Using Ninety to Support 'State of the Company' Meetings

Sometimes we find our customers are using Ninety uniquely, which is worth sharing! Today we're going to pull an example of an interesting use case from a user we understand very well – ourselves. If you didn't already know, Ninety uses Ninety to power our organization. In fact, the features we add are often the features we want for ourselves.

Using us as an example, let's step through using Ninety to support a "State of the Company" meeting.

So, what's the State of the Company?

The primary reason the Vision planning tool exists is to communicate the Leadership Team's directives to the entire company. Because changes to the Vision happen after the Quarterly Meeting, we developed what we here at Ninety call the "State of the Company." It's a gathering of the entire business (for us; remotely) and consists of a guided tour through the recent past and the future vision, utilizing the Vision tool in Ninety to clearly communicate across the organization. 

The State of the Company meeting takes place a few weeks after each Quarterly Meeting. This is the only time the whole gang gets together and can see how all the different divisions interact across the company. It's also illuminating to get the point of view of our founder, Mark, as he walks us as a company through the Vision. 

Core Value Changes and Shout-Outs

By their very nature, changes to Core Values are a big deal and should not be taken lightly. If the Quarterly Meeting had led to a revision of Core Values, the State of the Company starts by describing what changed and why. 

For example, after this past Quarterly, Ninety went from the TRIBE to the G-TRIBE because we added GSSD™ (Get Smart Stuff Done™). Everyone had seen the addition on our Vision planner, which is self-explanatory. Still, changing the company's Core Values is heavy, and hearing Mark's opinion drove home why the addition was necessary. 

Next, we step through each Core Value, opening the floor to anyone who wants to "shout out" or recognize a peer or colleague for exemplifying that core value. These "Core-Value Shoutouts" end up being a large chunk of the meeting (which is a good thing) and is where most of the interaction between business groups stands out. 

Annual Goal Review and Projection 

We analyze how we performed regarding our goals for the previous year and how our performance concerning those goals impacts our forward-looking projections (for example, how we're tracking towards those 3-year and 10-year goals). If our State of the Company takes place after the Annual Meeting, we present the next 1-year goal. For the Quarterlies, we stick with progress towards the current year's goal. 

Rocks Overview

We spend the last few minutes of the meeting with a high-level overview of our Leadership Team's Rocks for the next quarter. Seeing these Rocks helps paint the picture of the business' priorities and how we plan to achieve our goals. It is another way to demonstrate how closely linked the different business groups are – our Rocks typically draw on multiple groups' efforts. 

While most employees may have read through the company Vision in Ninety and seen the updates, the State of the Company serves as a conduit for the CEO to engage the organization, tying all of these pieces together as we step through our Vision and goals together. It also allows individual teams to see how their goals fit into the bigger picture. It's just one more way Ninety software supports communication across the organization, helping the entire business run as one cohesive unit. 

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