The Problem - Lack of alignment and one way communication in annual
management meetings
The annual management meeting was an important tradition
and opportunity for communication, but was often little more than a
collection of uncoordinated presentations from each of the functional heads,
and with little input from meeting attendees..
The Solution - Goal alignment format
I conceived and developed a new format for the annual
management meetings called the "goal alignment meeting." Before the
meeting, all the objectives to be presented for each functional area were
aligned to key strategic initiatives. During the meeting, breakout sessions
gave meeting participants an opportunity to review the goals for consistency
across functional areas and for their degree of support of overall company
objectives.
This approach provided a high degree of interest, feedback,
consensus and buy in and the meeting was regarded as one of the best that
the company had ever held. It became the standard format for annual
meetings in the following years.
