Joan was beside herself. She had taken over the business when her husband died two years ago. While she had a vested interest in the success of the company, she depended on her management team to provide direction, initiate action and measure results. They had just decided that the monthly management team meeting was boring, lacking substance and should be suspended to every other month. Of the eight people in management, only three truly participated, everyone else just watched, trying not to get in the way.

Instinctively, Joan knew the market was changing fast and they had a fierce competitor that decided to relocate not two miles away. Something had to be done to re-energize the group. It’s as if they had all gone brain-dead. Waiting sixty days to review progress and make strategic adjustments was out of the question.

Joan’s company had all the substance necessary, and the market turmoil surrounding them was far from boring. It was the meeting. A specific dynamic in the meeting had to change.

A recent development in management technology was about to transform everything. It is called the 3×5 card, and I suggested Joan use them in the following way. At the beginning of the meeting, Joan distributed the cards and asked each person to write down their one goal for the meeting. No talking allowed, just think and write, 60 seconds.

One minute later, Joan went around the table and asked each person to share what they had written. Instantly, the team went from three ringleaders and five pacifists to eight people with agendas. This is not a subtle difference. Joan was not satisfied with the first round, so she repeated the exercise. Now there were sixteen initiatives on the table. This was only the beginning for Joan and her team. -TF

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