“All of a sudden, I was on the defensive and we had just gotten started…”
“They jumped on my first chart, and it went downhill from there…”
Internal reviews are a way of life in larger, complex firms. Once a plan is locked in and authorized, the third leg of the stool is tracking its implementation. In many firms, R&D reviews are held quarterly, or even biannually depending on the time horizon of progress. If you’re working on a multi-year project, for example, it isn’t uncommon to have a longer gap between meetings since it takes a while for change to occur.
For those who need to report their performance, these time gaps present a risk. Because they are living with the results on a day-to-day basis, it’s easy to forget that the reviewers only see snapshots of progress throughout the year.
Surprisingly, it’s not the risk that the reviewers don’t remember what occurred in the previous meeting. In fact, my experience has been quite the opposite: reviewers recall with very specific detail exactly what was shown and communicated. It seems that with training these leaders become really good at recall – especially when it comes to data outcomes and targets.
And the memory is usually what causes the quotes I opened the article with.
The real issue is this:
It’s very common that the presenter will start at the most recent story, and that it will not match with the last time the reviewer has gotten their briefing.
Once a gap is sensed, the curiosity and drive of the reviewer kick in and the remainder of the discussion will be spent reestablishing the baseline.
The danger in this is that you will not be able to exactly tie back to their last point of understanding. Operational leaders have an amazing capacity to focus on one piece of data, and until that misalignment in their mind is addressed, the meeting will come to a full stop. The presenter will be unable to get their narrative out, and productive work will not get done.
I recall specifically one meeting with a manufacturing operations manager about a new piece of automation that was being completed for their plant. We had an initial slide of the performance of the cell in testing, which far exceeded the needs of the plant at that time. The presenter had not brought the original contract book commitments to the session, and the ops manager brought the meeting to an uncomfortable halt until the originally planned values were produced.
The best way to avoid this situation in your next review is to prepare a presentation that is “reviewer friendly.” Here are three principles to keep in mind for clear communication:
- Always start from the point of the last concrete agreement. This principle will serve you very well. Go back to your notes and the last presentation to anchor your remarks with the same visuals, remarks, and reminders. This will do a world of good anytime, but particularly in review sessions, as it will jog fuzzy memories and level set everything you say after that. One of the best techniques is to have a one-slide summary of the last review values, the progress that’s been achieved, and the target level. This simple tool will ground you and set your reviewers at ease.
- If you find yourself in an explanatory monologue, know that you are losing them. Even if you outline the starting point perfectly, there is a doubt gap in their mind that they will not be able to let go of.
- When this occurs, the best path is to stop and move forward to the next agenda point. Commit to giving the reviewers a written update where you can re-establish the baseline and get your updates completed. Own it and be clear and confident with your commitment.
Once you have regained control and the baseline of the story, you can move forward. This approach allows time for the development of a crystal-clear from-to-toward update, and the room will appreciate the firm commitment to a point in time for that update that closes off circular dialogue when everyone is searching for baseline.
It’s been my experience that some of the sharpest R&D leaders have a blind spot in their ability to interact with those outside their day-to-day function – typically business operations or distribution. These skills are not nearly as difficult as many people make them, and in fact, are quite approachable and learnable.
If you need a path to start, my Complete Growth Leader coaching program is designed to help you think through these thorny areas of friction across the leadership styles needed to create crystal clear communication. If that’s something you’d like to explore, feel free to reach out using this link or on my direct line at 847-651-1014.
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