Six questions
Use a short recurring rhythm: numbers, priorities, customers, issues, actions and decisions. Keep the record visible after the meeting.
- What changed in the numbers?
- What matters this week?
- Which customer needs attention?
- What issue needs a decision?
- Who owns each action?
- When will the decision be reviewed?
Choose numbers that lead to decisions
Start with a small set of measures that tell you whether delivery, customers and cash need attention. Define each measure, its source and the person responsible for updating it. 'Sales' could mean enquiries, accepted proposals, invoices or money received; mixing those meanings makes a meeting look precise while leaving the decision unclear.
For each number, state what change would trigger a question. A weekly review does not need a dashboard of everything the business can count. It needs enough reliable information to decide what deserves action before the next review.
Illustrative example: turn a late job into a decision
A service team notices that several booked jobs are waiting for customer information. Instead of discussing each delay indefinitely, the review identifies the missing handover step. One person takes responsibility for checking readiness before booking, with exceptions escalated to the delivery lead.
Record the decision, owner and next review date. Keep the action separate from the observation: 'jobs waiting for information' is an issue; 'confirm readiness before booking the next job' is an action. At the following review, check whether the change was used and whether the same delay occurred.
Keep the meeting and the record lightweight
Prepare the numbers before the meeting. Use meeting time for exceptions, trade-offs and decisions that need more than one person. Move detailed problem-solving into a separate discussion with the people who can resolve it; otherwise a short review becomes a status recital for everyone else.
Carry open actions forward with their owners rather than creating a fresh list each week. Close actions only when the agreed result can be checked. If the same item stays open, decide whether to change the scope, provide capacity or explicitly stop it. Repeating the label is not progress.