Pulse

It started as an important ask to the Loureiro leadership team (LT): develop a meeting format that includes:

1. Ability to review the critical numbers that tell us how we are progressing toward achieving success
2. A forum for sharing ideas that will support our success
3. Time to focus efforts on identifying and knocking down the barriers precluding us from achieving our goals

Fortunately, the group had plenty of ideas, and more importantly, a willingness to test them out.

We recently sat down with Brian to discuss his thoughts on the meeting strategies – how they’re working, what’s next, and why these continuous improvement efforts matter to both the LT and all Loureiro employees.

What sparked the need for change in how the LT prepares for and runs their meetings?

The LT had been meeting once a quarter for three hours. On the one hand, it felt too long for general updates and a review of critical numbers, and on the other hand, it was too short to cover all the updates and “hot” topics – let alone have the in-depth and meaningful discussions needed to align on key issues and develop solutions to matters that would support achieving our objectives. And even if we had more time, with 14 people in the room, live discussions can get unwieldy.

We opened the door for input on how we could improve our engagement and meeting efficiency because two things were very clear: first, leaders needed more information than they were receiving, and second, we needed fresh ideas to encourage collaboration without taking up more meeting time.

What are the changes the LT has implemented?

We decided to meet monthly – with one longer session once per quarter. This gives us the best of both worlds: more frequent, shorter touchpoints and a quarterly opportunity for comprehensive exploration.

We also built a new slide deck template that would serve as “prep” for the meeting. Every business and functional leader adds in their updates in a “snackable” format – including their plan, progress against that plan, and key wins and challenges. That presentation is live in Teams and is completed one week in advance of the meeting for team review.

Even better, the LT can ask (and answer) questions and share comments right in the deck. This way, when we come together in the meeting, the LT has had time to digest the information, and most of our top questions are answered.

How is it going so far?

We implemented these changes for our recent meeting at the beginning of March. As is 100% expected, we learned a lot in this first round and have ideas for improvements moving forward. I want to spotlight the fact that even at the LT level, nothing is perfect, and we’re always looking for ways to do things better.

I also want to highlight how great ideas came from (and continue to come from) everyone on the team. A big shout out to Kristen Dera for her suggestion to use the comment feature in PowerPoint in Teams so that LT members could have dialogue right in the document.

And a shout out to all the leaders for jumping right into this new process. I really appreciated that right away, people perceived the questions and comments on their slides as opportunities for engagement.

That openness and agility is, in turn, boosting transparency and collaboration – which enhances just about everything we do.

Are there opportunities to translate these new information-sharing and collaboration approaches through the company?

Absolutely! We’re already thinking about how we can use the LT “prep” deck for our Company Informational Meetings. In addition, leaders have committed to sharing a summary of what we discuss in the monthly meetings with their functions / businesses in their regular team meetings.

We’re also exploring ideas to regularly solicit input from team members on these updates and discussions. As an example, we may ask others to participate in the development of monthly updates.

What have been the biggest learnings so far?

Execution is one of the most challenging aspects of our work because it relies on so many other things going right: clarity and alignment on strategy, accountability, adaptability, communication, and effective leadership.

It’s not enough to know what we need to focus on; we must define actions that we believe will help move the needle – and then take those actions and measure the results.

We’re doing exactly that with our LT meetings and engagement – which is going to help us with better execution on all fronts – and that’s very exciting!