New Years Resolutions and the Weekly Roll Up
This is the time of year people think about New Years Resolutions. It is also a great time for the company to do the same.
On a personal basis I do an exercise called 60 Minutes to Clear Goals. A similar process works for a company also.
I have always published a list of goals for the company. I usually do 3-5 of them. I let everyone know what they are. I even call them New Years Resolutions at this time of year.
One management technique I have used is the weekly roll up report. Everyone in the company writes a weekly report that they send to their manager who can then take parts of to send to their supervisor who can then send to their manager etc.
One of the rules of the weekly report is there is a 24 line maximum to keep the information readable (too much information is the same as no information at all). This distillation roll up is a great way for managers to understand what is going on in the company.
It is a good idea to occasionally read the unfiltered versions from the lower levels in the organization to make sure the filtering is done appropriately.
Another line in the weekly report is "things I need from you (the manager)" This ensures people are getting the support they need to do their job well.
So how does this tie into New Years Resolutions or goals? I ask everyone in their weekly report to address what they have done to move the organization towards the stated goals (which is why I like to keep it to only 3-5 goals.)
It is powerful to have everyone know the goals and even more powerful to ask them what they have done to move them forward. It keeps people focused on the goals.
Good luck with your resolutions in 2010.
