Every meeting ends with a point of action.
In most leadership meetings everyone looks at the same top-level numbers, and the question of what to do about them stays open. We call it the Elephant Walk: the weekly executive review at the heart of the Howdah Method. It turns your dashboard into a path: start with the number furthest from plan, follow it down through market, product, team and rep to the one thing that needs attention, and see what fixing it does for the whole company.
One review, from the company number to the point of action
A quarterly review for a fictional remodeler with three markets. Three screens, one path.
-
1
Everything to percent of plan. Worst first.
Start the Elephant Walk. Every tile turns to percent of plan, and the review opens on the number furthest off: net sales at 88%.
-
2
Drill down to where the gap lives.
Market, then product line, then rep. Each level is ranked worst first, so the path is obvious: South, then refacing, then one rep.
-
3
A point of action, and the ripple.
Who, what's off, the likely cause, the action, the target, and what to watch next week. Then the ripple: what fixing it does, level by level, up to the company number.
Want to run it yourself? We walk leadership teams through a live review on a sample company during the fit review.
Request a live walkthroughWhat you'll see
The same dashboard runs both meetings. The weekly review keeps small gaps from becoming large ones. The quarterly review looks at the trends behind them and resets the plan.
Weekly review
Leadership, every week, on the week's numbers.
- The week's top-level numbers against plan.
- The few that are furthest off, in order.
- A drill to the owner and the action.
- Last week's actions checked off.
Quarterly review
Leadership and department heads, on the quarter and the plan.
- Quarter to date and run-rate forecast against plan.
- Cycle time and capacity trends.
- Market and product mix.
- Plan targets re-set for next quarter.
How the Elephant Walk works
Four steps, the same way every time. Having all the information in one system of record is what makes the path possible: every number opens into the one below it.
-
Step 1: Everything to percent of plan
Dollars, counts, rates and days convert to one scale. Green at or above plan, amber within ten points, red below that. Where lower is better, like cycle time, the scale is inverted so it reads the same way.
-
Step 2: Worst first
The review lists every number that is off plan, furthest first. The meeting starts where the gap is largest, not with whoever speaks first.
-
Step 3: Drill to the point of action
Each focus opens by market, then product line or crew, then the rep, job or supplier behind it. It stops at one point of action: who, what is off, the likely cause, the action, an owner and a review date.
-
Step 4: The ripple
Every point of action shows the butterfly effect of fixing it. If one rep's NSLI comes up, the product line comes up, the market comes up and company sales come up, with the arithmetic at each step.
Explore the sample dashboards
Three fictional companies, each in its own brand. Each one has the Elephant Walk built in. Start it to see which number is furthest from plan; we walk you through the rest live in a fit review.
Kitchen remodeler
Dashboards against plan, cycle time and drill-down, in the company's own brand.
Open the sample
Bathroom remodeler
Dashboards against plan, cycle time and drill-down, in the company's own brand.
Open the sample
Custom home builder
Dashboards against plan, cycle time and drill-down, in the company's own brand.
Open the sampleRun your next review on your own numbers.
Every engagement starts with a fit review: a conversation with leadership about your goals, your systems and processes, and the meetings you run today.