Sunrise Meetings: Create Effective Routines To Make Your
Business Run Like Clockwork (The Business Productivity Series) by
Giles Johnston Last annotated on May 14, 2015
Introduction: What is a Sunrise Meeting?
Firstly, a business that runs
like clockwork experiences fewer surprises. Tasks run to a schedule and you can
set your watch by them. These routines keep the entire business working in the
way it was intended.
It is my experience that
disciplined routines can make a huge impact on the way a business performs.
Routines need to be implemented from the position of properly understanding how
your business processes are meant to work and this is the first port of call in
this book.
I have seen businesses that
operate in ‘organized chaos’ move to progressively improving levels of
performance via Sunrise Meetings. A Sunrise Meeting is a great way to capture
the effective routines in your business and keep them in place.
A business that is working the
way it was intended has a firm grip on the standards it needs to work to. These
aren’t just external accreditations but the ways of working that keep the
business going.
Sunrise Meeting approach can
help you to increase the performance of your business.
The Sunrise Meeting approach
is one way to bring together the necessary routines, standards and Key
Performance Indicators (KPIs) that can help you to run your business
effectively.
Benefits Of A Disciplined Approach To Working
First of all there is the
peace of mind that comes with routine and discipline.
When routines are defined
properly then your teams can work more harmoniously.
Routines can help you to
become more productive.
Sunrise Meeting Examples
The main issue that this
business faced was the lack of clarity about what needed to be done when.
Through tiny meetings and
small bursts of activity the admin backlog disappeared (in only ten minutes a
day of concentrated effort for two weeks) and consequently their cash flow
improved.
At the shift crossover, at
midday, was when this business held their Sunrise Meeting.
This business opted for a
fortnightly review meeting as it better reflected their project lead times.
Principles To Consider
Disciplines can decay
ensure that your tasks are
reviewed regularly and disciplines can be restored quickly if they do slip.
People forget what's important
Having a reminder to help
people do the right things can make a big difference.
Complexity kills efficiency and effectiveness
Little and often beats big and infrequent
After all it is easier to
relax the frequency of a meeting schedule than to tighten it up. Our routines
can often benefit from smaller tasks being looked at more frequently.
PART ONE – Sunrise Meeting
Step 1: Map Your Process
it is a good idea to construct
a quick process map of how your business works to quickly define what the key
tasks are. It should be that each step in the process can be defined by a single
word, or short sentence. It is the essence of the step that I want you to
capture. You will capture the key tasks as part of this step in the exercise.
The tasks must directly support the process, not be tasks that keep people
busy!
- Create a simple process map,
like the one on the next page, for a business process of your choice. Keep the
steps at a high level.
- When all of the steps have
been listed add in the handful of main tasks that need to happen in order for
the process step to ‘complete’.
- Any issues that are
generated as the map is completed should be noted for your continuous
improvement activities (or possibly your issues board).
you recall the ‘jar of rocks’
time management story you will relate to this.
creating your top level
process map you are attempting to (re-)identify the ‘big rocks’, which can then
be used to increase your effectiveness.
2: What's Not Happening?
next step is to build upon the
top level map you created in step 1 and add in the other ‘irritations’ that
affect day to day business performance. I want you to capture in this step of
the exercise is a list of tasks that aren’t happening. You know that the core
tasks listed on your top level map need to happen and now you need to include
the other items that don’t happen as well. clarity over which tasks aren't happening is
essential so that you can correct the situation.
- Create a table with three
headings; task, frequency, notes.
- List the tasks that aren’t
happening, their appropriate frequency and any additional notes.
- Try to be as exhaustive as
possible, considering supporting areas of the business that affect the business
process you have chosen to review.
there may be tasks spread out
over days, weeks and months. Try to capture all of your tasks across these
different timescales.
Step 3: Shortlist Of Tasks To Be Regimented
After completing the previous
step of this exercise you may have a really large list of tasks that don't
happen, but should. By prioritizing the actions you will take there will be less
to do immediately and therefore make the transition easier. If you are
struggling to choose which items are going to be selected ask yourself if the
task is linked to any others in the list. By rationalizing your list you give
yourself the opportunity of an easier change with the potential for expansion
if appropriate.
- Review your list of tasks
that don’t happen and prioritize their importance.
- Eliminate tasks from your
list if they are symptomatic of other items in the list that aren’t happening
currently.
- Select the tasks you want to
include in your daily Sunrise Meetings.
Step 4: What Needs To Happen Each Day?
You should have a combined
list of key tasks from your business process to consider and a number of
prioritised tasks that are not happening the way that they should. It is a good
opportunity to capture these items in one place, which is the purpose of this
step. By duplicating the format below (including yearly items) you can quickly
create your time table. This fundamentally is the routine for your business,
and from which we can create the Sunrise Meeting and other supporting meetings.
- Convert your lists of key
process tasks and other outstanding tasks into a timetable using the above
format (or create your own).
- Re-review the time scales to
see if you have missed any tasks from the first attempt.
Step 5: Designing Your Sunrise Meeting
The purpose of the Sunrise
Meeting is to get your team together near to the start of the working day. At
this meeting a short series of questions are asked and any corrective actions
are planned. The meeting should be aligned with the performance objectives you
are working toward and should only last a few minutes. Any issues that get
raised during the meeting need to be captured, monitored and closed out at the
subsequent meetings.
Your job is to convert the
daily routines and key process activities into a logical sequence of checks
that can form the agenda for your Sunrise Meeting. Getting the right people
together to discuss these points also needs to be considered. You may wish to
include additional people who do not directly report to you, but who can answer
the above questions.
- Review your daily routines
and the key process activities and create a series of simple questions.
- Review the questions and see
if you can adjust the questions so that you can elicit a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer.
- Determine who the right
people are to take part in this short meeting, including people who are
possibly not direct reports.
- Choose a meeting area that
is open and preferably one that contains a whiteboard to capture any issues
that arise from the meeting itself.
PART TWO – Improving Your Sunrise Meeting Results
The First Sunrise Meeting
When you hold your first
Sunrise Meeting it will most likely take too long. Accepting that the meeting
will evolve in terms of both its duration and its effectiveness is all I ask
for the short term. It is clear that the better prepared people are when
attending meetings the quicker the meeting can be. This goes for the Sunrise
Meeting as well as other meetings. Being clear with everyone about the duration
of the meeting is vital to keeping the sessions short. Long meetings are often
far less productive than short, well planned, meetings. To ensure that everyone
understands the importance of a Sunrise Meeting it is imperative that the
meeting takes place consistently. Every day the meeting must be run and the
agenda followed. It needs to become a habit and so if you are the person who is
going to run the meeting then you need to plan in advance who will run it in
your absence (holidays etc...).
Starting on time is another
strategy that I urge you to use. The Sunrise Meeting is focused on bringing a
more systematic and organized approach to running the operational side of your
business.
Waiting for people to turn up
is frankly unacceptable. If people are going to turn up late then they should
be reminded firmly that lateness is not the standard you are striving for.
Finally, make the meetings
count. Most people who have been told they have to go to a new regular meeting
will be sceptical of it producing results. Sunrise Meetings can be as much
about the style of delivery as the content.
- Review the planned
participants for the Sunrise meeting and decide on what style you need to have
in order to run an effective meeting.
- Make it clear to all that
the meetings happen every day at the same time and that they start on time.
- Monitor the response in the
business to this way of regulating operational activities, possibly via your
KPIs.
- Adjust the agenda if you
think it necessary, based on your observations from the above point.
Can We Go Home Yet?
Quite often the working day
can be interrupted with issues. Sunset Meetings can be used in two main ways.
The first way, to support the development of habits, is as a short term
arrangement. If the Sunrise Meeting is the ‘take off’ then the Sunset Meeting
is the landing. Whilst the Sunrise Meeting is scheduled (usually) for the start
of the working day, the Sunset Meeting is often scheduled for near to the
working day, but not right at the end. Often the mistakes and problems from one
shift are left for the other one to deal with!
In my opinion, the Sunset
Meeting should have an even shorter agenda and a quicker pace than the Sunrise
Meeting. of running through the same agenda it should simply check of the
actions that were agreed at the Sunrise Meeting. Going back to the timing of
the Sunset Meeting, if there are still actions outstanding then there should be
enough time left for the people who need to take action to do so. I’ll leave
you to make up your mind as to whether you think there is merit in running a
Sunset Meeting in your business, either to form habits or to close out the
working day / shift.
- Review your Sunrise Meeting
agenda and create a cut down version.
- Choose a time in the working
day to run your Sunset Meeting, where your team will have enough time to
undertake the outstanding actions.
- Ask yourself the question
‘does this agenda support team working and getting the business on track?’
- Hold your first Sunset
Meeting, explaining the purpose you are introducing it for, and test your
agenda.
- Monitor the rate of closeout
of actions and adjust your Sunset Meeting agenda as appropriate.
Other Routine Meetings
There are various levels of
review in any business and the Sunrise Meeting is definitely at the operational
level.
Having these different levels
of meeting at your disposal will help you have even greater control over your
business. In summary, these levels are:
- Operational: Did we pull the
levers today?
- Tactical: Have we selected
the right levers to use?
- Strategic: What are the
right levers we need to create?
‘Projects Review’. - ‘Contract
Review’. - Management reviews - ‘process improvement’ meeting
- List out the management meetings
that you have in your business currently.
- Identify the missing items
(things that don’t get done, but should) and list them against the appropriate
meeting.
- Find the standard agenda for
each meeting (if there isn’t one write one).
- Add the missing items to the
agenda at the appropriate place.
- Step back from each meeting
and clarify the value in having the meeting in the first place. If the value is
poor ask yourself if you could replace the meeting with some other approach
(e.g. an email that is circulated through a specific path of recipients, adding
comments each step of the way, or splitting the meeting elements into other
meetings).
- Ensure each meeting captures
actions for subsequent follow up.
- Review the time required for
each meeting and attempt to reduce it.
- Ensure that each meeting
starts on time and finishes on time.
- Keep side issues out of the
meeting; let the right people deal with them in the right way.
Meetings only add value to a
business when decisions are made; please bear that in mind when reviewing
yours.
- Review your routines and
split your non Sunrise Meeting items up into logical groups. Add these items to
the relevant existing meeting agendas.
- Consider a weekly capacity
review / MPS approach to help regulate the levels of resource you require.
If you have complex projects,
or are juggling varying capacity levels, then consider the use of a contract
review meeting to help smooth out capacity and load your business
appropriately.
- Use the tips above to trim
your existing meetings.
- Consider a specific process
improvement meeting to help move the business forward and reduce the overall
level of fire fighting that you have to do in your business.
- Ensure that your rota of
meetings add value to the business.
Piggybacking Existing Meetings
put a short written statement
at the top of the standard meeting agenda of what the purpose of the meeting
is. The first way is to create a micro version of the meeting, including only
the absolutely essential elements. As the meeting develops, generating results
for the business, then the additional elements can be brought in to the mix. The
second way to use the tiny version first method is to take the idea of only
having one or two items but instead of having a separate meeting you attach
them to another meeting’s agenda. This of course requires that your additional
agenda items are short to discuss and don’t bloat the other meeting. purpose of
this book is not to take up more of your business time with meetings; it is to
help your business to become more effective through a combination of routines
and short meetings.
- Add a purpose statement to
your standard agendas.
- Establish the ‘micro’
version of your meetings if you are short for time.
- Consider piggy backing your
essential meeting points to another (relevant) meeting if you can’t get the
right people together for a separate meeting.
- Develop the agenda points
over time and see if they require a meeting of their own (if you have tried the
piggy backing approach).
The Issues Board
The first reason to have an issues
board is to stop people having to remember what the issues are in the business.
From a ‘servant leadership’ perspective the issues board is an opportunity for
you, as a manager, to clear obstacles from your team’s path. When the ownership
of a board is not clear it does not get used properly, which in turn can make
the board irrelevant to the business and the meeting attendees. When an item is
placed on the board it is vital that the board is kept up to date and that
progress is visible. Deciding on how long an issue can live for on the board is
a good consideration. If the issue that isn’t moving isn’t simple and / or low
cost to resolve then it may be worth breaking down the actions required into
smaller packets. Rules about what goes onto the board should also be made
clear. This point is similar to the need to keep the board clean and tidy so
that it is treated in the way that it needs to be.
- Include an ‘issues’
whiteboard in the area where you will hold your Sunrise Meetings.
- Determine who will ‘own’ the
board and what the rules are for including items on the issues board.
- If you own the board then
find ways to proactively ‘kick down the locked doors’ and support your team via
this board.
- Determine if a shelf life
for issues is appropriate. If it is then ensure that old items are flushed from
your board periodically.
- Consider breaking down more
complicated and time consuming issues into smaller pieces to help your team
schedule them more effectively into their diaries.
- Use root cause analysis
whenever possible to ensure that you are solving the right issue and not just
putting sticking plasters on problems.
- Determine an effective board
layout to facilitate the resolution of the issues.
The 5 Why Approach
Don't try and solve a symptom,
solve a root cause.
- Try out the 5 Why approach
with your team.
- Get the hang of asking good
questions in order to make this approach effective.
- Use it prior to raising
issues for the issues board at your Sunrise Meeting.
Time Tables And Flexibility
In addition to the tasks that
need to be performed you can also add in any reference to Standard Operating
Procedures (SOPs) that may be relevant. Doing the fun stuff first and then
playing catch up is not the correct sequence! Discipline, not rigidity, is the
focus here. The times in the timetable don’t have to be prescribed if they are
not relevant.
- Implement timetables for
staff that need guidance with managing their own time.
- Link the timetabled action
to SOPs if available.
- Use the timetable as a
training aid for new members of staff.
- Be flexible with the
timetables to get the right balance between internal on time delivery of tasks
and allowing individuals to work independently.
Use Meetings To Reboot Your Team
This is just like a business;
we all need to find ways to re-boot our teams so that they work as effectively
as possible.
Is There Anything Missing?
- Put a reminder in your diary
to review your meetings rota after 1 month, 3 months and 6 months.
- Challenge the meetings; are
they adding value to the business?
- Are the right people attending
the meetings?
- Are the right topics being
reviewed?
At each review look for
opportunities to improve the meetings themselves.
Short And Sweet - 'Doing The Tasks In Record Time' Challenge
Competition is greatest when
it is against ourselves, and how we deliver our products and services is a
great thing to improve, so let's take the opportunity. Be tough on your
routines. Can you do them faster and better? Work with your team to
periodically review the routine elements of your business and find improved
methods and processes that you can test.
- Change processes in a
controlled manner. Agree the changes first and don’t just change methods
without testing them, agreeing them and updating your instructions / SOPs.
Policing – Routines Are Not A Magic Bullet!
Choose who will take ownership
of which parts of the business. Use this opportunity to link certain senior members
of the business with various key parts of the business (if they aren’t
already). Don't do the checking from the comfort of your office though - go to
the right place and see it in action. Agree on which senior managers should be
linked to what processes (from an ‘auditing’ perspective).
- Don’t just rely on KPI data,
get out there and go and see what is happening.
- Arm yourself with a handful
of questions, if it is you doing the review, so that you can find out if the
causes in place are giving you the right effects.
- Use the other routine
meetings to make sure that any changes required are implemented.
Final Thoughts
The main knock on effect of
establishing disciplines is that small disciplines grow over time and standards
of working improve.
