Chapter 10:
Rob is finding common ground
A week later, Rob sat in the meeting room, arms crossed, watching Gene take Claire and Quinn through the two slides they had developed for the first pillar of the proposed response plan. Gene was in his element: explaining things simply and clearly, without any arrogance.
Working with Gene out of session hadn’t been as protracted as usual. As Gene moved from the Actions to the Risks slide, Rob recalled Gene’s suggestion from their catch-up on Friday. ‘Why don’t we build these slides on-screen while we talk? That way, there’s nothing for either of us to do when we leave the room…and you won’t need to chase me for any further input,’ Gene had suggested, with a self-deprecating smile.
Their brainstorm had produced three key action groups and three key risks, pitched at the right level for senior executives. The streamlined build had taken them only about forty-five minutes.
When Gene finished presenting, Claire straightened in her seat. Here we go, Rob thought, ready to roll his eyes at the critique that would no doubt ensue.
Claire kept her eyes on Gene as she provided her feedback. ‘I see what you’ve done there, kept things high-level and focused. And that’s good—it’s easier to engage with. But I think we need to show the CEO coverage of the thirty recommendations, especially where we’re suggesting only partial acceptance.’
Rob was just about to object and say that would only add clutter to the presentation when Claire continued: ‘Also—I think the executive team needs to have some sense of the amount of change these actions will require and the rough cost to the agency. The actions are sound, but I think they need to know more about the high-level mechanics before they can make their decision.’
Quinn chimed in. ‘I agree. I could add a table at the back of the slide deck, cross-referencing the thirty recommendations with the proposed actions.’
‘Fine by me,’ Rob said. ‘But I’m not sure we need to include detailed resourcing at this early stage. Isn’t that for the implementation team?’
‘True,’ Gene said. ‘But some high-level information might help to show what’s a simple tweak versus a brand-new system or process. It might help get regional autonomy across the line, Rob, if you show it’s not a massive undertaking.’
Quinn nodded. ‘We could keep it simple—note if it’s high, medium or low effort. Maybe add rough sequencing and some ballpark figures.’
‘Let’s move on to our slides and I can show you what I mean,’ Claire said. ‘Although, looking at the guys’ slides, I think we may need to streamline ours a bit, Quinn, to make sure the flow is consistent across the entire presentation.’
Quinn laughed. ‘Yes, I think you and I may have been a bit too detailed.’
Rob had hoped the presentation would be a handful of simple slides, to show the executive team the general direction, so was annoyed they had to go back and do a bit of reworking. Though he did appreciate Claire’s and Quinn’s willingness to compromise and pitch in, so he just nodded and turned his attention to the screen.
As Quinn took them through the slides for the other two pillars, he noticed they had a slide for each of their five key actions and one for each of the five key risks.
‘This seems overly prescriptive at this early stage of planning,’ he said. ‘And I think frontline staff would want to be consulted on all the additional governance processes that would be imposed on them. We need to make sure they’re fit for purpose and sustainable, not have reporting for the sake of reporting.’
Quinn’s expression told him he’d shared his unfiltered opinion a little too clearly. He backpedalled slightly. ‘But it’s a great start. Maybe we could roll it up a bit, into a smaller number of key actions and top risks. I think it would help the senior executives better understand the proposal and still leave room for frontline staff to have a say at the process level.’
Gene leaned forward. ‘Claire, I could work with Quinn on that, if you want to suggest the additional information for our slides to Rob out of session?’
‘Sure. I can send that tomorrow morning,’ Claire said, then added, ‘Okay, now that we have a rough idea about what the key changes would be, let’s work out how we’ll keep the public and the Minister informed as implementation progresses.’
‘I think the main thing is to not make this overly complicated,’ Rob said. ‘If it takes too long to get the information out or if we have too many things to report on, we’ll just end up with delays and data issues. That certainly won’t improve public trust, which is the point of this whole thing.’
Gene tapped his pen on his temple, then said, ‘How about some kind of strategic dashboard with only a few key updates or indicators, that we could post on a dedicated project webpage monthly or quarterly? The more detailed reporting could be every six to twelve months. And we could consult with the regions on the exact frequency, so they feel included.’
Claire nodded slowly, as if her mind was ticking through the logic. ‘A public dashboard would certainly satisfy the transparency requirement. And if we pull the data directly from the built-in oversight processes, it won't create extra work for the regions.’
‘Strategic laziness…’ Rob muttered, then smiled. ‘I like it.’
‘It’s not laziness. It’s sustainability,’ Claire corrected, then quickly added, ‘If we make the reporting too heavy, the frontline will stop doing it and our data will be worthless. This way, we get what we need and they get to stay focused on their core work.’
They spent the last fifteen minutes of the meeting sketching out the dashboard layout and working out what might be most important to report on across the three areas. Even Claire was crossing out bullet points now, opting for a clean look that said: ‘We know what matters.’
As they stood to leave, the mood felt different from the first meeting. There was less lingering tension—or at least it wasn’t as sharp. There was almost a sense of shared mission. Even when Claire made her last attempt at taking over the meeting, Rob didn’t feel like he was going to get a rash. He just suppressed a chuckle, thinking: Typical.
‘Okay,’ Claire said, packing her laptop. ‘Gene and Quinn will roll up the slides for the second and third pillar. Rob and I will beef up the resourcing indicators for the first one. We should meet one last time on Monday to do a final dry-run before the exec meeting on Tuesday.’
Rob wasn’t too fussed but couldn’t resist adding, ‘Fine, but let’s keep the Monday dry-run to thirty minutes. Nothing worse than meeting to prep for another meeting.’ He had meant it as a joke, but judging by the look Claire shot him, he may have misread the room.
Luckily, Gene quickly shuffled him out of the room, using the excuse of setting up another catch-up at the pub. ‘Couldn’t help yourself, could you?’ Gene said to him in the lift.
Even though Gene was smiling, Rob knew he was being chastised. He didn’t respond, but as soon as he was back at his desk, he sent Claire a quick email asking if she needed anything to draft the additional information—he didn’t want to be a total jerk about it.