YYYY-MM-DD The first Tour of Duty meeting prep 

Objective: To form your idea about how this team member helps transform Juicy Marbles and think about how you/we could support them on their way to realising career goals

Steps:

1. Evaluate their skills in a skills matrix for this person - link in the Google calendar event (or contact HR)
2. 1. part one: professional and leadership skills = what is their current status skill-mastery-wise
   2. part two: values and work principles = how do you two collaborate, what (doesn't) work and why
3. Draft your idea about their possible mission objective: 
4. 1. Check the company values/work principles + vision + your team business goals for the next 2-5 years
   2. Based on the values + work principles: Make notes about actual situations where you already noticed this team member living our values/work principles. Example: I saw your slack updates in #logistics channel - this is super useful and ensures we don't just assume people know, but make sure they do. 
5. 1. Based on the north star + business goals for your team: Draft your idea of a person’s contribution that would bring value to Juicy Marbles vision and north star goals and help transform how we work. Example: They have the potential to independently take over developing the Eastern EU markets. OR They have the potential to lead the purchasing and eventually build a team. 
6. Think about resources you/Juicy Marbles could provide to support team members on their tour of duty (options: out-of-comfort-zone projects, internal mentorship, external mentorship, learning budget,...). 
7. Is salary talk relevant on this TOD? Would you suggest a raise? Arguments? Talk to finance to see if it is possible.
8. 1. if yes, decide on amount + timing. 
   2. if no, list reasons why not (yet)
9. Check out the Team member preparation template HERE - add notes that might help you. 

YYYY-MM-DD The first Tour of Duty meeting notes

Agenda: 

1. explain basic TOD principles
2. explore their personal career ambitions
3. attach the Juicy Marbles business reality/vision to their ambitions 
4. narrow it down to specific mission objectives with 2-5 year time frame
5. define action steps for the next 3-6 months that will bring them closer to their mission
6. go through skills matrix and align on what is their current skills mastery level
7. salary talk (deep dive only if relevant)
8. optional (you can do it on a follow-up less formal coffee meting): go through the values part of skills matrix. 

Explain basic Tour of Duty principles

• I’m glad to have you on my team /.../.
• I want you to help transform the company. In return, the company and I will help you grow your career.
• We want to establish a win-win relationship and that is the main purpose of defining Tour of Duty:
  • you define what you’re interested in and how do you imagine growing professionally in the next 2-5 years
  • we define what kind of projects/areas we would like you to take over and how we can support your professional development
  • we align on a few “mission objectives” - main goals we will both work towards in the next 2-5 years.

Explore their career ambitions (they should be prepared with notes)

Imagine a situation 2-5 years from now: you are on a job interview for your next dream job:

• What kind of position would you be interviewing for at that time?
• What new experiences do you want to have? When they ask you, "Tell me more about specific projects you finished/value you brought to the team" what would you want to talk about? Examples: I would like to have the experience of bringing the sales up for 10 % in a region. OR I would like to have the experience of setting up an IFS system from scratch. 
• What skills would you have mastered by then? What hands-on, hard skills would you have (3D printing, IFS mastery, pricing calculations ...)? What about soft skills (leadership, project management, conflict resolution...)?
• To whom would you be connected professionally? (i. e. I imagine myself being connected to some strong international players in the field of sensory. I imagine connecting to sales reps. from top 5 plant based companies in the world.)

Connect Juicy Marbles business reality/vision to their ambitions

I hear your ambitions and this is where they match with the Juicy Marbles vision/north star/business plan: you could develop in area X, take over this process/team,...

Narrow it down to specific mission objectives with 2-5 year time frame

Your job is to filter all of the ideas above to 1-3 specific mission objectives. 

• If you had to pick a goal that is the most important to you, which one would it be?
• Is any area especially important/close to you personally? Do you see a lot of potential in any of the areas we talked about?

Example: Become a Chief People Officer. Lead the company in developing its people and culture direction. Identify and act on major strategic HR opportunities at Juicy Marbles. Build a track record of proven good judgment and successfully executed highly innovative HR projects.

Define action steps for the next 3-6 months that will bring them closer to their mission

• you agree on when the next sanity check will be - usually 3-6 months from now. 
• offer support:
• • books
  • learning budget 1 gross salary per year (travel costs excluded)
  • help accessing people you want to connect with
  • allocating a certain % of the time to work on stuff that doesn’t make sense at first glance
• define up to 5 action steps (very specific!!) that they should achieve by the next sanity check and that will enable them to get closer to their mission objectives
• write notes, share key insights and goals with your team member, take some time to digest, and kick it off. Also ping HR so they can help with follow-ups (scheduling sanity checks etc). 

Go through skills matrix + align

1. Open the spreadsheet
2. Compare their and your skills assessments, address the differences and align on the final level for each skill

Salary talk (deep dive only if relevant)

1. if confirmed, communicate the raise. 
2. if NOT confirmed, communicate why not (yet) and when can they expect it.

Optional: go through values to check your collaboration 

YYYY-MM-DD Tour of Duty meeting aftermath - share with HR

• Must have info:

• TOD meeting date: 
• time frame for the missing objectives (2-5 years) ________
• 1-3 very specific mission objectives:

1. 1. 1. 1. Mission objective 1: ​ 
         2. Mission objective 2:
         3. Mission objective 3:

• a list of 3-5 action steps they will take until the next sanity check to bring them closer to the mission

• Do you feel like they took enough time to prepare for the sanity check?
• • yes
  • no
• How would you rate their general progress in the period since the last sanity check? 
• • no progress
  • little progress
  • good
  • very good
  • amazing
• How would you rate their development potential?
• • high
  • medium
  • low

• Which are their most visible strengths?
• Which area are they lacking in?
• Salary talk: Did you decide on a salary raise? Tag HR in the comment if yes! 
• • yes
  • no
• The date of the sanity check meeting in ______ months (suggested: 6) - tag HR in the comment to book the calendar slot

YYYY-MM-DD TOD Agreement: ##NAME SURNAME## and Juicy Marbles

SKILLA MATRIX LINK: 

Preamble

This statement of alliance is about our expectations so that we can invest in the relationship and each other with confidence. We want you to help transform Juicy Marbles. In return, we will help you improve your skills → professional market value → transform your career (preferably within our team).

This is not a commitment to offer lifetime employment. And we do not expect you to make a commitment to stay with us for your entire career. However: we will do our best to maintain a long-term alliance, even if the employment relationship ends.

Your tour of duty defines what you will do for the Juicy Marbles business; it also defines what the we at Juicy Marbles will do for your career. While there is no legal obligation on you or the company, and plans can always change, right now we all committed to completing this tour of duty based mutual trust.

 📰 In YEAR an article with the title “...” will be published about NAME.

Tour of Duty

YYYY-MM-DD Mission objectives

Contribute to growing Juicy Marble’s into a world-class plant-based meat company by developing it’s WHAT.

Mission timeline

Expected duration of this TOD is X years. The start date is: WHEN The end date is: WHEN

In order for this TOD to be a successful one, we take responsibility to regularly check the progress and come forward in any case of doubt or misunderstanding. If gaps will pop up, we will address them explicitly and proactively, rather than ignoring them and letting them grow and damage our alliance. We will have sanity-check meetings every six months.

Next sanity check date: 

Additional points of agreement

YYYY-MM-DD Action points for the next 3-6 months

Write down up to 3 development goals (doable in the next 3-6 months) that will bring you a step closer to mission objectives above.

DATE:

1. goal:
2. goal:
3. goal:

Resources & education

While this shouldn’t need to be explicit, you should feel free to use company equipment (e.g., your computer or smartphone) and company time for professional social networking so that you are discoverable and active on social media.

You can order any book you would like to read. You may expense any event, conference, or club membership up to 1 gross salary per year, provided you think it will help you build your professional network. For larger amounts, ask your team lead first, and they will try to approve as many of your requests as I can. You are responsible for sharing what you learn with me and your colleagues.

Building your Network

The company and I will give you time to build and groom your network; in exchange, we ask that you use your network to help us achieve your mission objective and make the business successful.

You may use company facilities to host external groups and events.

Becoming Alumni

If and when you leave the company, if you’re in good standing, we will invite you to our corporate alumni network. We commit to keeping you in the loop and up to date on what’s happening with the company, including consulting projects or new positions that might interest you. In return, we will always appreciate your inputs and market knowledge.

YYYY-MM-DD Sanity check meeting prep

Objective: To check the progress towards mission objectives: Are their mission objectives still relevant? Did they accomplish the action steps? Did they upgrade their skills?

Steps: 

1. Skills check:
2. 1. Check and fill out their  Skills matrix spreadsheet (new tab for each sanity check meeting - contact HR for help)
   2. Is there progress in skills you expected to see progress in?
3. Mission objectives check
4. 1. Read through the team member's current Mission objectives (if you can't find it, reach out to HR) 
   2. Are their mission objectives still relevant with the current vision + north stars + business goals? Should they pivot to another area? Should they be more ambitious (we will need them to grow faster)? Are they too ambitious (we will need to build a separate team for them to lead in such a short time)? What adjustments would you suggest?
5. Make notes about team members' progress since the last meeting
6. 1. What has been achieved since the last check-in? Wins? Fails?
   2. Are they on track to meet the mission objectives?
   3. What measurable outcomes have been delivered?
7. Next Steps & Alignment
8. 1. What should they focus on in the next 90 days? Define specific action steps. 
   2. Is it time to start discussing the next Tour of Duty (if applicable)?

YYYY-MM-DD Sanity check meeting notes

Agenda: 

1. mission objectives check
2. progress update
3. skills check
4. challenges & support needed
5. next steps & alignment
6. salary talk (deep dive only if relevant)
7. optional (you can do it on a follow-up less formal coffee meting): go through the values part of skills matrix. 

Mission objectives check

• How do you feel about your mission objectives? Are they still relevant? Do they motivate you? Comment on each one.
• Share if there are any changes in priorities based on vision/north star/business goals that affect their mission. Example: we figured out we will not need a CHRO in the next 5 years, so we need to adjust.

Progress Update

• What have you achieved since the last check-in (examples of projects/tasks/... that brought you closer to the mission)? Comment and give kudos/criticism.
• Do you think you are on track to meet the mission goals? Comment.
• What measurable outcomes have been delivered? Comment.

Challenges & Support Needed

• What obstacles or blockers have come up? Write down how you/the company can help address them.
• Are you lacking support or resources in any area? Suggest support (books, learning budget,...)
• What learning opportunities would help you complete this mission or prepare for the next one?

Skills check

• Open the skills matrix spreadsheet
• Compare their and your skills assessments, address the differences and align on the final level for each skill
• Is there progress in skills you expected to see progress in?
• Write down the final aligned skills score.

Next Steps & Alignment

• What is the final version of the mission objectives after revision that makes the most sense?
• What should you focus on in the next 90 days - define action steps 
• Is it time to start discussing the next Tour of Duty (if applicable)?

Salary talk (deep dive only if relevant)

1. if confirmed, communicate the raise. 
2. if NOT confirmed, communicate why not (yet) and when they can expect it.

Optional: go through the values to check your collaboration 

YYYY-MM-DD Sanity check meeting aftermath - share with HR

• Must have info:
• • Sanity check date: 
  • Are all the mission objectives still relevant?
  • • yes
    • no
    • • updated version:

1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. Mission objective 1:
                  2. Mission objective 2: 
                  3. Mission objective 3:

• • a list of 3-5 action steps they will take until the next sanity check to bring them closer to the mission

• • Do you feel like they took enough time to prepare for the sanity check?
  • • yes
    • no
  • How would you rate their general progress in the period since the last sanity check? 
  • • no progress
    • little progress
    • good
    • very good
    • amazing
  • How would you rate their development potential?
  • • high
    • medium
    • low
• Which are their most visible strengths?
• Which area are they lacking in?
• Salary talk: Did you decide on a salary raise? Tag HR in the comment if yes! 
• • yes
  • no
• The date of the sanity check meeting in ______ months (suggested: 6) - tag HR in the comment to book the calendar slot

It's sanity check time!

Getting ready: 

1. Fill in the skills matrix (the tab with your name) (insert link)
2. TEAM MEMBER - use the prep. template HERE.
3. TEAM LEAD - use the prep. template HERE. 

Think about extra items you might want to add to the agenda. 

It's Tour of Duty time! A Tour of Duty is a mutually agreed-upon commitment where you take on a specific mission for a defined period (typically 2–5 years) that benefits both the company and your career. The idea is to move away from vague long-term loyalty (like 20-year careers with one company, not realistic anymore in most cases) toward transparent, honest partnerships where everyone understands people change jobs every now and then.

Getting ready: 

1. Read all about the Tour of Duty concept HERE. 
2. Fill in the skills matrix (the tab with your name) (insert link)
3. TEAM MEMBER - use the prep. template HERE.
4. TEAM LEAD - use the prep. template HERE. 

Think about extra items you might want to add to the agenda.