More coffee? Lovely. Let's put that agenda together. Starting with Apologies.
Seriously - Apologies for Absence. Sometimes they're an absolute blessing.
You can blame all the people you want for not being there for you along the way.
You can invite endless streams of denial and accusation.
Or, we can mark them down as Absent and forgive them (sigh of relief) for not being here today.
This is the time to be thinking straight. Forget the past, it's gone. The one problem you have to deal with now is that horrible negativity everyone's got so familiar with. You - and they - have to agree on a plan of action to turn this situation around and put Positivity into the Best-Practice Mode it loves so much.
Ged, the plant manager hosting the Corus project (the one that broke records with 1,000 Days No Lost Time Injuries immediately following course completion) was on board with his staff, treated them as equals and was able to gain from the programme so much that he sustained continuous improvements for the next four years before retiring in 2008. Prior to the programme, his best efforts had come to nothing because his team of 30+ steelworkers could see no personal benefit in changing anything. Everyone, Ged included, had to do some re-assessing - and I made sure they had fun with that critical process.
Item 1: Review. Not much point in setting off for new territory if you don't know the way out of the old one. And since the old and new territories are going to be in the same physical location, all the more reason to take a good hard look at what it is you're really dealing with here. You need a straightforward questionnaire that will get to the heart of the problem without getting anyone's knickers in a twist. Decide to make this happen so that you are fully aware of your ground.
Item 2: The Mission. Look at your Mission from your own viewpoint. Your own Mission. What is it that you want to achieve from where you are at this point in time? A Mission is a How to Get There, it's a Pledge to Self of what you are going to do to make sure everyone succeeds in getting to where they want to be. Customers included.
Item 3: The Prototype. This is where we start to build from the materials gathered so far. Your plan of action has to be built around your mission. When someone designs a car, they design it for the highway. Their spanking new vehicle might look great when it comes out of the workshop, but if it's built to run on rivers it's not going to help people wanting to drive into town. Study the components at hand to craft what's in your heart.
And finally:
ACTION: This is the most important item on every agenda (sadly missing from most of them.) There will be something to do at this point. Nothing difficult, or strenuous, or even particularly challenging, but an Action must be taken here, to get your show on the road. On to Step 3....
