Holding an action-packed, upbeat, informative quarterly “All-Hands” meeting is a key driver of building an inspired and engaging workplace culture.
The quarterly rhythm is key. At PCI, we believe it’s important to gather all of our associates together regularly to build cohesiveness and connection and to keep everyone informed on how we are doing as an organization.
At PCI, we call the quarterly get-together the “Not The Typical Quarterly Business Meeting.” Which is a play on our NotTheBigCompany branding.
Prior to the pandemic, I and a group of our senior leaders would travel to each of our four locations, Dallas, Virginia Beach, San Antonio, and Little Rock, to host a QBM.
The QBM is a high-energy event with music and typically food.
The agenda is as follows:
Kickoff remarks by me. I have fun and put a lot of thought into the kick-off message and exercise. Many times my message is around our theme for the year. Our 2021 theme is “Grateful Hearts,” which ties to our 100th year anniversary celebration. Last year our theme was: “Trust: the one thing that changes everything.” Other recent themes include: “Getting better at getting better,” “Add the Wow,” and “Be One,” the year after we merged with our biggest competitor.
This past January, I began our QBM by challenging all of our associates to keep a gratitude journal for the first 100 days of the year. In April, we did the values exercise I wrote about last Friday. For our recent July QBM, I shared a new product offering we are getting ready to launch.
Key metrics for the quarter, including financial performance. We are big believers in transparency. To make good decisions people need as much information as possible. We share financial and performance data for all areas of the organization. When the numbers are great, we celebrate. When the numbers are bad, we talk about what needs to get done to address the issue.
Sharing metrics consistently is key and our QBM provides a great forum to do so.
Next, we review our Vision-Traction Organizer (VTO), which is a term from EOS or the Entrepreneurial Operating System. We’ve used the EOS framework to run PCI for four years now with tremendous success. The VTO includes our values, our purpose, our three “uniques”, our 10-year vision, our 3-year picture, our 1-year plan, and our quarterly rocks, or key initiatives. [Aside: I am a raving fan of EOS. In future RiseWithDrews, I will break down some of the additional benefits.]
The final agenda item is also the most important: recognition. We recognize the top performing team for the quarter, our top sales performers, and then present our 5byFIVE awards, which celebrate associates for living PCI’s five values.
Logistics:
The meeting typically runs about 90 minutes.
As we receive over 10,000 calls a day, we plan these meetings when call volume is lightest – either on Monday morning or Friday afternoon.
During the pandemic, we’ve been holding these gatherings virtually on Zoom. There are definitely some benefits to having all 450 of our associates together at the same time. But, we are really looking forward to being in-person again for our QBM’s starting in October. The ability to gather together physically on a regular basis is key for us, especially as we will be a virtual organization going forward.
More next week!
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Reflection: What areas of my life would benefit from a consistent, quarterly check-in?
Action: Create a recurring quarterly meeting for any areas I’ve identified above.
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