Team Briefings

Team briefing

Team briefing process for organizational communications

Team Briefing is a powerful method of enabling communications up and down the management structure of any organization with a number of management levels. Team Briefing was developed by the British Industrial Society (now called the Work Foundation) during the mid-20th century, particularly the 1960's, and introduced in the mid 1970's. This is a guide to how Team Briefing works, with samples of the Team Briefing documents.

Team Briefing provides a consistent and measurable process for conveying strategic and operational information, and answering feedback questions, throughout an organization. Team Briefing ensures that staff at all levels receive information that is relevant to them, which is a mixture or corporate and local issues. The Team Briefing system is capable of being monitored by someone given responsibility to do so, including the satisfactory feedback of answers to questions at all levels.

The Team Briefing model is flexible provided the essential principles are retained. So it can be called something else by the adopting organization. The documentation can, and ideally should, be adapted and personalised for the adopting organization.

Team Briefing is not meant to replace normal essential day-today communications between team leader and staff - day-to-day communications should continue as normal (assuming 'normal' means they're happening - if not, then they must).

Many companies today think that email and mobile phone communications can solve all of their communications problems, but they can't. Team Briefing works because it's face-to-face, which is essential for all sensitive communications. (Remember research established that 55% of meaning is conveyed in facial expressions, and 38% of meaning is conveyed in the way that something is said. Only 7% of the meaning is conveyed in the words themselves.)

team briefing purpose

· primarily to enable and improve downward, upward and lateral (sideways) communications throughout the organization

· prevent rumour and 'the grapevine' from gaining credibility

· enable clarity of direction and information from the top

· enable questions and suggestions to be fed back from all staff to the top

· develop greater awareness and involvement at all levels

· avert tendency towards 'mushroom management' (keeping people in the dark and covering them with manure)

· create a culture of open communication

· clear blockages and misunderstandings

· explain financial, commercial and strategic issues

· develop a shared sense of mission, vision, collective aims and reasons why

· cease reliance or dependence on assumptions

team briefing features

· face-to-face group meetings in teams of 4 - 15 people

· meetings last around 30 minutes

· held by team leaders, normally the team's manager or supervisor

· held at least once a month, dates set and notified well in advance

· MD/CEO or board of directors issue a 'core management brief' every month, covering main strategic, financial, commercial, policy and people issues.

· Every team leader/manager/supervisor then incorporates these Core Brief points into their own Local Brief covering subject headings: Progress, Policy, People, and Points for action, plus general information

· meetings and briefing process is monitored, via records and managers attending briefings

· before introducing Team Briefing, the basic model needs adapting and tailoring to meet the logistical and operational needs of the organization concerned, including forms, precise process, and very importantly, a training and introduction plan for all briefing staff

team briefing subject headings

· Progress - corporate and local performance against target and standards, including financial, commercial and quality issues.

· Policy - procedures that need introducing, explaining, reinforcing or changing.

· People - issues concerned with people in the company and the team.

· Points for action - priorities for the next month for the team and the organization.

team briefing definitions

core brief

The written briefing details from the CEO or board which will be passed on to every employee at every Team Briefing meeting. Also called the Core Management Brief. The Core Brief is incorporated by team leaders into their own Local Briefings.

local brief

A separate written brief prepared by each team leader, manager or supervisor, for his or her own team, containing local issues relevant to that team. Team leaders check and agree their Local Brief with their line manager at their own briefing session at which they receive the core brief and a local brief from their boss.

feedback form

A separate document which enables the questions arising at briefings to be recorded, answered, whether at the time or later, and that process to be monitored.

team briefing process

· every month the CEO or the board of directors agree a 'Core Brief'

· the 'core brief' covers the above subject headings and will include items about financial and statistical performance; organizational policy; strategy, business direction and market conditions; successes and failings; changes in senior people's roles and positions

· line managers from director-level down, add local interpretation or explanation to the core brief where applicable

· line managers and team leaders also prepare their own 'Local Brief' under the above headings

· briefing meetings cascade down the organization, each one soon after the briefer's attendance at their own briefing meeting, at which team leaders revise and get approval from their bosses for their own local briefs.

team briefing documents

On a serious note - the Local Briefer has a responsibility to present the company line at all times, and not to be openly critical of company statements or policies. The Local Briefer has a responsibility to communicate in a relevant and positive way to his or her team, which obviously requires a reasonable level of skill in reconciling the aims and priorities of the company, with the needs and receptiveness of the team.

Balanced Scorecard , fact or fiction?

Balanced scorecard

Kaplan and Norton's organizational performance management tool

In the beginning there was darkness. We went to work, did our job (well or otherwise) and went home - day in and day out. We did not have to worry about targets, annual assessments, metric-driven incentives, etc. Aahh… life was simple back then.

Then there came light. Bosses everywhere cast envious eyes towards our transatlantic cousins whose ambition was to increase production and efficiency year-by-year. Like eager younger siblings we trailed behind them on the (sometimes) thorny path to enlightenment.

Early Metric-Driven Incentives - MDIs - were (generally) focused on the financial aspects of an organization by either claiming to increase profit margins or reduce costs. They were not always successful, for instance driving down costs could sometimes be at the expense of quality, staff (lost expertise) or even losing some of your customer base.

Two eminent doctors (Robert S Kaplan and David P Norton) evolved their Balanced Scorecard system from early MDIs and jointly produced their (apparently) ground-breaking book in 1996. Many other 'gurus' have jumped on the Balanced Scorecard wagon and produced a plethora of books all purporting to be the ‘Definitive' book on Balanced Scorecards. Amazon.com shows over 4,000 books listed under Balanced Scorecards, so take your pick - and your chances!

Balanced scorecard - definition

What exactly is a Balanced Scorecard? A definition often quoted is: 'A strategic planning and management system used to align business activities to the vision statement of an organization'. More cynically, and in some cases realistically, a Balanced Scorecard attempts to translate the sometimes vague, pious hopes of a company's vision/mission statement into the practicalities of managing the business better at every level.

A Balanced Scorecard approach is to take a holistic view of an organization and co-ordinate MDIs so that efficiencies are experienced by all departments and in a joined-up fashion.

To embark on the Balanced Scorecard path an organization first must know (and understand) the following:

· The company's mission statement

· The company's strategic plan/vision

Then

· The financial status of the organization

· How the organization is currently structured and operating

· The level of expertise of their employees

· Customer satisfaction level

The following table indicates what areas may be looked at for improvement (the areas are not exhaustive and are often company-specific):

Department	Areas
Finance	Return On Investment Cash Flow Return on Capital Employed Financial Results (Quarterly/Yearly)
Internal Business Processes	Number of activities per function Duplicate activities across functions Process alignment (is the right process in the right department?) Process bottlenecks Process automation
Learning & Growth	Is there the correct level of expertise for the job? Employee turnover Job satisfaction Training/Learning opportunities
Customer	Delivery performance to customer Quality performance for customer Customer satisfaction rate Customer percentage of market Customer retention rate

What do sport and business have in common? Here's an example

The England football story

(cause and effect, foundations of failure, fundamental strategy, structure, planning and philosophy, strategic analysis)

When a business fails or struggles in some other way people commonly look for recent tactical or incidental causes, but the roots of failure are usually far deeper in foundational strategies, structures and philosophies.

The poor performance of the England football team at the FIFA 2010 World Cup offers an example of a venture inflicted with fundamental problems, and therefore likely to fail.

Here are some indicators (as at FIFA World Cup 2010) of foundational weakness and vulnerability in the basic organization and ethos of the England national football effort. Think of it like a business. Success is difficult when foundations are flaky and misaligned. With a little imagination it is easy to relate these lessons/examples to the business world.

The English Premiership (England's top domestic league and effectively the pool from which the national team is selected) is dominated by clubs which are:

· Mostly owned, and the teams managed/coached, by people/companies from outside of the UK, who have little interest in the success of the England national team, and in many cases have very strong national football loyalties overseas. Do the owners of the business understand the business – still ?

· Mostly staffed by players from outside of England (two-thirds are from overseas), which restricts the pool of available English national talent, and also the opportunities for English home-grown talent to develop and become experienced. Is the balance of contractor to employee correct?

· Clubs are very strongly profit-driven, and are so debt-ridden as to be effectively bankrupt. Does your business have the correct commercial focus?

· As a consequence of these commercial pressures, players are forced to play too many games in a season (generally far more than their international counterparts), without break, and so that when the World Cup happens it is during the period of the year when players would normally be resting and recovering. Are your operations resourced correctly? Do you have a multi stage redundancy plan ?

The leadership of the Football Association, guardian of England's national game, has for some years been chaotic and disjointed, indicators being:

· Recent resignations of Chief Executive and Chairman.

· Regular scandals and infighting.

· Lack of control over domestic game and clubs.

Other 'foundations of failure' indicators:

· England has approximately 10% of the number of FIFA qualified coaches compared to European countries like Spain, Germany, Italy, and France (about 2,700 compared to about 20,000 or 30,000 in these other countries). Investment in resources and training is money well spent.

· The coach of the national team does not have English as a first language. It is not ideal to have coach who cannot communicate effectively and therefore not be able to motivate his team. Also due to the coach being there purely for commercial reasons, can the public expect him to go the extra mile to obtain the desired results? Do you have the right people doing the job?

· The coach is paid £5 million (or £6m, depending on interpretation) per year, regardless of performance; moreover failure and early departure is effectively rewarded because of a contracted fixed two-year term termination payment (although the effect of this is probably to maintain a failed situation - because the cost of change is prohibitive). Is monetary incentive the only motivator in your business?

· England players are paid around £100,000 per week; for doing another job (playing for their clubs). Failure at national level may be slightly upsetting for a day or two, but it holds no commercial consequence.

· At least one England squad member had to be asked by the coach to make himself available for his country. Another could not be persuaded. National representation is a peak sporting achievement. It's worrying when candidates reject this notion, and just as worrying when such candidates are pursued and recruited. Do your employees have a balanced outlook? Or is it “just a job”?

· Culturally the integrity and ethos of football - especially what it means to be a footballer - has been lost to the corporate world. The focus (of the role-models and therefore the kids) is no longer on ball skills and being the best - it's on the brands, the replica shirts, the day-glo boots and the millionaire celebrity lifestyles. Not much works well when hype dominates substance.

A national football team is in many ways like a business. It needs solid strategic and philosophical foundations. Misalignment at a basic level eventually produces problems at the level of tactical or operational implementation. Like a national football team, if a business fails at a tactical or operational level, the causes - and therefore the solutions - are generally much deeper than they seem.

SWOT

PEST

Porter's Five Forces model,

Diversification , Do I and When?

Companies diversify for a host of reasons. In some cases, it’s a survival strategy. For instance, if your company makes the bulk of its sales at a particular time of year, it makes sense to consider diversification. By extending your portfolio of products or services you can ensure a regular revenue stream from January through to December. In other words, the canny ice cream seller will turn purveyor of hot soup come winter.

However, there are plenty of other good reasons for diversification, not least by extending your range of goods or services you can either sell more products to your existing customers or reach out to new markets. This can supercharge your growth prospects. And perhaps the biggest reason for doing it is to extend a brand reputation into other markets, with the knowledge that one ‘winner’ could be the drop of snow that starts the avalanche, making your business bigger than you ever imagined.

WHEN TO DIVERSIFY

A note of caution though. History tells us it’s not advisable to consider diversification until your core business is stable and profitable. If you’re still struggling to win orders and build a sales time for the core product, there is a real danger that diversification will take your eye of the ball.

The catalyst is often the realisation that growth in the core business is either slowing or set to slow, often because the market for a particular product is becoming saturated.

DIVERSIFICATION STRATEGY

You can diversify by natural progression. For instance, if you sell men’s shirts, adding ties and cufflinks to the range is an obvious next step. More radically, you extend the brand by offering a much wider range of products that will nonetheless appeal to the same customers. Alternatively, you can use the strength of brand to move into new markets. As Richard Branson’s Virgin and Stelios Haji Ioannou’s easy Group have demonstrated, strong brands can be extended into very diverse business areas.

Another popular business diversification strategy is to look backwards and forwards along the supply chain for opportunities to tighten your grip on the market. For instance, in the recent past we’ve seen building societies buying estate agents and computer manufacturers buying resellers. In the US Google has busily acquired the leading web data analysis tools (Urchin and Measure Map), online advertising companies (DoubleClick), and the social networks and sites that deliver what they unerringly know their users want (YouTube).

THE CONS

Diversification can put you on the fast track to growth but if the strategy fails it can also burn up money. Expand your product range and even if turnover increases, the increase in costs could result in a slump in profits. Extend your brand into new markets and there is a danger that it will have no resonance with the newly targeted customers. Thus it’s vital to research new markets before diversifying.

You should also look carefully at your existing business. Do you have the right managers to cope with a divaricating strategy? Should you integrate the diversified business into one company or ring fence the new operation as a business in its own right? And is your organisation strong enough to be an umbrella brand where your core values resonate across the group? Think hard before you commit your finances and precious time.

Success

"Success - To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived; this is to have succeeded."

Fundamental Business Ethics FBE

The 7 Principals of Fundamental Business Ethics (FBE)

1. Be known as Trustful: Understand that your customers want to do business with a company they can trust; when trust is at the core of a company, it's easy to recognise.

a. What is Trust in Business? Trust defined, is assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, and truth of a business.

2. Have an Open Mind: For continuous improvement of a company, the leader of an organisation must be open to new ideas. Ask for opinions and feedback from both customers and team members and your company will continue to grow. Always accept that outside help can be an expedient, cost effective and reliable tool.

3. Deliver on your Promises: Regardless of the circumstances, do everything in your power to gain the trust of past, present and future customer's and clients, particularly if something has gone wrong. Reclaim any lost business and cement current business by fulfilling all commitments and obligations. Remember only promise what you can deliver and deliver more than you promised.

4. Have Good , Relevant Documents: Re-evaluate all print materials including business advertising, brochures, and other business documents( and web pages) making sure they are clear, precise and professional. Most important, make sure they do not misrepresent or misinterpret. If a document doesn’t have a relevant use , then don’t use it.

5. Become Involved: Remain involved in Industry-related issues and activities, thereby demonstrating that your business is a responsible Industry contributor. In other words, stay involved.

6. Maintain Accounting Control: Take a hands-on approach to accounting and record keeping, not only as a means of gaining a better feel for the progress of your company, but as a resource for any "questionable " activities. Gaining control of accounting and record keeping allows you to end any dubious activities promptly.

7. Be Respectful: Treat others with the utmost of respect. Regardless of differences, positions, titles, ages, or other types of distinctions, always treat both clients ,co-workers or colleagues with professional respect and courtesy.

Implementing Fundamental Business Ethics as a tool for achieving your desired outcome is only the beginning. A business that instils a deep-seated theme of business ethics within its strategies and policies will be evident among customers. It's overall influence will lead to a profitable, successful company. By recognizing the value of practicing Fundamental Business Ethics, and following each of the 7 principles, your success will not be far off.

Business Reviews....Why?

Why it's vital to review the progress of your business

It's easy to focus only on the day-to-day running of your business. But once you're up and running, it can pay dividends to think about longer-term and more strategic planning.

This is especially true as you take on more staff, create departments within the business, appoint managers or directors and become distanced from the everyday running of the business.

Reviewing your progress will be particularly useful if you feel:

~ Uncertain about how well the business is performing

~ Unsure if you're getting the most out of the business or making the most of market opportunities

~ Your business plan may be out of date, e.g. you haven't updated it since you started trading

~ Your business is moving in a direction different to the one you had planned or moving faster than you anticipated

~ Your business may be becoming unwieldy or unresponsive to market demands

It is also useful if you have decided that your company is ready to move on to another level.

Assess your core activities

A good starting point for your review is to evaluate what you actually do - your core activities, the products that you make, services that you provide and the people that you employ. Ask yourself what makes them successful, are my processes supporting my product? Are my processes supporting my people? Are my people supporting my business? Could they be improved and can we launch new or complementary products or services? So many questions and ,often, so few answers.

We Can Help!

We offer an in house business consultancy that focuses on the three P’s of business, People, Process and Product. We can help you make sure that they are all working in unison to help your business attain the 4^th P, Profit, which in turn will deliver the highly desired L of business …..Longevity.

Contact Bryn Jones today at senojbryn@bigpond.com to discuss how we can make it work for you.