Hold a daily meeting? Are you crazy?

Everyone is busy these days and the last thing anyone really needs is another meeting.

However if you have a growing, fast moving business – that’s exactly what you need, and not just any meeting. My recommendation is that you need to add a daily meeting into the busy schedule of everyone in your business!

I know it sounds crazy – but hear me out and I think you’ll see this is something that can really help you execute and ultimately will save a lot of time.

Try this flow of logic and see if this doesn’t start to make sense to you:

Why go daily?

The businesses that get ahead are the ones who get things done.

In order to get things done as a team, you have to all be on the same page and rowing the boat in the same direction.

In order to be on the same page, you need to have open and consistent communication that’s candid, relevant and timely and you have to share things.

The best way to get candid, relevant and timely communication is to meet regularly (daily) and use a tight agenda to keep things focused! The additional benefit is that everyone feels like they belong and are part of the team and contributing.

Why else to go daily?

In his book ‘Mastering the Rockefeller Habits’ – Verne Harnish clearly feels pretty strongly about it:

There is one indispensable routine; one absolute essential habit more important than any other I can teach an executive team; one discipline that is non-negotiable – and that is an effective daily meeting rhythm.

The original inspiration for this approach was based on John D. Rockefeller’s approach of meeting daily with all of the key people in his company – which he insisted was a key reason for his phenomenal success.

On top of that – Harnish also shares examples of clients who have implemented daily meetings. In some cases it was to make sure everyone was on the same page, but in other cases it was a great way to share critical information from the bottom up on a daily basis. You can see more about Daily Meetings in his short article.

How to hold a daily meeting

The first rule is to keep it simple. If you have less than 2o or 30 people, then you can probably have everyone on the same meeting. If you have more, then split it into logical groups – but the goal is to have everyone be in a meeting.

Secondly keep the agenda simple. Mr. Harnish recommends a simple agenda as follows:

What’s Up – everyone shares what they have coming up in the next 24 hours
Review daily metrics – what are the key drivers for your business?
Share issues – this is a chance to raise a question or an issue to the whole group…it’s not the time or place to solve issues.

The meeting needs to be kept short – 5 to 15 minutes and it should be at the same time every day and should be mandatory. It’s okay for people to call in but in person is good as well.

We’ve already talked about a lot of benefits and although it feels like you’re squeezing more into your schedule, the reality is this approach will save you time. People know what’s going on, they know who to talk to and it will cut down on wasted discussion since everyone hears everything at once.

I have a client who implemented this approach and although there was resistance at first, they discovered it really helped keep everyone focused and people started looking forward to it.

Do you hold daily meetings with your team? Is it something you think would help you? What would hold you back? I’d love to hear your thoughts – share them in the comments below.

Shawn Kinkade Kansas City Business Coach