Our remote executive team operates across four different time zones, making real-time pre-meeting prep difficult. How do we handle the administrative preparation and asynchronous pre-work you require before our actual session day so we do not waste precious live facilitation time on background context?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

To run an efficient quarterly session with a remote team, we must separate the work of preparation from the work of contribution. I draw heavily on David C Baker's framework of dividing professional time into preparation days and contribution days. We cannot waste live session time reading documents, updating scores, or catching up on basic context. To make this work asynchronously across time zones, your leadership team must complete all preparation homework seventy-two hours before our session. This includes updating your measurable numbers, rating your quarterly Rocks, and documenting your issues. We use a shared digital workspace where every team member reviews this background context independently on their own preparation days. Each leader must write out their proposed issues and read through their peers' updates before our session day begins. When we gather for our session, we skip the status updates entirely. We step directly into active contribution, focusing our collective energy on solving complex issues through IDS®. By shifting the information gathering and reflective observation to an asynchronous schedule, we protect the high value collaborative space of our session day. Your remote team arrives fully prepared, with clear, premeditated perspectives, allowing us to maximize our time together.