The Meeting Room: Temple, War Room, and Game Room
August 10, 2024
The meeting room serves as a vital space where key decisions are made. In essence, three types of meetings occur in the meeting room: the board of commissioners, the management team, and middle management. This space can be seen as a temple, a war room, and a game room.
In the temple, the focus is on the immaterial—vision and big-picture thinking.
In the war room, the emphasis is on strategy—planning the battle against market competitors and getting logistics right.
In the game room, it's about execution—making the plays and turning plans into action.
At the middle management level, vision and strategy are concretely translated into tasks, procedures, protocols, and machine settings—essentially materializing the strategy. This is the execution phase, focusing on implementation rather than strategic planning. However, it is beneficial for middle management to understand the strategy and provide feedback to higher levels, as they are closest to the operational realities.
This level is crucial for achieving goals. Aligning these three levels ensures that the organization moves in a unified direction. At the same time, it is essential to recognize that this process is part of the Plan, Do, Check, Act cycle, primarily focusing on execution—getting things done.
In the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) context, where most organizations are small, it is challenging to recognize these three dimensions. This challenges governance, as the checks and balances from clearly defined roles can be weak. Strengthening these structures is essential for the sustainable success of organizations in such environments.
Miguel Goede
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