Risk & Business Magazine Cain Insurance Spring 2016 | Page 10

waiting to start,” explains Hall. “With
the daily, we’re much better equipped at
keeping our daily task 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”
says Hall.

them I need to take a break for my daily
meeting. And it only gains one respect – a
disciplined firm exudes success.

“With the daily, we’re much better
equipped at keeping our daily
tasks aligned with our plan.“

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 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.
I recommend that companies set the
time at an odd time, like Petrucciani’s
10:07 am. People do a better job of being
on time when the time’s not on the halfor 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

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SPRING2016
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“...I tell them I need to take a
break for my daily meeting.
And it only gains one respect – a
disciplined firm exudes success.”

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 cofounders 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.

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

Verne Harnish is founder and CEO of
Gazelles, a global executive education and
coaching company, Verne has spent the
past 30 years educating entrep