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Below I outline how organizations can get away from performance reviews that create dysfunctional behaviours and frustrations, and how they can create what I call a ‘Productive Strategic Performance Improvement Meeting’.

I have created a list of what I believe are the ten most important aspects of successful Strategic Performance Improvement Meetings. I have divided this list into two parts: ‘Before the meeting’ and ‘At the meeting’ (see Figure 6.3).

Let me try to put some ‘meat on these bones’ for you:

Before the meeting:

䊏 Name the meeting appropriately: take the word ‘review’ out of the name of the meeting.The main purpose of the meeting is to improve future performance. Insight from the past can help us with decision-making about the future, but it can’t be the main focus of the meet-ing.Therefore, call them Strategic Performance Improvement Meetings or something along this line, so that the title reflects the purpose of the meeting.

䊏 Use the value creation map to guide the meeting structure and agenda: the value creation map is used to guide the meeting and pro-vides a structure or agenda for the Strategic Performance Improve-ment Meeting.A good way to do this is to take the individual eleImprove-ments from the map and make them agenda items. A few organizations

Strategic performance improvement meeting

Before the meeting:

1. Name the meeting appropriately

2. Use the value creation map to guide the meeting structure and meeting agenda

3. Cruise at the right ‘flight altitude’

4. Use questions to guide and focus the discussions 5. Use performance indicators to facilitate finding answers

6. Circulate possible answers and supporting performance indicator data in advance

7. Have a process in place for double-loop learning At the meeting:

8. Create an atmosphere of purpose, trust, and respect

9. Ensure that performance and alternative options are presented as a story, supported by performance indicator data

10. Ensure that collaborative decision-making and learning takes place

Figure 6.3 Ten aspects of a successful Strategic Performance Improvement Meeting

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I have worked with have taken the key elements of their value cre-ation map and divided their Strategic Performance Improvement Meeting into a set of sub-meetings, each of which then addresses the different elements of their value creation map. They might spend the morning discussing the output deliverables, e.g. the latest financial performance and customer satisfaction. Then a subsequent meeting might focus on, for example, ‘building better relationships with key customers’, another key element on their value creation map. In this way, organizations ensure that all strategic elements are covered.

䊏 Cruise at the right ‘flight altitude’: for these meetings it is import-ant that they take place at the right ‘flight altitude’;¹⁸. By this I mean that the elements, and especially the information and data discussed, must be relevant and appropriate for the individuals in the meeting.

The executive board should take the corporate or overall value cre-ation map to guide their meetings, departments would use their cas-caded value creation map, and so on (see also the section ‘Cascading value creation maps in Chapter 4). In order to be actionable, the content and information discussed has to be relevant and meaning-ful to the purpose of each meeting and its participants. It simply wouldn’t be right if executive board members were to review per-formance at a detailed operational level (unless some key aspect had been referred up to them by an operational team meeting for a decision that it was not able to make itself). Neither would it make sense for operational teams to review the strategic elements of the corporation (unless they had some exceptional reason to do so, which can occasionally occur).

䊏 Use questions to guide and focus the discussions: design a set of questions you want to answer during the meeting. Asking questions in an inquiring way develops a spirit of curiosity that serves as a catalyst for learning.¹⁹ If one of the elements on the value creation map and agenda is, for example, ‘reputation’ or ‘external relation-ships’, then the questions could for instance be: ‘Is our reputation increasing?’; ‘Are we moving towards the reputation we want?’; ‘Are we building the right relationships?’; ‘Are our relationships as strong as we want them to be?’. The questions can then become the agenda items or even headings for sub-meetings.

䊏 Use performance indicators to facilitate finding answers: the indi-viduals, or group of indiindi-viduals, responsible for the different stra-tegic elements take responsibility for analysing the performance data prior to the meeting with the aim of answering the posed ques-tion(s). The indicators that were developed for the different elem-ents of the value creation map are used to develop answers to the questions posed for the different strategic elements. Data analysts

work closely with leaders who are seeking answers to their per-formance questions. The job of the analysts is to produce relevant analysis of the available data so that these leaders can present the results supported by the information derived from the performance indicators. Analysts also help with the presentation of the data, find-ing the most appropriate way of visualizfind-ing indicator data and per-formance. In many cases it might be impossible to come up with a clear answer based on the data; in those cases a selected set of alternative options should be produced.

䊏 Circulate answers and supporting performance indicator data in advance: the answers or a set of alternative options, together with the essential indicators and performance data are circulated in advance of the meeting.The latter should be the minimum standard;

submission of some alternative options can be helpful to directing pre-meeting thought processes for discussion, but some of the answers might have to wait until the meeting (where there can be a relevant and proper debate about them). This allows people to reflect on performance. Reflection, which is an important compon-ent of learning, often takes place in between meetings when we have a minute to ourselves, or when we go for a walk, stare out of the window, or wash the dishes.²⁰

䊏 Have a process in place for double-loop learning: to avoid the trap of discussing the existing elements of the value creation map without ever questioning the underlying map itself, a strategic review meeting is scheduled. How frequently these strategic reviews take place depends on the speed of change in the industry (see the section ‘How to construct a value creation map’ in Chapter 4); in my view they should be scheduled at least once annually.

At the meeting:

䊏 Create an atmosphere of purpose, trust, and respect: the atmosphere in these meetings is purposeful but relaxed and friendly. Mutual trust, respect and support lead to personal commitment, joint decision-making, and learning. Instead of a blame culture, the focus is on future performance, dialogue, decision-making, and actions. A chair-man ensures that the agenda items are fully discussed and that any dialogue is constructive and aimed at improving future performance.

Dialogue is an enabler for learning.

Through dialogue, individuals seek to inquire, share meanings, understand complex issues, and uncover assumptions. In other

138 Managing performance in an enabled learning environment

words, dialogue is what facilitates evaluative inquiry learning processes of reflection, asking questions, and identifying and clari-fying values, beliefs, assumptions, and knowledge.²¹

Dialogue, as opposed to discussion, has the goal of understanding, not competition.²² Dialogue requires the suspension of defensive rea-soning and is about learning for change. It empowers everyone to share their thoughts and be heard, in order to reach joint conclusions.

䊏 Ensure that performance and alternative options are presented in a story, supported by performance indicator data: the meeting starts with a look at the value creation map and it is highlighted where the strategic element that is being discussed fits into the strat-egy of the organization. Presenters come to the Strategic Performance Improvement Meeting with possible answers to the questions on the agenda and (a set of alternative) proposals for acting, based on the indicator data they have collected and analysed. Performance is presented as a cohesive ‘story’ and data from the performance indi-cators is used to support these ‘stories’. Performance indicator data will usually be presented in graphical form and the analysts who helped to analyse the data attend the review meetings.

Each ‘story’ tells participants about where the organization is suc-ceeding and where it is failing in its endeavours to achieve its stra-tegic goals. It is accepted and expected that presenters report on issues where the organization has underperformed and highlight pos-sible shortcomings and problems. The chairperson for the meeting ensures that any story will contain a mix of good and bad news, since the point of the meeting is to decide on the implications and to make decisions about future actions. In order to do this it is import-ant to assess performance in the context of the value creation map.

䊏 Ensure that collaborative decision-making and learning takes place: the implications of the stories and proposals are openly dis-cussed and the performance indicator data is used to evaluate dif-ferent alternatives. For this it is important that the validity and confidence level of the various indicators is understood (see also the section ‘Designing a performance indicator’ in Chapter 5). Here the role of the performance analyst is critical, as he or she can answer questions about data collection methods, data analysis, possible bias, and overall validity of the data. The indicator data is therefore assessed and put into the strategic context of the organization. This facilitates a better-informed debate and enables collaborative decision-making and mutual agreement on next steps and actions. In this kind of environment it is acceptable to say ‘I don’t know the answer’, instead of finding any answer for the sake of it. Sometimes it is best

to have an open discussion about possible answers or to decide to collect more data. Actions are agreed on, captured in the minutes, and then followed up at the next meeting.

The ten steps outlined here provide the ingredients for successful Performance Improvement Meetings in an enabled learning environ-ment. It will, however, take time and efforts by everyone involved to make them work. Next I will share how Fujitsu was able to create an enabled learning environment as part of its Strategic Performance Management initiative.