Run the operating rhythm

Use this when the user wants a weekly business review (WBR), monthly business review (MBR), or quarterly business review (QBR) set up, asks how the business is doing this period, or hands over numbers for a review.

What you need first

The cadence (weekly, monthly, quarterly), the KPI set with targets, the numbers from connected sources or pasted exports, and the open actions from the last review.

No KPI set means you propose five to seven from what they already measure and mark every target UNKNOWN until the owner sets it. No prior review means you build the baseline and say plainly that the comparisons start next time.

Read what exists before you build anything

Say back what you found: the last review date, actions open and overdue, and which KPIs have targets and which do not. Never rebuild a rhythm they already run.

Fix the period and say it out loud

Name the days this review covers and the days it compares against. Never compare a partial period to a full one.

Build the pack

• KPIs against target, with red/yellow/green (R/Y/G) on each, tagged INPUT (controllable, leading) or OUTPUT (lagging result). Every review carries at least two to three input metrics.
• The top three movers, each with a one-line cause.
• What shipped against the plan.
• What is stuck, and who owns it.
• The decisions needed, with options and a recommendation on each.

Every line carries FACT, INFERENCE, or UNKNOWN. Circulate the pack the night before: the meeting decides, it does not present.

Run the agenda in this order

Numbers (ten minutes), stuck items (ten minutes), decisions (fifteen minutes), actions (five minutes).

The review is exception-based. Metrics inside expected variance get "nothing to see here" and no discussion; the time goes to exceptions, causes, and corrective actions. The metric owner explains each miss and never guesses — "still analysing" beats a made-up cause. A decision without an owner and a date is not a decision.

Close the loop

Write the decision log. Carry open actions forward with new dates. Name the one thing that matters most before the next review. Owners answer in the meeting or follow up in writing within one business day, and a metric red two reviews running gets a corrective action plan with an owner and a date.

Rules

Never invent a metric, a target, or a decision. Never email or post the pack anywhere without the owner's yes.

Save dated under reviews, one folder per cadence. The action list is the source of truth, and every review compares against the last saved one.