Template

Department heads meeting template

The people who run each department meet to line up across departments: what each needs from the others, where they collide, and the decisions only they can make together.

60 minutesFor The head of each department, chaired by a director or chief operating officerAgenda room

Change the agenda first

The agenda, with a time for each part

One line from each department10 min
- What is the most important thing happening in your area?
Where we need each other15 min
- What do you need from another department this month?
Where we are colliding15 min
- Where are two departments pulling in different directions?
Decisions15 min
- What do we decide today, and who carries it out?
What we tell our teams5 min
- What should every team hear from their head this week?

How the notes read afterwards

A made-up example, so you can see the shape. In a real call each line carries the words that were said and who said them.

Lines. Sales: big push to schools in January. Support: two people leaving.

Need. Sales needs support to cover school onboarding in January.

Collision. Marketing and sales both planned a webinar for the 14th; one moves to the 21st.

Tell teams. January's focus is schools; extra support cover is coming.

Running it well

Keep updates to one line each. The value is in what departments need from each other, which no single department's meeting can settle.
Bring collisions early, while they are small: two teams planning to launch the same week, one budget asked for twice.
Agree a message for all teams. Staff notice when each head tells a different story.

Ways to change it

FortnightlyFor a small organisation, every two weeks is enough.

With financeOnce a month, add a ten-minute budget check.

When to skip it. If a week has no shared decisions and no collisions, send the one-liners in writing.

Questions

What is a department heads meeting?

A regular meeting of the leaders of each department to coordinate work across departments, resolve conflicts and make shared decisions.

How often should department heads meet?

Weekly or fortnightly in most organisations.

What should a department heads meeting cover?

Brief updates, what each department needs from the others, conflicts between departments, shared decisions and what to communicate to staff.

What happens in the room

Everybody joins from the link, with no account. The agenda sits beside the call and each item fills in with what was said about it, under the name of the person who said it.

More templates

Cross-team syncTwo or more teams whose work touches meet briefly to keep hand-offs on track: what each is about to deliver, what each is waiting on, and what changed.Budget planning meetingBuild next year's budget: what income you can count on, what each team needs to hit its goals, where the two do not match, and the trade-offs that close the gap.Daily standupFifteen minutes, three questions, everybody once.Weekly team meetingThe numbers, everybody's one priority, and the decisions that cannot wait.All-hands meetingThe whole company in one call: where things stand, what is next, and any question people want to ask.Leadership team meetingThe people who run the company, once a week: the numbers, what is stuck, and the decisions only this group can make.OKR planningThree goals for the quarter, how each one will be measured, and what stops to make room.Project status meetingWhere the project is against the plan, what changed, and the decisions needed to keep it moving.

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