Regroup - How To Do It And Why It Works

Regroup?is this a new management trend? Not a chance! Regroup is simply an opportunity to end one month's business cycle, recap the performance of your company and outline a plan of success for the new upcoming month. Why does it work? Because it allows each person on your team to assess their performance from the previous month, and make any necessary adjustments for the new month. Here's how it works:

Scheduling and preparing regroup: Regroup should be scheduled during the slowest time of each month and should start early in the morning, if possible. A solid and productive regroup takes about two hours and will require about one hour of preparation. Be certain to have a blank chalkboard or a standing easel for taking notes and keep distractions to a minimum. Regroup is also a time to build on the creative ideas from each person on your team, so make regroup a special part of each month and allow everyone to have equal time to share their feedback. Simply stated, there are no wrong questions or topics discussed at regroup and your team will respect and respond positively to this freedom.

Tip From the Coach: As the executive/owner of your company, it is critical for you to attend regroup and actively participate in them. Your preparation for each regroup should begin by reviewing the agenda from the previous month, to assess if the to-do list from last regroup was accomplished. Then, review your new regroup agenda making certain your gameplan is consistent with your company goals and expectations.

Running the meeting: The agenda for each month's regroup should begin by reviewing the financial information important to your company. This might include "actual" revenue/income versus budget performance, customer/client retention percentages, collection issues or expense performance versus the budget. Then, address any problems experienced during the past month or any upcoming issues that will impact your business. Next, map a calendar of activities to develop new revenue opportunities. This might include a monthly event to thrill your customers/clients, a new marketing plan, or a special focus on your new large prospects. This part of regroup is where the creativity of your team really starts to roll and if you listen closely, you will hear many "golden" ideas. Lastly, recap the team goals for the new month and close each regroup on a positive note!

Tip From the Coach: As the executive/owner of your company, take detailed notes during regroup, then send a brief memo to your team recapping the day and include a to-do list for the upcoming month.

Meeting individually with your team: At the close of each regroup, plan to spend another thirty minutes more with your manager to recap the day, cheer their success, and discuss the specific performance of each individual they manage. During this meeting ask your manager if he/she needs any additional support or training to develop their skills or the skills of their team. This is the most important part of regroup as time spent developing your team for future opportunity, will make for pro-active management. This means you always have team members ready to be promoted to the next position.

Tip From the Coach: In the same spirit of the individual meeting you have with your manager, ask him/her to have a similar meeting with each member of his or her team. This will help to grow their skills as a leader and you will want to attend the first few meetings to be certain the agenda for the individual meetings are exactly as you expect. In fact, as an executive/owner, always "inspect what you expect". A good rule of thumb!

Want to learn more about running a regroup meeting? Fax a note on your letterhead to 435-615-8670 or send an E-mail to ernest@powerhour.com and The Coach will fax/E-mail you a free TeleForum invitation. During this call we will discuss how to implement the steps in this article.

Author's note: Ernest F. Oriente, The Coach, is the founder of PowerHourŽ a professional business coaching/recruiting service and the author of SmartMatch Alliances?. He has spent 17,500 hours [since 1995] delivering customized training, by telephone, in leadership, traditional/Internet marketing and sales for fast growing sales companies and entrepreneurial businesses worldwide. PowerHourŽ specializes in global distance learning by telephone, using their state-of-the-art conference call system for interactive and dynamic TeleForums. Twice-monthly TeleForums link 10-100 executives/professionals/individuals who are geographically dispersed, in a time efficient and profitable format.

PowerHourŽ is based in Olympic-town?Park City, Utah, at 435-615-8486, by E-mail ernest@powerhour.com or visit their TeleForum website: powerhour.com. To receive a FREE success newsletter, with subscribers in 74 countries, send an E-mail to: ernest@powerhour.com. Recent PowerHourŽ articles have appeared in 4000+ business/trade publications and websites.