Page 150 - HBR Leader's Handbook: Make an Impact, Inspire Your Organization, and Get to the Next Level

Focusing on Results 139

Holding regular operational reviews creates a structure for knowing
what results you are achieving and a regular forum for deciding how to
systematically improve them or correct course. Your job as a leader is to
establish this kind of cadence if it doesn’t already exist, refine an existing
cadence if it needs to be improved, or integrate the cadence for your team
or division into that of the company. Think about how often you want to
review progress, who else you need to involve, and what kinds of issues
you want to highlight. Then put your operational reviews on the calendar,
for you and for all the participants, and make sure that everyone honors
these meetings as real commitments. You also should establish a regular
agenda for the reviews, with some flexible space for unanticipated issues
that might emerge.
For example, when Mark Benjamin was president and COO of NCR,
he organized his review cadence around a weekly Monday morning vir-
tual meeting with his team (located worldwide). As they went around the
“room,” each person gave updates on key performance goals and on issues
that needed attention. “It’s a major commitment to do this weekly,” Benja-
min admits, “but in a big company like ours, if we did it only once a month,
there wouldn’t be time to go deep enough on issues, and the lag time be-
tween updates would get people out of alignment with each other.” Jane
Kirkland, a senior vice president at State Street Corporation, also empha-
sizes the need to have regular reviews and disciplines. “Make sure you have
a review process for everything that touches you,” she advises leaders.
You can use the operational cadences to integrate your work in many
areas of the business—and in many of the practice areas discussed in this
book, from strategy and innovation to employee performance. In one
classic example, Jack Welch of GE organized the various processes for his
company in a rhythmic, interconnected sequence, which he depicted as a
circular racetrack that he and his leadership team would regularly lap. The
year began with a strategy discussion and update. Three months later,
Welch and the team moved to business reviews raising issues out of the
latest strategy. At midyear, there was course correction and talent check-
ins, then more business reviews and performance management. By the end
of the year, fresh issues and objectives set up the next year’s strategy