How to drive effective decisions in Senior Executive Forums?
Kedar Kulkarni
Author
This article was originally published in the Supply Chain Alpha newsletter on LinkedIn. Read the original here.
I was thinking about the subtle art of getting senior executives to align and make decisions in S&OP meetings. For anyone who's led such meetings - I did at both Microsoft and Amazon - it doesn't come easy. Along the way I've picked up a few learnings. Sharing them below in a pithy way in case it helps the next person dealing with "how do I get execs to give me a decision at the end of this hour?".
No guns to the head
Never surprise executives with late breaking news (unless it really is). Execs hate being asked to decide because you have run out of time and didn't give them sufficient opportunity to weigh pros/cons.
Don't attempt to control execs, But you can absolutely manipulate them
Not in a bad or misleading way but by framing tight decision frameworks that pull on opportunities and threats the execs have themselves voiced earlier.
Last Responsible Moment (LRM) for each decision
I learnt this at Amazon. Each decision must have an LRM that you must be able to defend based on a well understood timeline and communicate sufficiently in advance so execs know why they must decide by that date. This is not trivial. Just because you have a lead time of X doesn't make it an LRM for an exec. Answer why X can't be shorter and then you are ready.
Necessary and sufficient information for a decision
Definitely an art and varies by company and exec. In general, figure out how to find the right balance between inundating with excess information and providing too little - both will result in the execs going off on tangents and deferring the decision and you will find yourself with the unenvious mission of "get us back together once we have the right info".
Simple communication
Cannot stress this enough. This is not the time to show off your linguistic skills. Simple, clear and direct works. Execs are not as close to your problem as you are. Don't make it harder for them.
Answer then educate
Another gem I picked up at Amazon. When execs ask a question, answer it directly and succinctly. Resist the urge to educate the exec. They'll ask for education if they want it. Too many folks educate first and confuse executives who perceive it as lack of clarity on your behalf.
Be Predictable
Boring is good. Use the same formats each time, similar frameworks each time. Do anything that reduces the need for an exec to reorient. That way they spend more time on the decision than if they trust the new information in a new format.
Align the team going in
A great way to get the executive to NOT decide is to have open misalignment across teams during the meeting. If there is a debate, resolve it ahead. If you cannot, then make it a topic for the exec to weigh in on and break the tie. They love doing that if done transparently on an issue worth their time.
Optionality Wins
Show how you are creating it. That way when you do have to decide, at least the exec knows they exhausted all other options.
Get to a decision!
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