"Routine Sets you Free" - This is so true. In my work with my clients, I can't emphasis enough the importance of meeting rhythms, particularly the daily meeting we call the "Huddle". Huddles are a great way of synchronising a team so that everyone knows what is going on, how your are tracking towards your key targets and what might be stopping you from getting there (or slowing you down).

This is an updated version of an article originally published on my website in November 2016. I have updated it to incorporate the latest thinking and also how to use Metronome to manage daily huddles.

"Get the leadership team together for a meeting every day? we don't have time for that!"

"We have enough meetings already, I don't want more meetings."

"We never finish within 10 - 15 minutes, we are still going 30 minutes in."

I often hear objections like these when I introduce my clients to the concept of daily huddles and I am often amazed at how entrenched the resistance can be. But this is without doubt one of the quickest and easiest way to improve the performance of organisational performance. Huddles allow the leadership team to very quickly get to grips with what is happening today, how they are tracking and where they are stuck. To me it is a no brainer and well worth the minor inconvienience of giving up 10 to 15 minutes each day. Relentless focus on the key metrics can only help you get to your goals faster. And, holding daily huddles will actually free up more time, not take up time.

So, what is a huddle?

A huddle is a short 7 - 15 minute meeting of all the members of a team to synchronise for the day so everyone know what to do and what to focus on.

When should you hold it and how long should it last?

I'd recommend holding huddles in the morning, ideally as soon as the whole team is in. For some companies, it is the first thing they do, for others it is a mid morning event. Holding the huddle at an odd time like 9:03 of 8:17 seems to make it more memorable and means people tend to get to the huddle on time. The huddle should last between 7 and 15 minutes. If it goes for longer, you are probably stepping down into solution mode. A good rule of thumb is 1 - 2 minutes max per team member.

What do you cover off in a huddle?

The agenda for a huddle is pretty simple with only 4 items every day.

1. Good news
2. Metrics Review
3. #1 Thing You Have to Get Done Today
4. Stucks
5. Actions

Good News - If there is a good news story, a client or sales win, a project delivery, a great client outcome (or a birth or marriage), tell the group and let the good news motivate and inspire them at the start of their day. This is a great time to re-inforce the purpose, values or actions to live by. This is "round-robin" around the team.

Metrics Review -  review whatever daily metrics your company uses to track its progress over the quarter. These are normally your critical numbers, KPIs or OKRs. The key thing is that everyone can relate these numbers back to where the business needs to be at the end of the quarter. Each member accountable for a metric shares the number and if it is not on track, what is being done to bring it back on track,

#1 Thing You Have to Get Done Today - each attendee shares the #1 thing they have to get done that day. Be specific, "I am meeting with a client this morning" doesn't help much but "I am meeting with Peter Francis from Green Tree to discuss how we can help them improve their supply chain productivity" gives the whole team the context about the meeting. Enough for someone to be able to say "Ah, I know Pete, he has a thing about punctuallity so don't be late" or "Pete told me last year that he is looking to partner with companies like us so this could be a good opportunity for us, how can I help?". This is "round-robin" and should only take about a 1 minute per attendee.

Stucks - What is stopping or delaying you. 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 repeatedly 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 "I'll deal with that" or “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.

Actions - At the end of the session, run through any actions from the meeting and make sure someone has taken on accountability with a clear end date.

How big should huddles be?

They should be the full team which will normally be between 5 and 8 people. Any larger than that they start to get unwieldy and its hard to get through everyone in the time. If your huddle is bigger than that, then that might be a sign that you need to look at your team structure.

How many huddles should I be in each day?

You should not normally be in any more than two huddles each day, your peer team huddle and the huddle for the team you lead. Only the people at the very top and at the bottom of the organisation will be in one huddle.

Who should run the huddle?

The person running the huddle should be a senior person in the group. They need to be organised and be capable of keeping the meeting on track. Apart from that it doesn't really matter who runs the group and I have seen this role rotated around the team. Do what works best for you.

Preparation

Everyone should arrive at the huddle on time and prepared. Ideally, put your update into what ever system you use to track your huddles before the start of the meeting. If you are accountable for a metric, make sure you know what the number is for that day. A big cause of huddles not running to time is team members fumbling to find the number that they are accountable. If that happens, maybe they are not taking that accountability seriously.

Metronome Growth Systems

Metronome Growth Systems is a great way to track your strategic execution progress and it is also a great way to track your meetings.

It will help you and your team prepare for, run and capture the outcomes and action from the meeting.

Try huddles in your business and stick with them for at least 30 days. You'll see some amazing results if you run them properly. The number of ad-hoc meetings will go down, there will be more clarity within the team and you will notice things going wrong less often. Synchronisation of teams does that!

An earlier version of this article was published as on Monday, 14 November 2016