The world is changing and so is strategy.
Isn’t it time for your weekly meetings to change, too?
Gone are the days of annual planning and quarterly strategy reviews! It’s time to shift to weekly management of KPIs that keep your finger on the pulse and set your team’s priorities for the week. Imagine what your weekly team meetings would look like with results leading the conversation and action happening for the week to impact those results.
Use this guide to stand up MetricMondays in your organization by either adapting your existing 2020 Strategic Plan or starting from scratch. In either case, you will:
- Watch a video walk through of this content and see an example MetricMonday in action.
- See the FAQS about MetricMondays.
- Understand how MetricMondays can be a tool to align your team and drive results.
- Know how to adapt your current strategic plan from monthly to weekly management.
- Learn how to set up your data, weekly schedule, and software in 2 weeks or less.
- Learn how to run a MetricMonday meeting.
Video Overview and Example MetricMonday
Frequently Asked Questions
Why MetricMondays?
In a perfect world, health metrics meet the following criteria. Do apply these as loose guidelines instead of mandates as each business is unique and different!
How is it different than a standard weekly operational meeting?
Operational meetings are important, but have their place in managing team efficiency and operational throughput. MetricMondays is focused on the overall health of your organizational performance and progress against your strategic roadmap.
Is this a new meeting or replacing a current meeting?
No one likes more meetings. Therefore, we recommend this be part of your weekly staff meeting. Because weekly staff meetings normally set priorities for the week, this is a data-based way to both keep on top of health metrics and team production.
Free Guide to Establish Your Weekly Health Metrics
Isn’t a week too short for my team to make progress?
No. You’ll be surprised at how the conversation changes each week.
Shouldn’t all the data for performance measure reporting be automated?
In a perfect world, yes it would all be automated. However, because most organizations have fragmented systems, automation would take months to set up. Don’t make automation a dependency on creating visibility and alignment. Certainly though, work toward it as time permits.
Adapt Your Current Strategic Plan by Narrowing the Focus
It’s easy to shift from monthly results management to weekly if you already have a strategic plan in place. In fact, if you don’t the plan will become obsolete quickly. Here’s how to adapt your plan without losing the work you did in planning the current year.
Keep your Mission. Add to Your Vision
This is the area with the most leading metrics related to health. Steer away from glam metrics to focus on those that actually lead to new business.
Adjust your Current Year’s Company-Wide Priorities
Adapt your priorities to reflect the focus for the organization for the next 6-9 months. Make these statements clear, specific and relevant.
Tip: Do not have more than 5 or 6 company-wide priorities, but make sure they are balanced. Here is an example:
- Financial Sustainability: Remain financially sustainable.
- New Customers: Pursue new customer acquisition with better value proposition, including adjusted pricing model, or additional services.
- Current Customers: Work to retain all possible customers with modified terms.
- Operational Efficiency: Reduce all non-value-added costs, processes and activities.
- Team Health and Wellness: Ensure all members are cared for and connected.
Don’t have a current strategic plan?
Here’s how to get one going quickly:
- Set your company-wide priorities. Use the examples above or check out this guide;
- Identify 2-3 health metrics for each priority. Use this guide for help; and
- Set up your software and hold your first MetricMonday. After a few weeks, start to identify team goals, key results and/or initiatives based on weekly results.
Setting Up Your Software System
It‘s impossible and not sustainable to run MetricMondays via disparate spreadsheets and files. Of course, we are partial to the OnStrategy App because it was designed to run better results management meetings. But whether you use ours or another app, here is what you are looking for:
- Metric Reporting: Functionality that displays performance over time against an established target (or threshold)
- Goal/OKR Tracking: Functionality that allows individuals to track progress on efforts like goals, OKRs or initiatives against performance measures and company-wide goals.
- Individual, Team & Company Snapshot & Reports: Functionality that delivers results data in one-click or even to your inbox!
- Interactive Dashboard: Functionality to present results data easily each week.
With your software selected, enter your company-wide priorities, health metrics and 90-day goals/OKRs. For all health metrics, consider adding a few weeks of historical data.
Tip: Don’t let this part bog you down. If you don’t have all the data, don’t worry. Just use what you have and let the process evolve over time.
Establish a Weekly Schedule
Establishing a weekly schedule is straightforward with the exception of setting the reporting period for health metrics. The easiest approach is that all data reflects performance from Sunday through Saturday of the previous week.
Tip: Prep for the meeting should take each person no more than 15 mins. Remember – the goal is this process becomes “the way we do things around here“ when it comes to setting your team‘s priorities.
Are you ready?
Here’s your checklist to ensure you’re ready to go so that MetricMondays will be sustainable for your team:
- Every company-wide priority has 2-3 health metrics, but no more than 5.
- Every health metric has an owner who is responsible for reporting and moving the needle.
- No one person is reporting out on more than 5 items.
- Data source for every metric.
- Reporting timeframe is clear to everyone (e.g. Sunday through Saturday).
- Whole team understands reporting expectations and is trained on the software.
- Meeting is scheduled, recurring weekly.
Running Your MetricMondays
Use the sample agenda as your discussion flow and talking points for those reporting on results. Importantly, the meeting needs to be fast-paced and conclude with clear calibration of priorities for the week.
Tip: Once you have a good rhythm, rotate the meeting lead so that everyone on your team facilitates MetricMondays.
MetricMonday Agenda
- Frequency: Weekly for 60 mins
- Attendees: Executive Team and/or whole team
- On the Screen: OnStrategy Dashboard
Metric & Goal Owner Talking Points
For each item you own, be prepared to the cover the following points in 2 mins or less:
- Performance: How are you performing against your established threshold?
- If you are on target, are there any actions for the week?
- If you are off target, what is the proposed action?
