Quarterly Business Reviews (QBRs) are essential meetings that allow business leaders to align priorities, review progress to date, and adjust plans as needed.
This guide will provide an overview of QBRs, highlight their key features and benefits, and offer best practices for planning and conducting effective QBR meetings.
What is a Quarterly Business Review?
A Quarterly Business Review (QBR) is a regular cadence meeting that brings together business leaders and teams to discuss the state of the business. QBRs provide a forum to:
- Review progress against key performance indicators
- Discuss what’s working well and what needs improvement
- Identify risks and issues that need to be addressed
- Align on priorities for the next quarter
QBRs give leadership increased visibility into business operations and help ensure alignment across the organization.
Benefits of Quarterly Business Reviews
Several key benefits come from holding regular QBR meetings:
Increased Visibility – QBRs give executives and managers increased visibility into business performance and operations. They provide a recurring opportunity to check in on metrics and progress.
Alignment—QBRs enable leadership teams to agree on the next quarter’s priorities, issues, and focus areas.
Course Correction—During QBRs, teams can identify needed adjustments to strategies and plans based on lessons learned and changing business conditions.
Accountability – The recurring nature of QBRs drives accountability for delivering on commitments and making progress quarter over quarter.
Improved Communication – QBRs facilitate open communication and knowledge sharing across the leadership team.
Enhanced Decision Making – With increased visibility and alignment, executives can make better-informed decisions.
Best Practices for Quarterly Business Reviews
To maximize the impact of QBR meetings, here are some best practices to follow:
Set a consistent cadence – QBRs should occur at the same frequency (e.g., quarterly) to drive accountability.
Send materials in advance—Share slides, data reports, and other materials before the meeting to allow sufficient review.
Limit presentation length – Focus on critical data, insights, risks, and decisions needed. Avoid overly lengthy presentations.
Facilitate open dialogue – Allow sufficient time for discussion and include all participants.
Capture action items – Track all decisions, follow-ups, and next steps in a shared document.
Review action items – At the start of each meeting, review the status of past action items to ensure follow-through.
Share across the organization – Summarize meeting outcomes and cascade information to the broader organization.
Continuously improve – Solicit feedback on how to enhance the value of future QBRs.
QBR Meeting Agenda
The agenda for a QBR meeting should cover:
- Business Context – External market conditions, competitive landscape, and industry trends relevant to company performance
- Financial Results – Revenue growth, profitability, cash flow, and other critical financial metrics versus targets
- Operational Performance – Production, quality, customer service, other key operational metrics
- Strategic Initiatives – Progress made on key projects and priorities for growth
- Risks/Issues – Major risks identified, changes needed to mitigate issues
- Priorities for Next Quarter – Key focus areas, changes to plans, alignment on priorities
The Importance of Quarterly Business Reviews
QBRs play a critical role in managing the business effectively.
They enable the leadership team to maintain close business oversight when done consistently.
QBRs drive accountability across the organization and ensure continued alignment on priorities.
Given today’s fast-changing environment, regular QBRs allow companies to correct quickly based on new insights. Investing time in preparing for and conducting thorough QBRs pays dividends through improved performance.
Examples of QBRs in the Workplace
- Executive QBR – Senior leaders review company-wide performance and priorities
- Department QBR – Department heads meet to discuss team progress and plans
- Regional QBR – Regional business leaders discuss performance in each geography
- Account QBR – Account managers and customers review account health
- Agency QBR – Companies meet with agencies to review marketing campaigns
- Vendor QBR – Procurement meets with vendors to discuss contract performance
- Project QBR – Project managers discuss status, risks, and next steps
- Product QBR – The product team reviews launch performance and roadmap
- Store QBR – Store managers and district leaders review location KPIs
With 30+ years of experience, Catherine Fitzgerald, B.A., M.A., PGDip, founded Oak Innovation in 1995. Catherine received her Bachelor’s degree and Master’s from University College Cork. She holds qualifications in Professional Development And Training from University College Galway. She is completing a second Master’s from University College Cork. Since 1995, clients include Apple, Time Warner, and Harvard University.
