These might include:

• Weekly Management Meeting. standard items would include:
  • Review of metrics or reports for each department
  • Review of major initiatives with status reports
  • Issues from prior meetings with status
  • New issues that must be watched at the senior level
  • Decisions to be made or actions required
• Weekly Department Meetings. Department meetings are used for marketing, sales, product, technology, product and other major departments. If your business is not mature enough to need all of these department check-ins, combine meetings and handle multiple departments at once. Standard items would include:
  • Review of department metrics or report
  • Review of major initiatives with status reports
  • Issues from prior meetings with status reports
  • New issues that must be watched
  • Decisions to be made or actions required
• Weekly Initiative Meetings. In addition to department meetings, there may be other areas that come up frequently and deserve a regular meeting that fall outside a department or that involve multiple departments.
  Some examples:
  • Pricing Review: Weekly. Duration: 60 minutes. The goal is to discuss and make necessary decisions on all issues related to pricing.
  • Client Issues: Weekly. Duration: 60 minutes. The goal is to dis-cuss and make necessary decisions on all issues related to keeping customers happy.

I know what you are saying, “Who has the time for all of these meetings?” I said the same thing. Try this: for a week, calculate the amount of time and correspondence you have for a particular issue or decision your company must address.

Process is not a dirty word. You’ll find that process actually improves innovation, creates the stability and opportunity for creativity, and provides the organizational structure to meaningfully implement both. Process also ensures another critical result: an operating structure that helps you manage your business and transforms your daily experience from chaos to control.