of Trust

The One Thing That Changes Everything

Stephen M.R. Covey

Stephen M.R. Covey is the son of Stephen M. Covey, of ‘Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People’ fame, and the great grandson of Stephen Mack Covey and the father of Stephen Covey.

Do you see a pattern here? I do and it is in patterns.

‘The Speed of Trust’ reveals patterns of behavior which when discovered and more importantly applied can ‘Change Everything’ for the better.

The ‘Speed’ refers to the truth that when people ‘Trust’ each other good outcome take less time than when there is less trust.

Some believe you have trust, or you don’t.

Covey says, “We can increase trust – much faster than we might think – and in doing so will have a huge impact, both in the quality of our lives and in the results, we are able to achieve.”

He divides trust into five waves.

They are Self, Relationship, Organizational, Market, and Social trust.

Sounds kind of dry doesn’t it.

But it isn’t.

This book is filled with great experiences.

Some are from the author and many more are pulled from others.

All focus on a visual metaphor introduced on page fifty-seven.

A complete tree has parts that are the four cores of credibility which are essential to trust.

Core 1 – Integrity – Are you Congruent? – The roots.

Core 2- Intent- What’s your agenda? – The trunk.

Core 3- Capabilities – Are you Relevant? – The branches.

Core 4- Results – What’s your track record? – The fruit produced.

The second wave of trust, Relationship, clarifies thirteen behaviors, which when understood and used can strengthen and even repair broken trust.

A most hopeful revelation happens on page three hundred. ‘Restoring Trust When It Has Been Lost’.

Stephen writes, “As I said in Chapter 1, the ideas that trust cannot be restored once it is lost is a myth. Though it may be difficult, in most cases, lost trust can be restored – and often even enhanced.”

Like his father and Great Grandfather before him Stephen M.R. Covey presents a practical way to make things better.

If you believe that you or a group, you belong to has trust issues this book can be illuminating and helpful.