A cuddle a day…
“Do you guys huddle every day?”
Blank stares all round.
“Cuddle, is it?” shouted out some smart aleck from down the back.
Cue giggling from some in the room.
“No, ha-ha, very funny – I said huddle!” answered the speaker, sounding somewhat exasperated. “Don’t you guys huddle every day…?”
Not all jargon travels well. Or so I was reminded some time ago when speaking at an event. The audience, a group of mid-level managers, were attending a short workshop on ‘Team Communication’. There were a number of speakers and the man before me was from the US. It was he who used the term ‘huddle’, which as you may know is an American Football term, where the team gets together in a close circle to plan the next play. He was referring to ‘huddling’ in a work context, which is well understood in the States no doubt, but was still less used on this side of the Atlantic (or at least back then the term wasn’t). Even today, we still more commonly refer to them as ‘briefings’ or ‘standups’.
Terminology aside, I was amazed at that time by the response when the group finally understood the question. Very few of them, in fact virtually none, consistently held daily briefings ( or whatever your preferred term is) with their teams. Everybody understood their importance, yet few actually held them every day. That’s a lost opportunity, and briefings are potentially such an important contributor to team effectiveness that it’s worth reflecting upon what’s currently happening in this regard within your business.
In my experience, even today, briefings are still completely underused in many organisations; surprisingly, despite all that is known about the benefits they bring, briefings either don’t happen at all, or are held intermittently, only when something major arises, or if a really special event is at hand. As a leader, you should consider making the holding of a daily team briefing a ‘non-negotiable’ for all managers and supervisors in your business, including yourself. As a refresh, briefings have many benefits, ranging from:
Providing an opportunity for quick, concise communication on day-to-day work matters.
Enabling the giving and receiving of feedback on a daily basis – so a manager can ‘strike while the iron is hot’ and deal with issues before they grow and get worse.
Reinforcing the notion of ‘team’ when everybody comes together each day, and also implicitly making the point of who is in charge of it.
Helping to gauge the ‘mood’ of employees and to identify if the team spirit is positive or not.
Identifying if cliques are forming amongst employees simply by observing who stands with whom each day. It is also possible to get a sense of how a new hire is assimilating into the team.
Helping to spot who the informal leaders are and whether they are playing positive or negative roles.
Allowing managers to continuously reinforce the business vision and mission.
Saving time, as a common message can be communicated to all at once rather than having to repeat the same thing to different individuals.
An opportunity to motive the team.
There are few things in business life which produce such valuable (and proven) returns as briefings for what is in reality a relatively small investment of time each day.
Making the Most of Briefings
In terms of getting the most from briefings, think about the following:
Pick a time and stick to it It’s important that briefings become a set part of the daily routine. Pick the most appropriate time to hold them and then keep to that consistently. Same time, same place, every day. Make it a habit.
Keep them short Briefings – the clue is in the name – must never become meetings and they should focus on priorities/immediate concerns at hand. They are largely about providing direction, offering guidance and feedback to your people, listening generally to concerns and gauging team mood and dynamic. Where more in-depth issues arise, you should acknowledge the concerns raised and then agree to discuss them in detail at the next team meeting. Briefings should avoid all the pitfalls associated with meetings, being short and streamlined, no more than 10–15 minutes max. They must start and finish on time. They should not take people away from work, because they are held in the middle of the work area, or certainly close to it.
Stay standing If everyone stands during briefings, this will contribute to maintaining focus and keeping things moving. When people sit, they tend to relax a little and often when tired they either tune out, or want to be able to stay sitting for as long as they can.
Structure briefings Although they are generally informal, that doesn’t mean preparation is not needed. Remember, in the space of a few minutes it’s necessary to:
Inform – give team members sufficient information to guide them for that day, or to update them on important matters.
Involve – get their general views on matters at hand.
Inspire – motivate and engage people.
None of the above can be achieved without some degree of preparation and a basic structure which keeps you on track, so:
Come Prepared Before the briefing, take a couple of moments to gather and structure your thoughts. Be clear what needs to be said and know what input is wanted/needed from your team. Make sure not to be over-ambitious either in what can be covered within the allotted time.
Kick it off Always try to begin in an upbeat way, without coming across as over-enthusiastic or too contrived in your approach: it’s not the X-Factor after all so there’s no need to fake things. Start off by outlining the key areas to be covered and encourage their participation. An important point to remember here is that when general praise is due it’s always a good idea to start the briefing with it, as it sets the scene in a nice way. That said, on days where there aren’t a whole lot of positives to highlight, or when you have to raise concerns, it is best just to be upfront about whatever the problem is – not in a nasty, aggressive way, but simply letting people know what happened and what has to be done to put things right.
Over the period of a year, employees will see that when they do well, they will get positive feedback and when they don’t, they will also be told in clear and unambiguous terms. In reality, by having this mix of good and bad feedback, delivered in the right way, the positive comments will actually have more impact when given.
Keep it flowing Briefings should be vibrant session, with the relevant points covered without side-tracking. Take the lead in the briefing, working through the prepared points, soliciting input from the team as appropriate and ensuring that everyone is clear about what is required. However, there can be a fine line between allowing input from team members and a briefing turning into a meeting, and you may need to support your younger managers and supervisors when they first start to deliver briefings until they learn to get the balance right.
Wrap it up Summarise what has been agreed and quickly make sure that all individuals are clear on whatever tasks or duties have been assigned to them. It is always important to end briefings on a positive note, and more so if negative feedback has been delivered.
Briefings may seem like a low-level concern, particularly if you are a seasoned manager, but I would wager that if you look around your business you will see that briefings are either not happening at all, or are not being used to best effect. Not holding a short briefing each day doesn’t seem like such a big deal, and, on its own, it isn’t. But a 10-minute briefing held every day would lead to around 2,500 minutes of communication within a team over a period of a year, or in other words 40+ hours! Multiply that by every team or department in your organisation and that’s a lot of effective communication.
Can you afford to ignore those potential returns any longer?
If you found the content of this article interesting, I have expanded on the topic in my book, 'The Essential Manager'. Click on the image to the left to purchase the book on Amazon, or if you'd like a signed copy you can purchase one directly on this site via our products page.