Running a company is virtually like the inner working pieces of a good-sized machine. There are cogs, wheels and all sorts of things that spin, move or turn while pistons crank up and down. Simultaneously, the distribution of oil keeps the parts from grinding with each other, and eventually stopping from high friction heat. If one part stops working or snags—KABOOM! The machine blows up.
This aspect of working together, or coordination, is a fundamental principle that I have learned from the Hubbard® Management Technology about being an executive.
In a July, 1982 article on administration entitled “Management Coordination” L. Ron Hubbard said the following:
“COORDINATION is the essence of management.
“The word “management” implies there is something and some someones to manage.
“A business or company or organization implies others are present and are engaged in a similar activity. It is a team.
“Any organization, no matter how complex, is bound together by common purposes.
“If the different parts of such an organization are not coordinated, they begin to cross each other’s lines and tangle.”
“With such a tangle, one gets no forward progress.”
A key duty of the top executive is to put an organization there and see to it that all the parts of that organization are working together seamlessly to accomplish the purpose of the organization.
In light of that, the above analogy of a machine becomes obvious.
Your company is made up of different types of employees: services, repair/maintenance personnel, office equipment, IT, quality control, sales, marketing, hiring, etc. Each area and person in your business is a working piece of the “machine”, each moving and changing positions, or moving other particles or people within the system. If one goes off in any way it eventually creates that same grinding and blow-up scenario.
So how do we keep the parts coordinated and well-oiled?
One very effective method is to hold short daily production conferences with those concerned to go over the daily targets to be set and met and get in any needed coordination. Also, weekly staff meetings should be held with ALL staff whereby agreements are formulated for the important upcoming week’s functions and production. The importance of teamwork cannot be underestimated.
I”ll cover the basics of how to hold a daily product(ion) conference in a separate article, but here are some suggestions on ways to conduct a weekly staff meeting:
- Select an unalterable time and place that works at the same time and place each week so EVERY employee may be present and represented. This is important as all “parts of the machine” should know what the other parts will be doing next. The location should be relatively distraction-free and comfortable and announced to all workers—in writing is best.
- Appoint a Secretary to take notes—good ideas, or important situations to address may come up!
- As the company leader and “Machine Oiler” you must decide on an agenda with pertinent topics to cover. At the start of each meeting you should report on such things as: Present production as compared to the same time last year and ways to improve these; goals which have been attained and those you intend to accomplish in the future; any special mentions of stellar production; new policies you might need to implement; problems and how they’ll be handled, etc.
- Come prepared! Have the above prepared in advance; bring your notes and the sequence of items to cover so the meeting goes smoothly. (Ensure you keep to the time allotted and watch not to draw it out—watch how your guys are doing along the way—are they keeping up or dragging along?)
- Focus on and acknowledge all wins and successes of the group. You should definitely ask for and invite these into the meeting. NOTE: These meetings are never “complaint meetings”; they should be coordination meetings meant to bring the group together.
- Complete your executive report, and then verbally circle the room asking each staff to show their production, by way of production graphs with statistics for the previous week as well as to give a short statement of their production plans for the new week.
- Following this you might want a brief period of open discussion and coordination.
Note again that “COORDINATION” is the key word here and should be your entire purpose and focus for the meetings.
Adding a staff meeting each week will not only bolster production, but may also help your company work and feel more like a team. Team spirit is a good thing!
I hope this helps you reap the many possible benefits of such coordinated efforts.
Feel free to write me. I’d really appreciate hearing how this proves out for you and your group and look forward to your feedback.
Craig Ferreira
CEO Survival Strategies, Inc.
© Survival Strategies, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Grateful acknowledgement is made
to L. Ron Hubbard Library for permission to reproduce selections from the
copyrighted works of L. Ron Hubbard.
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