When Did Status Meetings Become About Being Nice?
Does anyone else remember when status meetings used to be a working session of the transparent and honest exchange of progress, barriers, and risks in pursuit of a shared objective? When did they become a superficial exercise where we’re all expected to be “nice”?
A senior leader at an energy exploration company, recently lamented to me about the progress, or lack-there-of, of a vendor-led project at her company. Initially, she held back to see if the vendor, a large professional services organization, would find its footing on its own, but once it became apparent that the project was consistently missing deadlines and was not on track to meet its objectives, she stepped in. She stepped in by taking the reins of the weekly status meeting. She asked that opening chit-chat be kept to a minimum, insisted upon an agenda, and then facilitated a discussion to elicit the status of key deliverables. Word got around that she had “taken the team to task” and her boss asked, “Were you nice?”
Many moons ago, on my first SAP implementation, we had regular project team status meetings, that looking back were probably the most effective status meetings that I participated in during my 25+ year consulting career. First, everyone attended (literally, spilled out of doorways into the hall), from the executive sponsor to the admin who supported the 50+ person project team. Next and most importantly, we all openly and honestly shared what we were working on (relevant highlights vs justifying our existence), what problems we were having, and what we were worried about. Finally, the meeting was often followed by informal impromptu discussions (often between people who did not normally connect) as a result of the information that had been shared. The hour that we all spent together in that room was arguably one of the most valuable we spent all week. (Interesting, no one talked about accountability, trust, or lack of retribution at the time, it was just assumed.) We each had visibility to the big picture, understood the interdependencies of our deliverables, and helped each other overcome challenges. We delivered a high-quality solution, on time and on budget, the foundation of which is still used by the company today.
Fast forward to my next project, at a different client, and with a different team. As the organizational change management lead, my deliverables were highly dependent on the output of others. During a status meeting, as part of my update I inquired about the status of a team member’s work. I don’t remember what happened during the meeting, however, I do remember what happened afterward. I received an email from the team member in the order of, “Don’t ever ask me about the status of my deliverables in front of the project team again!” That was my first lesson that not all status meetings are created equal.
Organizational change management is about setting realistic expectations, engagement, communication, leadership, and readiness – all of which should be a part of an effective status meeting. Don’t miss this valuable opportunity to have real conversations about where the project is going well and where it isn’t, so that leadership and project teams can work together to successfully achieve what they set out to accomplish.
Turning back to the senior leader who took over her team’s status meetings and drove real discussions about progress, barriers, and risks… The project is now on track and receiving accolades. Also, I know her quite well; she may be a driver, but she is also very nice!
Contact ChangeStaffing to learn how our organizational change management consultants can help your organization have productive team meetings.