Author: Verne Harnish
Before dismissing the idea (I’ve heard every excuse over the years), consider that from the top teams at Goldman Sachs to the assembly floors of Dell Computer to the Oval Office of the White House, an effective daily meeting rhythm is at the heart of their management practices. And I’ve not encountered a single start-up to mid-size firm that didn’t benefit greatly from initiating a short daily huddle organized around a specific agenda which I’ll detail below.
“I lead a daily ‘Adrenaline’ meeting,” explains Tony
Petrucciani, CEO of Single Source Systems, Inc., a computer services firm based
in Indianapolis. Petrucciani gathers his management team (five including
himself) and meets each day at 10:07am to discuss roadblocks. Their goal is to
be out in 15 minutes. The name came from the substance which makes the heart
beat faster. “In our case, we wanted the business to pulse faster,” adds
Petrucciani.
“Our key customers really like that we do these meetings and
it has become a sales tool, differentiating us from the speed that our
competition pulses,” adds Petrucciani. “It used to take days for issues to work
their way ‘to the top’ to get authority to allocate resources – it’s now like
Fedex – it’s there by 10:30.” It wasn’t always like that at Single Source. The
meetings were launched when they faced a large project in overrun status and
their customer was getting angry. “We implemented a specific Project Adrenaline
daily meeting. Within a week, we were making much better progress, and had
gained back credibility from the customer (we told them about Adrenaline). This
kept a 6 figure project from imploding,” describes Petrucciani.
Since then, his team has implemented other types of daily
Adrenaline meetings (Channel Adrenaline, Sales Adrenaline) that pulse just
before his management meeting. If a major issue comes up in those earlier
meetings, they pulse thru to the Management Adrenaline meeting, keeping the
company operating at an effective pace.
“The daily huddles are particularly key when you’re the
busiest and spread the thinnest,” notes Chuck Hall, founder and CEO of Charles
Hall Construction in Clarendon Hills, IL. With a focus on clients with multiple
projects across multiple regions, Hall has teams working all over the country.
And with the economy picking up, he’s facing an onslaught of business. “We have
approximately $24M in contracts signed or under negotiations for work this year
waiting to start,” explains Hall. “With the daily, we’re much better equipped
at keeping our daily tasks aligned with our plan. And it has helped us keep
moral high during the difficult slow months, and step by step prepare us for
the tidal wave of work that will hit us in June/July of 2004,” says Hall.
The immediate pushback I get when recommending a daily
huddle is “We’re too busy!” Executives can’t imagine finding the time to get
everybody in the same place or on a conference call every day for one minute,
let alone five or 15. And if the company is quite small and travel isn’t that
big an issue, they’ll tell me, “We don’t need a meeting when we’re seeing each
other all day long.”
Yet, routine actually sets you free. Teams that huddle daily
find they interrupt each other considerably less the rest of the day. There’s a
fixed time when everyone knows they’ll have everyone else’s attention. Meeting
daily also clears up issues that otherwise linger to clog up the weekly
meeting. This frees up time to focus on more strategic issues during the weekly
gathering (focus of a future column).
I recommend that companies set the time at an odd time, like
Petrucciani’s 10:07am. People do a better job of being on time when the time’s
not on the half- or quarter-hour. Worried that you’ll forget the meeting while
traveling? For a nominal monthly fee use www.iping.com, a reminder service
which pages or phones you just prior to the daily meeting. And
www.freeconference.com offers a free conference bridge you can use to host a
daily conference call.
Make attendance mandatory and on time, with no excuses. I’ve
been in intense meetings with clients. I’ve been in the midst of seeking funds
from venture capitalists. It doesn’t matter; I tell them I need to take a break
for my daily meeting. And it only gains one respect -- a disciplined firm
exudes success.
Overall, start and end on time and don’t problem solve. This
meeting is simply for problem identification. If the meeting is face-to-face,
stand up to avoid going too long. And back the meeting up against other regular
meetings or appointments to force an ending. If it starts to go longer than 15
minutes, people will drop the habit.
The Agenda: It should be the same structure every day, and
it’s an agenda just three items long: what’s up, daily measures, and where are
you stuck? In the first few minutes, each attendee shares “what’s up” the next
24 hours. This lets people immediately sense conflicts, crossed agendas, and
missed opportunities. The key is to highlight specifics without simply reading
one’s ‘to do’ list.
Next, review whatever daily measurements your company uses
to track its progress, highlighting any unusual trends.
The third and most important agenda item is where people are
stuck. You’re looking for bottlenecks. There’s something powerful in simply
verbalizing, for the whole group to hear, your fear, your struggle, your
concern. It’s the first step to solving the problem, because “until the mouth
runs, the brain won’t engage.” And the only people who don’t get stuck are
those who aren’t doing anything. So, scrutinize the person that reports
“everything is fine!” or “no stucks today.”
Important as it is, the bottleneck conversation shouldn’t be
allowed to drift on into problem-solving. It’s okay if somebody wants to reply
to a bottleneck by saying “Call so-and-so,” but if two people start engaging
over an issue, politely suggest they “take it off line.” Remember: The daily
meeting needs to be kept short.
While reading Titan, in preparation for writing
the chapter on meetings in my book, I was struck by the fact that John D.
Rockefeller had lunch with his top team every day, starting with his
co-founders in the early days and ending with Standard Oil’s nine directors at headquarters
in New York. Rockefeller insisted that this routine was crucial in the success
and global reach of his company – and it will for your firm as well.
Kevin Minton
CEO
Chief Executive Boards International
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