Hump Day Hint 13#: Being proactive - Implementing an operating rhythm for your department

Although it's not something that is written into our job descriptions (although 90% of what we do isn't!), the DOR is something that should sit as part of the responsibilities of the EA, whether you are aware of it or not, and it's something I encourage you all to take the lead on. Essentially the DOR comprises of the series of meetings for your department that cover off all the needs and requirements of each of the levels of leadership within the team. As an EA you'll get asked to set up what seems like a bunch of random meetings each year, including the likes of one on ones, steer com's and team meetings etc. But the longer you're in your role you'll begin to learn exactly what the team's requirements are and when, which should lead you to proactively initiating these meetings by way of a DOR. What I'm saying is, don't sit back and wait to be asked to set up meetings that you know will happen each year, instead take the lead and do a review of what needs to happen and when, forming your DOR now. And even if you've been in your role for many years and the meetings don't change year after year, the benefit of having a visual planner with the operating rhythm plotted out can be of great benefit to everyone, even if you don't think you'll need it or use it.

So where do you start with what can seem like a large and daunting job? First up, do your prep:

• meet with finance to understand the different financial periods of the year that will dictate certain meeting requirements and reporting requirements 
• meet with HR to understand the time frames throughout the year for people reviews; their expectations around all team meetings/town halls; and the expectations of your Executive to conduct team listening sessions etc
• meet with each of your Exec's direct reports to understand their meeting requirements (that involve the Executives leadership team), these might include decision making forums for their area, LT meetings with their direct reports etc
• meet with your Executive to obtain his /her expectations around frequency of meetings for one on ones, team meetings, team off sites, workshops etc (unless you're confident it is to be replicated from the previous year)
• meet with project leads to understand project steer co requirements and the frequency of how often they need to happen. Also obtain timelines for each project so you don't have steer co's running beyond their delivery date.

Obviously every industry, business and department is different, but I've listed below a guide of the meetings that should be considered when forming your DOR, which I've broken down by level.  

At an Executive level

• 1:1 meetings with each of their direct reports
• Half yearly/ full yearly performance and salary reviews with their direct reports 
• Annual reviews of staff salary and performance with HR
• Any mentoring/coaching sessions that your Executive either leads or does
• Their presence/attendance at the team meetings or huddles of their direct reports 

Leadership team level (direct reports of your Executive)

• LT workshops or offsite days
• Weekly/fortnightly LT meetings
• People reviews
• Project steer com meetings
• Councils meetings - for adherence to policy i.e privacy; accessibility; security etc
• Results/sales meetings/period end reviews 

Senior leadership team level (direct reports of your Executive's direct reports) 

• Weekly SLT huddles
• Monthly/Quarterly SLT meetings or workshops
• BPR (Business Performance Reviews) - if your department has a few different functions, this is an opportunity for a regular update to the LT.

All team

• All team huddles/ town halls / all team meetings- frequency dependent on team size and venue accessibility 

For your Executive to host

• Departmental listening sessions
• Education sessions/Brown Bag lunch sessions (i.e. educational/informative sessions for the wider team on topics such company initiatives; industry trends; project updates etc.)
• Team visits (either teams onsite or offsite, or at different offices) 

Other

• Deadlines for reports - board reports, weekly departmental reports etc
• Team communications - specifically for certain periods, i.e performance reviews, end of year results etc 
• Inclusion of any Executive meetings/Board meetings your Executive attends as a Chief/Director - this will dictate preparation required by the LT to ensure your Executive is prepared to talk to certain updates and agenda items 

Once you have your list of required meetings by level, ensure you have a frequency for each and plot them out into a visual calendar/planner. This will allow you to see where there are overlaps and allow you to spread your meetings more effectively, as well as visually being able to see deadlines for reports etc. At this stage present it to your Exec as the proposed operating rhythm for the department, take on board any edits or feedback and then begin the process of duplicating it into Outlook and sending out the meeting invites for each of the meetings for the year.