Over 15 years ago – I was deep in chaos with a fast growing team and company. Every day was like a week, every week like a month, and every month like a year. Time was flying and we had to make decision fast to keep up with the speed of growth and the market. We were struggling – working way too many hours and the pile of things to get done and decisions to be made continued to get longer. It was the unending uphill battle.

I was at a conference that Verne Harnish was MC’ing and he kept talking about 'The Huddle'. I finally went up at a break and asked “What is 'The Huddle'?”  Verne answered – “Easy! It’s a 15 minute (or less) daily meeting with your team that follows a standing agenda of ‘Good News, Metrics, Top priority for the day, Where are you stuck’. This is a concept that seems so simple, yet when used with consistency is GAME CHANGING! But, why does this daily Huddle work…?

Team Mentality 

The idea of the “Huddle” comes from sports teams planning a 'play', and executing it on the field to win the game. The Huddle is a quick meeting before the play to make sure the players are all aligned in order to execute their goal. This is no different than in business with your team – every day, a quick meeting within the first half of the day will remind everyone that they are working as a team and are all accountable for the outcome. Every day!

Time Saving

Did “We do not have time to meet every day!” pop into your head as soon as I mentioned this meeting was every day? I love this reaction when working with leadership teams. Funnily enough – the teams that do huddle every day spend less time in meetings overall and answering emails. This is a real result of a team that huddles every day.

Consistency

The agenda for the huddle is always the same. The category items addressed by each team member never change, but the content of the meeting is always different and forward moving. A standing agenda of “Good News, Metrics, Top Priority, and Stuck Points” ensures all attendees are prepared for the meeting. The meeting can be run by any attendee in a snappy round-robin fashion. 

Daily Positivity

This is all about keeping the team cohesive, recognizing other team members that are oozing the core values, and starting the meeting out on a positive note. So easy.

Metrics

Metrics are the quantitative measurement of a team members work. These metrics relate directly to the team members priorities laid out on their personal GROWTH FRAMEWORK. Announcing your metric every day shows how work is progressing and can allow the team captain to see where things are progressing fast or slowing down.

Acknowledging a Top Priority

This is the one thing you have to get done in the next 24 hours to ensure that you monthly and quarterly priorities are accomplished. This is also a way for the rest of the team to understand what your focus is. Other team members might need your support for their priorities and this is a way to organize resources. As well – behaviorally what you say you’re going to get done is normally what you will get done.

Addressing Stuck Points

It’s okay to be stuck. And even better to tell your peer group you are stuck. This allows the team to work together to support each team member with their stuck and ensure the best people are working on the problem to move forward to achieve the goal quickly. Everyone gets stuck!!

Routine Shows Results

Meeting with your team everyday becomes a habit. One that is hard to break. When we started huddling with our team, we committed to keep it going for 30 business days straight and then adjust from there but never stop. And that's what we did – we never stopped huddling.

In my experience, leaders and team members, meeting with your whole team every day at a set time for 15 minutes or less will allow the team to become a strong peer accountable team that is focused on the “WIN”. Looking back it’s so obvious why a team playing a game huddles often, but in business this was not a normal practice. Make 'The Huddle' a habit and reap the benefits outline above. Once you start you will never stop. Commit to 30 days of huddles today!!

- Shannon Byrne Susko