The Value of Daily Meetings

We all have a morning ritual. Perhaps it's drinking your coffee, taking a shower, then turning your attention to getting the kids ready for the day and dropping them at school or daycare before your commute to the office. For others, it may be going to the gym, eating breakfast, and hitting a coffee shop on the way into work. Regardless, we all have some kind of morning routine. For many, the major portion of the routine ends upon arrival to work. Discipline may go out the window and the first part of the work day consists of grabbing a cup of java from the communal kitchen, followed by water-cooler conversation with our co-workers... Eventually settling into the workspace and asking, “What am I supposed to do today?”

This is where you have the opportunity to set yourself apart and present yourself as a leader, rather than a manager.

Why have a daily meeting? Who will benefit, what is the purpose, is it more work, and what does it look like? All great questions, so let’s tackle this topic head on:

1. A daily meeting can set the tone for the day. By meeting with the team we can set expectations for the day. Go over what happened yesterday, what the goals are for today, alter any directions that need to be changed and get everyone moving. Folks walk away from that meeting with a knowledge of what they need to get done and a clear understanding of what is expected of them.

2. Communication. Be open to questions - allow feedback - have multiple departments involved. By having two-way communication and promoting the collaboration of other departments, you begin to remove roadblocks that happen when everyone is focused on and protecting their fiefdom. You can also use this to answer questions from previous meetings letting everyone know that their thoughts, feelings and ideas matter.?

3. Morale. By setting the tone and by communicating with a level of transparency, morale will rise. When the team feels that they have a plan of attack, they are included, they are heard, this results in positive momentum and continued motivation. It will make your team feel better about the place they spend the majority of their waking hours. By feeling better about where they work, they’re more likely to work harder, be more focused, and help build morale within others, by simply being happy, positive and available to the rest of the team.?

4. Benefits to management or leadership (depending on how they do the job). Facetime with your team allows you to know who is there on time, see if anyone seems “off” that day, and get everyone started at the same time so that you can look at productivity and have more visibility into the strengths and weaknesses of your team. You will also get instant feedback from everyone and not simply hope that they read the memo or email you sent out last week. Diving deeper into the ‘if someone seems, “off’” part; We all know or have personally experienced something in or out of work that is causing stress. Stress is, in my opinion, an overused term, but we are going to use it here. If you are meeting with a team of 15 and one of those individuals is not their normal self, you can see this during the meeting. Afterwards, you can make a point to check in with them. Chat, ask some questions and see if you can find out what may be going on and how you can best assist. Do they need a break, a day off or do they need to talk and get something off their chest? Whatever it is, it gives a manager or leader the opportunity to do what they should be doing; Connecting and leading their team in a direction that is positive for the business as a whole, while also being a strong leader and support system for each individual person who acts as a gear in the machine, within the business.?

A few closing thoughts :

• These meetings can be done in person or on zoom. By making these part of the culture of the company, people will begin to share more ideas and help the company perform better.
• Keep the meetings positive and keep them efficient. Too much talk about meaningless topics or unrelated information, everyone will question why their time is being wasted or confuse these meetings for micromanagement. Sure, you can discuss the game from the night before. Ask people about their weekends, special events or upcoming plans. Follow up with them later about how their plans or events turned out. It builds a stronger bond, reinforces rapport and reminds your team that they are important and their lives outside of the office matter- But do not let the small talk dominate the meetings every time.
• Keep them information dense so the team walks away feeling that the meetings make things better.
• Keep them high energy - and remember to praise publicly and reprimand privately. These are not chew out sessions, these are not the place to air out all of the issues. As you do so more and more, the team will get the hang of them and they will run better and more efficiently. The team will participate more over time, so do not get defeated if initial meetings are somewhat quiet and heavy in negative “why are we here” energy.
• Another school of thought, get others to lead the meeting. Whether its the head of another department, or someone on the team who has an exciting new project or idea- change it up and give your team members? the opportunity to shine and feel valued.
• And lastly, start with something. An object in motion tends to stay in motion, you can never gain momentum if you don’t start somewhere. If your team is small and daily meetings do not make sense, do it less frequently, start with weekly meetings or alternate days,? but the other ideas on the why’s and the benefits still stand.?

If you truly want to excel in management and level up your skills in leadership, meet with your teams. Get face to face, have important conversations, allow them to communicate and take things seriously and get a pulse on your team. By getting the pulse of the team, you can ebb and flow as needed with motivation, inspiration, one-on-ones, or even correction to keep the heartbeat of the team strong.? Team members who feel unheard, ignored, or lack collective clarity on the goal will soon find somewhere else to go.

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