Last month we talked about the first Quarterly Meeting, which starts the quarterly cadence of meeting every 90 days instead of every 30. Next up we’ll discuss the Annual Meeting.

You’ll have three Quarterly Meetings and then Your Annual Meeting.

Ninety days after your third Quarterly Meeting, we’ll meet for your Annual Meeting. This Annual Meeting is a two day meeting designed to help you refocus and reset for the new year.

Just like in the Quarterly, we’ll start the day with a review of the past quarter and specifically how you performed on your Rocks. Did you meet the majority of them? Or did you miss the mark? Again, we’re not expecting perfection. Setting Rocks is still a muscle that you are building. What we really want to focus on is understanding what you’ve learned about Rocks over the past quarter. And how you can use that insight to improve your Rock setting for next quarter.

Then we’ll extend those lessons learned to the full quarter, outside of just your Rocks. How did everything go? What are you most proud of accomplishing? Is there anything you could or should have spent more time on? What lessons did you learn and how can you get better next quarter?

Next, we’ll turn our attention to the past year overall with the same premise in mind. Did you reach your Annual Goals? How did the year go? What lessons did you learn and how can you get better next year?

After reviewing the past year, we’ll review and update the PSE One Page.

We’ll go through the PSE One Page section by section to make sure that everything is still accurate. Are there any sections that you need to update or change?

Nothing is set in stone at this point. You’ve been using this tool for a full year now, so you’ll have a better understanding of how each of these components show up in your company’s day-to-day. You have to be willing to question everything. That’s the only way to make sure that everything on the PSE One Page truly reflects who you are as a company.

Next, we’ll review your Key Accountabilities Chart and Talent Plan.

Again, making sure that they are still accurate and up to date. Are there any Right People, Right Seat problems that you need to address? We’ll add them to the Parking Lot and potentially discuss them on the second day.

We’ll take time here to talk through your Talent Plan. Given the growth that you’re expecting over the next year, what seats will you need to add or change? Do you have the Right People for those seats? Or will you need to hire someone new? The goal is to help you be strategic and intentional about your growth. Hiring the Right People for the Right Seats, and not just adding bodies as you get overwhelmed with work.

Here’s where the agenda shifts from the typical Quarterly Meeting.

The afternoon of the first day and the morning of the second we’ll be going through the Stages of Growth X-Ray. This is a series of online assessments that you and your leadership team will complete that act like an x-ray of your company. Uncovering any and all challenges or obstacles that may be holding your company back.

These online assessments measure 27 Challenges, Builder/Protector ratio, and Non-Negotiable Rules.

You’ll remember 27 Challenges from way back on PSE Day 1. This is a tool used to diagnose all of the issues that your company is currently facing. It will point to your top challenges as well as your top strengths.

The Builder/Protector ratio measures your company’s balance between confidence and caution. Are you more willing to take risks in order to grow? Or do you want to move slowly and deliberately so that you don’t make any missteps? There needs to be a healthy balance between the two mindsets. And each company needs a different ratio of that balance, depending on their growth goals.

The Non-Negotiable Rules are a set of rules related to each stage of growth that a company goes through. At every stage there are certain areas that you must focus on in order to grow effectively and efficiently. These assessments will measure your progress against each of those rules. Are you attending to the issues that are most pressing for your size of company?

We’ll review the results of each of these assessments and start pulling out problems to add to the Parking Lot. This X-Ray will help ensure that we name and claim all the problems that your company is facing. Nothing gets ignored and nothing gets swept under that rug.

Uncovering these problems helps set you up for a successful year.

We’ll use the discussions from the X-Ray to inform the creation of your new Annual Goals and subsequently your Rocks for the next quarter. By naming and discussing each of the problems that the X-Ray uncovers you’ll have a clear roadmap of which issues are the most important to resolve over the next year and the next quarter. You’ll understand exactly where you should be focusing as a company.

Any problems that don’t become Annual Goals or Rocks will get parked in the Parking Lot. We’ll then spend the rest of the day Problem Solving in order to proactively remove as many obstacles from the next year as possible.

Lastly, we’ll Wrap Up.

Which starts with deciding if there are any Cascading Messages that need to go out to the rest of the company for those that aren’t in this room. You have to decide how you’re going to tell everyone, what you’re going to say, and when you’re going to say it. And then we’ll review everyone’s To Do’s so that there is no confusion as to who is responsible for what.

As always, the final step in wrapping up is a Go or No Go decision. After each of these days together you have the option to continue on in the process or to stop right there. If you choose to Go, we’ll meet again in 90 days for your next Quarterly Meeting. If you choose No Go, we’ll make sure you have everything you need to have a successful year and we’ll send you on your way.

The PSE Method can help get your company unstuck and moving towards your goals again. It is singularly focused on helping your company run more effectively and efficiently.

If you’d like to learn more about the PSE Method, give us a call today.