Some country leadership teams meet all the time and still get surprised.
The reason is rarely too few meetings. It is meetings with no rhythm. A new one called for every problem, and nothing that brings the same questions back at the same time.
In my experience, a country needs four conversations, each with a clear job.
Weekly: a short check-in. Sell-out, supply, anything stuck in the field. What needs fixing this week, and who owns it.
Monthly: the business review. Sell-in, sell-out and distributor inventory, brand by brand, side by side. This is where you find out whether the month is real.
Quarterly: the plan review. Strategy, resources and people, checked against what we said we would do. This is where time and budget move.
Annually: the plan itself. Next year's choices, built with the team and agreed with headquarters.
Three rules keep it working. Every meeting has one owner, one purpose and a fixed date. Decisions go to the whole team the same day. And if two meetings discuss the same thing, one of them gets cancelled.
When the rhythm is right, the hard conversations happen early, while there is still time to act.
“Rhythm turns urgent conversations into routine ones.”
Lesson 1 of 10 in Step 8: Execution and the operating rhythm, with the full guide and a checklist for this week.