I meet with my directs every morning for a daily huddle.
In the Daily, we discuss only two things:
- What is the most important thing for me today? Where is my priority?
- Where do I have a problem? Where do I have difficulty? What makes me think I’m getting nowhere?
That’s all.
Everyone says two or a maximum of three sentences about it. There is no discussion.
If you have ten co-workers like that, you already get a good overview in the Daily.
However, what’s crucial is that the colleagues also get a good overview because they know each other’s priorities. It means that they’re not disappointed in the evening if they haven’t achieved what they thought they would.
But suppose I know that the most important thing for me today is the new campaign for the sale of product A. I have to get through with it. In that case, the colleague from finance knows this campaign’s launch is critical today.
And what can you do with that?
You can go to your colleagues after this Daily Huddle and say, “I know the most important thing for you is to launch this campaign. But honestly, I need some numbers for product B. Is there any way you can squeeze that in?”
That’s much better than assuming that the colleague will think of it and then wait all day to email if necessary. Not getting a reply could cause you to go home angry in the evening, instead of knowing first thing in the morning: This colleague doesn’t have that on the clock because something else is important to them right now.
So I’d rather ask if it’s essential one more time, or I lower my expectations.
The same is true for:
Where am I? Where do I have a problem?
It can even be a personal issue. Let’s say that somebody’s father is in the hospital having surgery. That’s stressing them out, and they’ll probably be a little distracted. Then, when that colleague jumps up and leaves or is unfocused or not quite up to speed, everyone knows why instead of making assumptions!
For example, I’m urgently waiting for approval from the legal department, and it’s not coming. That’s already stressing me out because it’s holding up all the work. After the meeting, a colleague might say, “You might not have seen it, but that clearance came a long time ago.” You can proceed with your work.
You can use the whole collective.
If you do that every day, then you have a good foundation. That, by the way, is the absolute minimum requirement for making the team a good, high-performing one— a so-called high-performing team.
This alignment is crucial. The understanding is that we all have different priorities, that we all share them, and that we all see various problems. This means the Daily allows everyone to express themselves and help each other.
In the next week’s post, we’ll tackle how to structure a meeting and why I think all sessions should be structured the same way.
Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash
