synergy ceo guide

8/3/2019 Synergy CEO Guide

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Synergy

be part of it

CEO Guide



Contents

I n t r o d u c t i o n 1

The changing nature of work 3

Optimising your investment 5

Rainbow criteria , the key drivers 9

Orientation of meetings and agenda items 13

Measuring achievements 15

Maximising contribution 19

Added value vs synergy 21

Conclusion 24

Centrixia is a niche, value based

management consultancy. We arequalified consultants, support and

development personnel located

around the world with nationaland international projects. We

work in selected management

areas to attain exceptionally highand sustained internal returns on

investment for our clients.



1Synergy for meetings and projects

IntroductionSynergy in organizations is the

ability of a group, whether a project

team, the board of directors, the

trustees, a department or any other

group, to outperform even its best

individual members A cohesivegroup, therefore, should be more

than the sum of its parts

When teams are at their most

creative is often when they collect

together in meetings But meetings

get a very bad press The fact is

that most meetings are very bad

Consequently we probably only

realise a small part of the benet

we could achieve We are wasting

the rest.

This poses a problem for CEOs: How

to improve the quality and output

of meetings, how to get better

results in less time, how to be better

at what we do, how to add value

at every opportunity Of course,

optimizing resources is one of the

CEO’s principle roles, in meetingsas elsewhere Recognizing the

investment in meetings is the rst

step to realizing the synergy and

added value that can be released

Meetings can be tricky Most

managers like to think they know

how to run a meeting already and

their way is best Some won’t want

to have meetings about meetings

Then there’s the IT effect: attempts

to improve always seem to end up

as an IT project and the business

need quickly becomes secondary

to the IT strategy and all it’s

inuences, internal and external.

We offer an answer with Centrixia

Synergy and explain in this guidehow to go about it Centrixia

Synergy is business focused

We provide the framework and

methodology together with

the tools and training It is a

complete ready made solution

It is an HR project We describe

how to implement immediate

subtle changes in processes and

procedures to dramatically improve

your organisation for the benet of

all s takeholders

The very rst thing to do is very

simple: recognize the opportunity

Understand that maintaining the

status quo is tantamount to a

decision to waste your resources

Next, short orientation and

training sessions will soon revealthe framework your organisation

needs We remind delegates

how to prepare for, organize and

lead meetings while emphasizing

optimization and explaining

the methodology.

The short orientation sessions

quickly give way to practical

training There is no capital

expenditure required You probably

have everything you need already

No expensive consultancy

assignments, and no long

IT projects.

Think of it this way: Is there any

other training or developmentprogramme that can have such

a huge positive impact yet be

implemented so easily?

The Centrixia Synergy methodology

is composed of six short and

practical training courses and the

complementary web based tools to

put everything into practice

• The CEO guide

• Synergy participator’s guide

• Synergy organiser’s guide

• Synergy leader’s guide

• Synergy administrator’s guide

• Synergy update

We all recognize that meetings

have different purposes andcontain social as well as task driven

objectives Some meetings are more

formal than others Some demand

strict adherence to an agenda and

time while others are more creative

and free owing. Our approach

to meetings is rigorous but

accommodating Few people can

tickle trout, most need a rod and

net The important thing is to catch

the sh. We provide the rod and the

net, the rest is up to you

Take full advantage of everyone’s potential contribution



2 CEO Guide




T H E C H A N G I N G N

A T U R E O F W O

R K

Forbes Magazine rst printed

in 1917 and in its seventy-year

anniversary issue it looked back

at its original top 100 companies

Sixty-one had closed Only 18

were still on the list Similarly,

Standard & Poors’ list of the top

500 companies was started in

1957 By 1997, 80 percent had

failed to survive

In the industrial world at the

beginning of the 20th century, it’s

likely you’d be told what, where

and how to do your job, and any

notion of your employer’s vision,

mission or strategy probably didn’t

help you in your work All that

was required of you was to show

up, work for an allotted amount

of time, and then call it a day, no

questions asked Value was created

from labor and machines But

today tangible assets no longer

serve as the primary driver of

enterprise value It is employeeknowledge, customer relationships

and cultures of innovation and

change that create the bulk of

value provided by any organisation

In other words, intangible assets

Buying a share in Apple Computer

is not buying buildings or machines

but rather the future growth

of ideas.

How your company is going to

survive, and thrive, over the next

ve, ten, 25, 50, and 100 years

should be of the upmost concern

to you The meetings held in your

very ofces play an extraordinarily

large role in your survival plan

because having the proper talent in

critical jobs is key to success

Talent retention is one of the

most challenging issues facing

business and from all indications

this issue will compound in the

future Employees are looking

for bigger and better and if they

don’t feel they are valued, makinga contribution and growing with

their company, they will move on

Groups and meetings are where

your employees talent is on display

and where it is shared with their

peers and superiors Allowing

them the opportunity to shine

in productive, constructive and

purposeful meetings will encourage

your employees to do their bestwork, they will feel appreciated and

thrive in your company

ForbesMagazine15 September 1917



4 CEO Guide

Unfortunately, employees,

and employers, have such low

expectations of meetings that the

very space where ideas become

reality: the conference room; in

front of a presentation screen; in

round table discussions; have such

little value that the opportunity

to create something new in the

knowledge based economy is

completely wasted Meetings

should not be seen as routine You

should see them as strategically

important arenas of growth By

improving your organisation in this

strategic area you will not only

retain the talent you need but

you will also become a magnet for

talent and secure the ingredients

of a successful future

If creating an environment in

which talent can thrive is the

nirvana, endless boring meetings

are its nemesis You risk seeing your

growth stagnate and your businessounder. You may continue to

putter along, but you’ll never

reach the level of success you

are absolutely capable of if your

meetings continue to be places

where attendees nd it more

valuable to check their emails

than participate

fully with valuable

contributions

A plethora of

groups and

meetings is one of

the inescapable

features of

modern life and

the type of

organisation

you work in will determine the

kinds of groups you will most

likely join From small businesses

to multinational corporations,

from large charities to small

voluntary societies, from training

courses to statutory services,

from professional societies to

religious groups, from community

organisations to political pressuregroups, meetings are endemic

Meetings help to move society

forward; they provide a vital

Synergy meetings

screenshot

medium for disseminating

information and for decision-

making But, vital though they are,

they can be deadening rather than

life giving




O P

T I M I S I N G Y O U

R I N V E S T M E N

T –

T H E B I G G E S T I N V E S T M E N T Y O U M A K E

As a statistician will tell you,

everything can be measured, it’s

just a matter of time and money!

But without spending too much of

either, let’s just consider the order

of magnitude of our investment

in meetings.

Organisations invest huge sums

in meetings, possibly as much

as 50 percent of payroll costs,

and a large proportion of that is

simply wasted Meetings are at the

heart of every organisation and

are often the biggest investment

an organisation makes There is

more invested in meetings than in

property, production, inventory,

and possibly more than all of them

put together This is where we

nd the most value in a modern

organisation Would you throw

away 50 percent of your inventory?

Obviously not Why waste your

talent, which is more valuable

and more difcult and moreexpensive to replace, in meetings

that serve no purpose and leave

your employees feeling dejected

and devalued?

From my professional background

in a large consulting rm, the

rule of thumb for the calculation

of billing hourly rates was

third:third:third One third relatedto the salary cost, one third to

overhead and the remaining third

to the partners If we factor in

the partners and their prot share

it would be closer to 80 percent

human resources costs, 20 percent

overhead This was a knowledge-

based organisation similar to so

many businesses today

Of course, billing rates depend

on specics about the business.

Manufacturers and retailers

will have higher percentages of

revenue in cost of goods sold

while service industries will have

a higher percentage in salaries

and benets. A hospital will

normally see between 32 percent

and 40 percent of net patient

revenue going to salaries with

another 18 percent to 25 percent

to employee benets, up to

65 percent of revenue.

Referring to 50 percent as

the proportion of time spent

in meetings more often thatnot I’m told 50 percent is an

understatement I’m told that

75 percent is more accurate Not

surprisingly nobody has ever been

able to be exact It’s probably true

to say that it varies according to

how senior you are, with time and

salary increasing as you climb the

ladder Of course there is also the

preparation time and this mightbe the equivalent of 25 percent of

the time spent in meetings Simple

Organisations invest huge sums in meetings,possibly as much as 50 percent of payroll costs



6 CEO Guide

arithmetic indicates that senior

managers spend 100% of their time

either in meetings or preparing for

them Maybe this explains why so

many senior managers work seventy

hour weeks They have to create

more time to do their ‘real work’.

Figures 1 and 2 illustrate an

example We have considered

senior managers, managers, core

technical staff and administrative

support staff Our own analysis

suggests senior managers represent

30% of HR costs and 75% of

their time is spent in meetings.

Preparation time is estimated at

25% of meeting time so nearly 19%

of their time is spent preparing for

meetings The assumptions can be

adjusted to circumstances In this

example, which is not unreasonable, 57% of the total HR cost

is devoted to meetings.

Now lets consider what can be achieved if we can make

our meetings more efcient. With a more focused meeting

where everyone is better aware of objectives, how they

are expected to contribute, where there is no unnecessary

repetition and where everything is available before the

meeting, do you think you can improve the efciency of

your meetings? On this basic level lets assume that a 2 hour

meeting can be reduced by 30% and becomes 90 minutes

Lets assume preparation time can be reduced by 30% also

We won’t factor in any reduction in the number of meetings

but that is clearly possible too A meeting every other month

could become four times a year A weekly meeting could

become fortnightly or even monthly If meetings are more

effective they will not be needed so frequently, and the

preparation time will be reduced too We take no account yet

of any direct increased output, nor of the benecial effect

of improved application of information, knowledge, skills

or quality.

Figure 1

SpreadoftotalHRcostsandpercentageoftimeinmeetings

Seniormanagers

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

70.00%

80.00%% of total HR cost

% of time in meetings

% of time preparingfor meetings

Managers Technical Support

43%

28%

1% 9%

19%

Senior managers Managers Technical

Support Regular Work

Figure 2

PercentageofHRcostsinmeetings




From our example of limited and modest improvement we can apply an

additional 50% of our ‘real work’ investment, from 43% of HR costs to

62% This increase is staggering, but easily achievable if you go about

it the right way But that is only the start Your meetings will give you

improved application – your employees are more focused, use information

more efciently and effectively, implement knowledge and skills more

successfully – improved impact meaning better output, quality and

value and greater talent retention because your employees feel good,

contribute more, are satised and feel as though they are adding value

to your organisation.

Clearly the argument for improving the methodology surrounding your

meetings becomes compelling when modest investments yield such high

returns Of course the doubtful might argue that this latent opportunity

is not real and that the released HR costs would simply be absorbed and

not utilized. But this would be a sad reection of condence in your most

valuable assets—your talent—and reect unfavorably on the spirit of

the organisation, the quality of its management and it’s ability to achieve

its mission.

Figure 3

SpreadoftotalHRcostsandimprovedpercentageoftimeinmeetings

Seniormanagers

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

Managers Technical Support

% of total HR cost% of time in meetings

% of time preparingfor meetings

62%

19%

12%

6%

1%

Senior managers Managers Technical

Support Regular Work

Figure 4

ReducedpercentageofHRcostsinmeetings



8 CEO Guide




R A I N B

O W C

R I T E R I A ,

T H E K E Y D R I V E R S –

M I S S I O N C O M E S F I R S T

The most important people in

meetings are the participants

You’ve called them into the same

place at the same time to harvest

their combined knowledge,

experience and ideas Your

aim is to achieve a successful

outcome for your organisation

You are looking to your meeting

participants to make real and

valuable contributions to the

meetings that they attend and

help you achieve your outcomes

When you really think about it,

it’s quite a tall order to ask each

and every meeting participant,

presumably between six and

twelve people, to make a real and

valuable contribution, but it is

possible Their active, engaged, and

relevant participation in meetings

will help move the meeting and,

ostensibly, your company towards

its desired outcomes But how do

you get your meeting participants

to engage in this manner? Howdo you get your participants to

achieve synergy?

A mission, both for the meeting

and for your organisation, is

absolutely critical to generating

synergy in your meetings

By clearly conveying your

organisation’s mission to your

employees, everyone knowswhat they are working towards

consequently each can better

orientate themselves towards the

best contribution they can make

Organisations that have a clear

sense of where they are headed

are nearly always driven by leaders

who are able to motivate their

teams to move in the desired

direction with a sense of urgency

An organisation primarily exists

to serve its stakeholders—the

customers, employees, business

partners, shareholders and

communities that benet from

the organisation’s existence and

growth In addition to strong

leadership, the best way to insure

that a shared commitment exists

throughout an organisation is by

articulating, documenting and then

strategically using clear statements

of corporate mission, values

and vision for the future Many

organisations have both mission

and vision statements and a set

of organisation values that theydisplay on their website or in other

materials

Stakeholders are best served when

an organisation operates in a

manner that ensures the mission is

accomplished Accomplishing the

mission in a logical and systematic

way requires the organisation to

develop a strategy Think of it as apyramid: a set of goals or targets

is determined usually by senior



10 CEO Guide

management at the top, or in the

case of non-prot organisations,

by the organisations charter

Having formulated a mission

statement, the next thing is

to recognise what underlying

principles or inuences effect

your ability to achieve that mission,

to measure it and to measure

your progress There are several

recognised approaches for doing

this that focus on business drivers,

critical success factors (CSFs) and/

or balanced scorecard perspectives

In the Synergy methodology we

refer to these collectively as an

organisation’s Rainbow Criteria

Business drivers, CSFs and

perspectives are terms used to

explain the crucial factors that

lead to success Identifying them is

more of an art than a science and

they differ widely depending on

the industry and market dynamicsFor example, the answer to the

question “Why would customers

choose us?” is typically a critical

success factor What works as a

success factor for one organisation

may lead to the failure of another

More recently, a methodology

called the Balanced Scorecard,

devised by Drs Robert Kaplan(Harvard Business School) and

David Norton suggests that we

consider factors that inuence

performance in the context

of perspectives The Balanced

Scorecard enables companies

to develop metrics, collect data

and analyse it relative to each of

these perspectives.

The original Balanced Scorecard

design described four perspectives:

Financial Perspective: How are we

perceived by the shareholders?;

Customer Perspective: How do

our customers view us?; Internal

Process Perspective: How

effective and efcient are our

internal processes?; Learning &

Growth Perspective: How agile

are we to grow and change in the

market place?

Each of these four perspectives

is certainly important to all

organisations all over the world

to some degree, but there’s norule that says you can’t have

more or different perspectives

Some feel their scorecards should

specically address corporate

social responsibility, so they have

introduced a fth dimension called

“environmental perspective” or

“societal perspective” Others

add a perspective for suppliers

and partners to cover theseimportant constituencies.

Your critical success factors, business drivers, orbusiness perspectives are your new Rainbow Criteria

sample balanced scorecard

Financial

Customer

Process

Learning & Growth




Here is an example of perspectives as

rainbow criteria:

• Customers

(including sales, marketing and

public relations)

• Supplychain

(suppliers, production)

• Employees

(including training, welfare and health

& safety)

• Processes

(including technology and administration)

• Innovation

(including product and service

development)

• Environmental&Social

(including corporate social responsibility)

• Corporate

(including nance and investor relations)

Whatever method you adopt you will arrive

at a small number of critical rainbow criteria

The Alberto-Culver Company is a global

manufacturer and marketer of beauty, personal

care and household products sold under leading

brand names such as Alberto VO5, Nexxus,

TRESemme, St Ives, Motions, Soft & Beautiful,

Just For Me, Mrs Dash and Static Guard

They describe their mission as follows:

“The Alberto-Culver Company is dedicated to

building, for the long term, protable businesses

and substantial brands which are recognized for

bringing innovation and value to consumers and

an excellent return to shareholders”

They describe their key goals (rainbow criteria)

as follows:

Whatever you determine your rainbow criteria

to be, the most important thing is that you have

a mission and that every employee is keenly

aware of it and understands what factors are

critical to achieving it This will not only help

you create synergy in every meeting—how is

what we are discussing here today moving ustowards the organisation’s mission and Rainbow

Criteria?—but help your company move

forward and thrive in the knowledge-driven

market place.

Entrepreneurial spirit

Employee teamwork

Optimization of resources

Customer service

Opportunity generation



12 CEO Guide




O R I E N T A T I O N O F M E E T I N

G S A N D A G E N

D A I T E M S –

C L A R I F Y I N G

O B J E C T I V E S

Firstly if you cannot give a

meeting a name it probably isn’t

necessary You could probably

achieve what you want to achieve

by making a few phone calls,

exchanging a few emails or sharing

a coffee break Giving a meeting

a name will lead to an objective

and from the objective it will

become apparent who can make

a contribution, so who should be

involved Most ad hoc ‘meetings

to discuss’ are unnecessary, costly

and demotivating Do not call a

‘meeting to discuss’ unless you are

clear about it’s objectives, how it

can be justied, how it contributes.

‘Meetings to discuss’ are often

called for the wrong reasons,

typically for self promotion or

other internal political reasons

A meeting is simply a collection of

agenda items Given that agenda

items have their own objectives

there is some scope for confusionbetween agenda item objectives

and meeting objectives If there is

only one item on the agenda then

arguably the objectives are the

same But a recurring departmental

meeting will usually have the scope

to discuss many agenda items,

each with different objectives

even though on rare occasions the

meeting might discuss only oneitem Even a single project meeting

will include multiple aspects

such as phases and tasks So the

objectives of meetings should

be designed to embrace the high

level purpose of the meeting and

should not be confused with the

objectives of agenda items

There are essentially two types of

objectives: task and social Task

objectives are more formal than

social objectives, relate to agenda

items and dene the group’s work.

These task objectives might be

imposed from outside or inside the

group Social objectives concern

the group’s sense of identity, its

wellbeing and the relationships of

group members to each other and

to the group They usually develop

from within the group Problems

can arise when task and social

objectives become mismatched

For example, task objectives

may become obscured by social

objectives (the group is having

too much of a good time) Taskobjectives may suppress or damage

social objectives (tasks imposed

dictatorially, for example, or when

the group is under stress) The two

kinds of objective may even come

into conict (for example, one part

of the group seeking to impose

tasks on another)

Strong task objectives and poorsocial objectives may be effective:

a meeting can get things done



14 CEO Guide

in a “bad atmosphere,” though at the cost of

anxiety, stress, antagonism, frustration and

hurt feelings Achieving task objectives, of

course, can strengthen social cohesion Strong

social objectives without a clear focus on task

objectives where everybody is only “bonding”

or basking in self-congratulation will not be

highly productive.

Clarifying task objectives is fundamental but

we ignore social objectives at our peril It

is generally agreed that, the more cohesive

group, the more productive it is If both the

task and social objectives are weak, the group’s

cohesion will be poor and its performance will

certainly suffer.

In clarifying task objectives we clarify the

objectives of each agenda item and we

summarise the task objectives for the meeting as

a whole The meeting as a whole will usually also

have sub objectives In this respect meetings are

very similar to projects. For example a meeting

objective might be described as in this

example below extracted from an example

Synergy meeting:

As we discuss further in the next section, an agenda item

might be shared across several groups It will have an overall

objective common to all and specic objectives that follow

the same thread but can vary from group to group. Specic

objectives are more detailed and usually include measurement

criteria For example in an international organisation an

agenda item might be “To generate positive editorial coverage

in national media” In each operating country they would use

the same agenda item but the specics would vary.

In our guide in this series “Organising meetings”

we cover the setting of objectives in more detail.

In summary we must all be aware of our groups’

objectives, both formal and informal, the stage each

group is at in its development and recognise that the

more cohesive our groups are, the more productive they

are and the more enjoyable they are to be members of.

Meeting: Branch 1 Management Meeting

Main Objective: To make decisions to ensure the

smooth running of the branch and

to make recommendations to group

where action is outside branch

authority.

Sub objective: To adhere to group policy

Sub objective: To operate the branch efficiently and

profitably

Sub objective: To optimize the use of resources

Sub objective: To comply with all legal requirements




M

E A S U R I N G A C H I E V E M E N T S

–

S T R U C T U R E

F O R R E S U L T S

“Agenda” means “things that have

to be done” You have called into

the same space a select, pre-

determined group of participants

to come together to work as a

team on a set of tasks that must be

accomplished or acted upon before

the meeting adjourns

We address the routine aspects of

agenda preparation in the guide in

this series “Organising meetings”

What I want to concentrate on

here is the signicance of agenda

items, namely the topics that are to

be discussed, in our methodology

It goes without saying that in

order to contribute as expected

every meeting participant must

understand and the objective

behind the agenda items on the

agenda before they ever step

foot in the room or call in for the

conference call This gives them

time to prepare and to keep theircontributions relevant Think

of objectives as the tangible

outcomes being targeted

Generally speaking, to have a

successful outcome, objectives

should be clear, measurable,

achievable, agreed and should have

an associated timescale The item

should have a leader, someone thatacts as the key coordinator for that

item and to whom participators

can refer between meetings

regarding actions assigned to

them, particularly if they are not

members of the meeting

Given that items are only on an

agenda because they are important

and given they cannot be dealt

with any other way it must follow

that we might want to access the

discussion again when we have

similar issues in the future But in

most organisations this simply isn’t

a practical option While issues are

still in recent memory it might be

possible, but that has a very short

shelf life Rummaging back through

the litter in your emails or the

litter in your ling systems simply

doesn’t work We have too much of

it and it’s not indexed well enough

The Synergy methodology is

rigorous in this respect We must

capture the synergy we create

today and make it available bothto ourselves and other groups in

the future We do not want our

talented personnel wasting their

time or, becoming demotivated by

re inventing the wheel We want

to build and retain value both for

ourselves, our colleagues and all

other stakeholders

A meeting is a collection ofagenda items The meeting itself

has no value It is important to



16 CEO Guide

communicate when and where

a meeting is being held, what

facilities are required, who is

attending etc but the value is in the

agenda items The value is in the

focused discussion, the outcomes

and the evidence all of which is

based on an agenda item Just like

an air ticket has no value – the

value is in the journey itself, so

too with meetings If you miss the

ight it’s a wasted opportunity and

so too with meetings Maybe you

will get another ight and maybe

you will schedule another meeting

This repetitive cycle of waste is

one of the reasons meetings get

such a bad press

It is most often the case that

agenda items are simply not

managed There is no basic

consistency of naming Often

ad hoc items are thrown in in a

haphazard way There is no other

structure But I don’t want tobe too critical of hard pressed

managers working 70 hour weeks

or more They don’t have the tools

or the methodology to do anything

else What little attention is given

to meetings usually focuses on

logistics, protocol and etiquette

Important though those things

are they only add a fraction of the

value that is possible

Agenda items are at the heart of

our methodology The disorganized

approach entrenched in most

organisations today simply

isn’t good enough in a modern

knowledge based organisation,

in a competitive world Agenda

items should have proper titles,

objectives and a leader There

must be a structure Agenda

items should be capable of being

shared across different groups and

meetings Each group might discuss

the same item but for a different

reason or in a different context

In Synergy each agenda itembelongs to an ‘agenda focus’

and also an ‘agenda area’

An agenda item in a different

group or meeting can belong to a

different focus and/or a different

area So for example consider

a departmental meeting in the

Health & Safety directorate The

agenda item “Deepwater Horizon”

might be assigned to the focus

“Environmental” and the area of

“Accidents” The same agenda

item might also be discussed in a

technical meeting where it might

be assigned to the focus “Design”

and the area “Offshore rigs” By

building a structure like this it is

possible to tap into the all aspects

of that agenda item, or conversely

tap into different items relating to

a focus or area

In Synergy each agenda item belongs to an ‘agenda focus’ and

also an ‘agenda area’. An agenda item in a different group ormeeting can belong to a different focus and/or a different area.




At the conclusion of each meeting discussion an

adjusted rainbow score is calculated automatically,

based on a exible feedback algorithm. The default

will ask participants to consider the need for that

item to have been raised in that meeting, and the

contribution made

This simple methodology keeps participants

positively focused on objectives and eliminates

items that aren’t relevant and don’t add sufcient

value Participants in meetings become dramatically

more engaged and focused when they understand

what is on the agenda, why it is there and how

they can contribute. Routine tasks will nd their

way to action outside the environs of an expensive

meeting It can literally make all the difference in

the world

When we create an agenda item for the rst

time we must describe what it is about, what

the objective is We must also decide how

discussions on this topic will contribute to the

mission We do this by considering each of the

rainbow criteria in turn and think about how

an agenda item in this group will contribute

By answering several simple questions a score

is generated for each criterion and an overall

score for the item in each group The same

agenda item might be weighted differently in

different groups.

This simple methodology keeps participants positively focused

on objectives and eliminates items that aren’t relevant and

don’t add sufcient value. Routine tasks will nd their way toaction outside the environs of an expensive meeting



18 CEO Guide




M

A X I M I S I N G C O N T R I B U T I O N

–

W H O S H O U L D A T T E N D A N D W

H Y

We expand on this topic in the

series guide “Organising meetings”

Research on the evolution of

groups show them passing through

the stages of ‘forming’ when

the members get the measure

of each other; ‘storming’ when

personalities can clash and struggle

predominates; ‘norming’ as the

group settles down, and eventually

‘performing’ Through these stages,

individual members of the groups

continually realign themselves

according to, among other things,

status, role, liking and disliking We

cover more on this in later sections

As individuals joining a group we

strive for recognition, wellbeing, a

sense of belonging and inuence.

If the group does not satisfy those

needs or if we doubt the group in

some way, it will not receive our full

commitment We might withdraw,

physically or mentally, or we might

devise an alternative agenda or

even engage in sabotage Needless

to say dysfunctional behavior will

wreck a group or meeting very

quickly if not handled carefully

by the leader We cover ways of

neutralising such behavior later in

the book A group may form, grow

and destroy itself in a matter of

hours; another may be stuck at one

stage for months or even years

In other words, groups, and

therefore meetings, can be very

complex things so you must gain

the best understanding you can

of colleagues skills, experience

and personalities before you invite

them to the group It can make or

break your meeting Next time you

attend a meeting for the rst time,

or even a recurring meeting, ask

yourself if you understand why you

are there Then look around you at

your colleagues and ask yourself if

you know why they are there



20 CEO Guide

To be a cohesive group, all

members must understand their

role, what is expected of them,

what contribution they are

expected to make at each meeting

And they must understand each

other’s roles One of the most

serious criticisms of meetings and

why they are often considered

pointless is that members do not

know why they are there Are they

there to present information? To

provide background and context

to the situation at hand? To

contribute their negotiation skills

pertaining to a contentious issue?

Spell out each participant’s roles

before the meeting and make sure

they understand what is expected

of them

One of the most rewarding aspects

of work is to be appreciated and to

make a valued contribution, so let

participants know how they each

contribute towards the groupsthey belong to, and ultimately

the mission of the organisation

If the talent in your teams is not

recognized and appreciated, if it

is squandered, it will probably nd

a more appreciative environment

elsewhere, or simply wither away




A D D E D V A L U E V S S Y N E R G Y

Added value is achieved for a

multitude of reasons A common

example would be a shopkeeper

who buys vegetables from a

wholesaler and sells them for a

higher price They are the same

vegetables but the shopkeeper has

added value by transporting them

to the shop Another perspective

on added value, and the one

relevant to us, is an organizational

one where the concept of added

value is that we gain some

additional advantage without

having to pay for it - or pay very

little, compared with its value to us.

Synergy is what causes output to

be more than the sum of the parts

Synergy is inspired Added value

is generated by the design of a

process of some sort You create

an environment where synergy will

be realised; you design a process to

add value

Our only source of synergy is

ourselves working with others and

we do this in groups and meetings

Today our human resources

are our most valuable asset To

optimize them we need to create

an environment that generates

synergy and adds value too By

optimizing the running of our

group meetings we are doing bothThere is no other area in business

where there is so much potential

for improvement

A Synergy implementation provides

the methodology to ensure that

all members of our groups share a

common mission We have to help

them feel valued and consequently

safe But synergy itself is probably

impossible to quantify, but we

recognize it when we are a part of it

and see it in others.

In creating our synergistic

environment we ensure colleagues

understand their roles in the

different groups they belong to;

the overall objective of every

meeting; the organisation’s mission

and rainbow criteria; the specic

objectives and contribution of

each agenda item; action points;

outcomes and evidence These are

the essential ingredients of our

synergistic environment

So in creating a synergistic

environment we need to create

processes to support it In these

processes we nd that added value

is generated Some might argue

that the added value is justication

in itself and that synergy is the by-

product of the improved efciency

and productivity Whatever

your perspective, the return oninvestment can be substantial



22 CEO Guide

Addedvalue Details/benet

Library of minutes /

meeting notes

Full library of all minutes and associated les and feedback. All

meeting participants can access and upload at will Optimized for iPad

Approval process Allows for approval of minutes where necessary so

accelerates completion.

MindMap/Organogram of

all meetings, areas, focus

and items

A picture paints a thousand words This picture enables you to view

and consider the dynamics of your organisation very easily and is

automatically kept up to date for viewing at any time

Drill down, search and

dashboards and reporting

Flexible access and search through all previous meetings maximizing

the benet from previous discussions and reducing meeting

preparation time Measure alignment with corporate goals Identify

unnecessary meetings and agenda items

Management of actions Maintain and update your own outstanding actions across different

groups and monitor progress on colleagues’ action points Feedback

on actions

Corporate governance Register conicts of interest and restricted access

Organizer Maintains all meetings and all related information, calls, responses,

les and minutes in one place accessible by all members, eliminating

litter and dependence on emails and eliminates failed attendance and

poor preparation

Personal proles & roles Provide self maintained personal proles so your colleagues are aware

of your skills and experience and understand the contribution you can

make, and vice versa Automatically maintain your roles in different

meetings to give a better depth of understanding both to your

immediate colleagues and to future colleagues

Mission, objectives and

rainbow criteria

Focus all meeting agenda items on the organisation’s mission and

business drivers

The table below shows some of the added value benets that can contribute towards the increase

in regular work time of 50% without incurring any signicant additional cost.




In the earlier section we calculated a basic

increase in direct resources - the value added -

arising from a Synergy methodology This 50%

increase represents 20% of total HR costs But

it is only the start It does not take account of

the more creative improvements that are more

difcult to quantify. So can this added value be

realised? As I said earlier, the doubtful might

argue that this latent opportunity is not real

and that the released HR costs would simply

be absorbed and not utilized But this would

be a sad reection of condence in your most

valuable assets—your talent—and reect

unfavorably on the spirit of the organisation,

the quality of its management and it’s ability

to achieve its mission At worst Synergy would

create a downsizing opportunity

Effect return

Reduce the number of meetings, the time

spent in meetings and preparation time

20% of total HR

costs

Utilizedtogenerate

Increased output from increased resource 20% of revenue

improve learning, application, impact

(information, knowledge & skills, quality

of output)

20% of revenue

Increased synergistic output ?

Arguably the increase in added value in the workforce should

generate a higher increase in output, but in the table above

I have assumed only a similar increase in basic output and

a similar increase because the team is better equipped

The synergistic effect remains unquantiable.



24 CEO Guide

Conclusion

A Synergy programme is probably the simplest and lowest risk enterprise wide

programme to have such a signicant impact. Synergy training is an orientation

exercise in which the organisation and structure of meetings and agenda items is

mapped, the extent of investment in meetings is given an order of magnitude, and

the mission, objectives and rainbow criteria recognized as the target You create an

environment where synergistic outcomes can be extended, talent is encouraged,

retained and attracted and added value benets can be maximized. A synergy

programme makes us more competitive in every way, whether a commercial

organisation, a charity, government or NGO

There is no other training or

development programme that can

have such a huge positive impact

on productivity yet be implemented

so easily.



For more information please contact

George Osborne

Centrixia Synergy & Partners

Broad Quay House

Prince Street

Bristol

BS1 4DJ

United Kingdom

Tel + 44 (0) 117 383 0300

www.centrixia.com

[email protected]

[email protected]

Tel +44 (0) 751 556 6385



26 CEO Guide

Centrixia Synergy & Partners

Broad Quay HousePrince StreetBristolBS1 4DJUnited KingdomTel + 44 (0) 117 383 0300www.centrixia.com

[email protected]

Centrixia Synergy

There is no other training or developmentprogramme that can have such a hugepositive impact on productivity yetbe implemented so easily.

Clearly the argument becomes compelling

when modest investments yield suchhigh returns.

synergy ceo guide

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