Stop doing meetings = $$$

That is our motto at FocusLCD’s. To make this happen, we must reduce unnecessary cost and this is done by eliminating unnecessary steps. That is why one of my favorite company activities at Focus LCD’s is our ‘Stop Doing’ meetings.

What is a ‘Stop Doing’ meeting?

A ‘Stop Doing’ meeting is where Everyone in the company meets and ask questions like:

“Why are we still filling out this form?”

“Why do we still ask our customers to provide this information since we don’t use it anymore?”

If we are doing something out of tradition and it no longer adds value, then wouldn’t it make sense to ‘Stop Doing’ it?

This is not our idea, it came from the Good to Great book.

A good example of this is when the warehouse continues filling out custom forms that we pay FedEx for. Think about the cost savings by eliminating that one step. The employee spends 15 minutes each day filling out this form. 15 minutes/day x260 working days a year = 65 hour of wasted time. If we ‘Stop Doing’ this form, the money saved could pay the warehouse employee a full week of vacation time in the Bahamas and the company would still have made an additional profit.

It is critical that the owner/manager has a QTIP mentality.

What in the world is a QTIP mentality?

For ‘Stop Doing’ meetings to work, management must have a QTIP mentality. (Quit Taking It Personally). That is, if their pet project is not working, they should admit it is not working, swallow their pride and ‘Stop Doing’ it.

If, as a manager, you are not sure what to say, try this: “You’re right. This is not working. We do need to “Stop Doing” this. And Who made the coffee, it is really good today.”

Rule #1: No one gets fired or blackballed

For this ‘Stop Doing’ to work, it must be understood that no one gets fired or blackballed, no matter how crazy their ‘Stop Doing’ suggestion is. Well . . . unless someone suggests we ‘Stop Doing’ coffee in the morning. Then all bets are off.

Would your company allow such a radical idea?