Hai Nguyen Mau/2022-08-22T10:20:00+02:00Scaling Alignment with an Operational Meeting Rhythm2022-08-22T10:20:00+02:002022-08-22T10:20:00+02:00Hai Nguyen Mautag:None,2022-08-22:/scaling-alignment-with-an-operational-meeting-rhythm.html<h1>Why do we need an operational meeting rhythm?</h1>
<p>At Y42, we strive to reduce the number of meetings that we have in order for everyone to be able to use their time effectively.</p>
<p>However, in a world of collaboration certain meetings are not avoidable. The meetings that are necessary should …</p><h1>Why do we need an operational meeting rhythm?</h1>
<p>At Y42, we strive to reduce the number of meetings that we have in order for everyone to be able to use their time effectively.</p>
<p>However, in a world of collaboration certain meetings are not avoidable. The meetings that are necessary should be catalysts for information sharing, accountability and creativity. However, instead of creating many different ad-hoc meetings in places where an asynchronous alignment is not possible, we decided to put a structure in place that solves for:</p>
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<p>Deduplication: Discussing topics only once (and documenting decisions)</p>
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<p>Specificity: Clarifying which people are needed for any decision</p>
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<p>Documentation: All Agenda Items are protocolled and attendance is not mandatory.</p>
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<p>The meeting structure is built like a pyramid, from many “on the ground meetings” to the leadership meeting at the top. </p>
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<p>Information flows from “on the ground” to the decision making circles in an aggregated form</p>
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<p>Clarifications flow from top to bottom after all important information has been processed</p>
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<p>In practice, we use ClickUp tickets to async communicate information between different meetings.</p>
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<p>Staggered schedule
Using a staggered calendar (see illustration) optimizes for the pyramid-like information structure of the meetings so that topics that are raised do not have to wait longer than a week.</p>
<h1>Different meeting formats</h1>
<h2>Leadership Meeting</h2>
<p>Meeting where the leadership team meets to discuss company wide topics and priorities.</p>
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<p>Strategic Guidance</p>
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<p>Company-Wide Issues</p>
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<p>Resource allocation</p>
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<h1>Company Goal Meeting (Extended Leadership Meeting)</h1>
<p>Meeting where the operators of the company meet to discuss how to achieve key goals and objectives within the company.</p>
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<p>Accountability & goal achievement (OKR & KPIs)</p>
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<p>Discover major blockers & opportunities</p>
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<p>Alignment between different departments</p>
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<p>Feedback & guidance for Leadership Meeting</p>
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<h2>Project & Team Management</h2>
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<p>Achieve Project/Team Goals</p>
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<p>Discover major blockers & opportunities</p>
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<p>Tactical Discussions</p>
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<h2>1-1s</h2>
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<p>Accountability on Goals & Actions</p>
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<p>Coaching on topics & decisions</p>
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<p>Transparency & feedback</p>
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<h1>Bonus: ClickUp as system of record for meetings</h1>
<p>Reasons for using ClickUp:</p>
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<p>Better accountability across the organization</p>
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<p>Easier global prioritization</p>
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<p>Much better accountability on agreed Action Items</p>
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<p>Everything is traceable</p>
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<p>Finally transparency</p>
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<p>You don't have to attend meetings as “FYI” but can easily see action items & decisions</p>
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<p>Roll up all action items/decisions across team, department, company</p>
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<p>More buy-in from every person due to visibility into everyones effort</p>
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<p>Enables highly structured communication</p>
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<p>Structured meetings with clear boundaries, agendas</p>
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<p>Interchangeable data format (same data structure across different meetings)</p>
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<p>Clear flow on how to escalate decisions (from 1-1 to leadership)</p>
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<p>Deduplication of information (using ClickUp references)</p>
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<p>Downsides to be aware of:</p>
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<p>It’s a heavy structure with some onboarding required</p>
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<p>People may not “work this way”</p>
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<p>It requires a device to be part of the meeting</p>
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