Tactical meetings, as inspired by Holacracy, are focused on the operational work of the circle. Their purpose is to triage issues that have come up and remove obstacles so that the work can move forward.
Each circle conducts its own tactical meetings and they are usually scheduled weekly by the circle's Secretary role.
The formal output of a Tactical meetings is Projects and Actions, but they can be used to address any operational need such as sharing information, giving updates, requesting projects and actions from other roles, and more...
Whereas Governance meetings are focused on the governance structure of the circle, Tactical meetings are focused on using the current structure of roles within the circle to get work done efficiently.
5-steps process of tactical meeting
Check-in: Gives all participants the opportunity to express themselves about how they are feeling, what they're expecting from the meeting or even call out what is on their mind, the goal being to get present for the meeting. It's important that one person speaks at a time, without discussion.
Checklists: Recurring actions are quickly being reviewed as done or not with the relevant roles for the predefined period.
Metrics: The circle's indicators are shortly being reviewed by their assigned roles. It allows each role, through key indicators, to have a global vision of the circle's performance. The role giving the value of the indicator may add a brief comment.
Projects: Status updates are given on projects to review advancement since the last meeting: what has happened, what has been done and what is in progress. The participants should to share important updates and clarifying questions are allowed, but no discussion.
Agenda: Where the majority of the meeting takes place. Members can add tactical issues (tensions) to discuss one at a time. If necessary, the meeting Secretary adds outputs to each tension brought during the meeting in order to solve them. The purpose of the meeting is not to analyse issues in-depth, but to quickly triage them and get clear on what’s the next step to move forward.
Check-out: Provides space for everyone to share their feedback on the meeting.
📌 Note: As an Admin, you can modify your meeting's structure by editing the meeting templates. Check out this article for more information.