Weekly resource management meetings: a guide for agencies

‍Introduction

Life in an agency is fast-paced. You keep the ship afloat with efficient resource allocation. Even if you have a tool to run your staffing or resource management process, you should also have a well-facilitated weekly meeting on the topic. An efficient agency resourcing meeting is not just a check-in; it's arranged to align the available consultants with projects and to run the operations with a human touch. Today, we'll talk about running effective weekly resourcing meetings, ensuring your agency stays on course and your profit doesn't sink.

Why weekly resourcing meetings matter

Weekly resourcing meetings are essential to:

1. Provide visibility and transparency: a clear view of who is working on what. See who or what are the potential bottlenecks.
2. Maintain flexibility and adaptability: In a dynamic environment, client needs shift rapidly. Regular meetings allow for quick adjustments and reallocations. During hectic times, the staffing council needs to gather more than one a week to keep up.
3. Team collaboration: In the agency business, you should never stop discussing people-related matters. No system should replace talking with actual human beings to make sure you make the right decisions not just financially, but also for the individuals.

Who should join the resource management weekly?

Resource management touches upon many different aspects of an agency. Here's a list of people who should join the weekly meeting. This example is for a bigger company, with multiple departments and competence groups. Tailor and simplify to your context.

1. Resource manager: Oversees overall resource allocation.
2. Department heads/team leads: Offer insights into team capabilities and workloads.
3. Sales/business development representatives: Inform about potential new projects and client needs. Get help for proposal creation.
4. Project managers (if needed): Have project managers with needs in their projects join.
5. Senior management (if needed): For strategic input and decision-making. Keep a finger on the pulse.
6. Human resources (if applicable): Share information on staffing changes and availability. Recognise potential concerns and issues early on.
7. Finance representative (not necessarily every week): Discuss budgetary considerations affecting resource allocation, report numbers back to the team.
8. Administrative staff (if relevant): Assist with scheduling and logistical data.

Setting the agenda

As in every meeting, a well-structured agenda is important. You should cover both projects and people.

1. Review of current projects: Begin with a quick update on any resourcing needs in existing projects: rotation wishes, immediate needs etc.
2. Upcoming projects and pipeline: Also look at the tentative projects in the sales pipeline. Prioritise the ones that are likely to start soon. Can we deliver what's promised?
3. Competence-based overview: Have your team or competence leads go over the situation of their consultants: does everyone have work? If not, has someone discussed with them to create a plan? Is everyone happy?
4. Prioritization and decision-making: Identify critical projects and allocate resources accordingly - already in the meeting if possible. Agree on who talks with whom after the project.
5. Post a summary: Post a summary of the meeting to the staffing or resource management channel.

Best practices for efficient meetings

1. Data-driven discussions: You should use a tool to assist in running your resource management meetings. This approach ensures decisions are based on real-time information and resource utilization rates.
2. Input from everyone: Encourage input from all team members. Active participation is key to bring all ideas to the table.
3. Have new team members join the meetings: It's a good practice to let new people in the company to join a resource management meeting. This gives them a good overview on how work is distributed. They might have some improvement ideas!
4. Actionable outcomes: Ensure every meeting concludes with clear action items and responsibilities.

Leveraging the right technology and tools

Using the right tools can streamline the resource management process. Consider tools that offer features like:

• Project Allocations: Visualize team schedules and make real-time adjustments.
• Capacity Forecasting: Predict resource needs based on the project pipeline.
• Timesheet Integration: Monitor planned capacity to billable utilization.
• CRM Integration: Plan tentative projects even before you close the deals to make pre-emptive decisions and account for uncertainty.

Conclusion

Running an efficient agency resource management weekly meeting is part of a good operational routine. By following these guidelines, you can turn these meetings into productive, sessions that maximize resource utilization while taking into account the human side of things.

Remember, the goal is to align your team’s capabilities with client demands seamlessly, ensuring your agency thrives in the competitive landscape.

Operating helps with all this!

How does your agency handle resource allocation? Try Operating. It works great as the backbone for resource management in agencies and consultancies. If you've read this far, you probably also want to check out the Staffing Routine doc on our Support site. We've also talked about resource management and staffing more generically in the Operating method and the article Mastering agency project staffing.