Use daily huddles to see around corners

How do you — as the leader everyone in your company looks to for answers to questions, strategic direction and any number of other daily demands — articulate the right information to your direct reports, and they to theirs, so that everyone in the organization is fully aligned and on the same page?
If you’re in a small organization (fewer than 20 people) this can come directly from you to all as needed. In a larger organization, that direct communication is most often not efficient, effective, or even possible.
As my company, COE Distributing, and our 100-plus team members, grew and the flow of information became a daily challenge, we introduced and implemented the daily huddle throughout the organization. The results include accountability at all levels, focus, clarity and alignment throughout the organization. When working optimally, the daily huddles can provide the leaders of the organization the ability to see around corners.
How it works
The daily huddle is a 10- to 15-minute departmental gathering, in person or over phone/video, where participants stand — sitting prolongs the discussion — and report on individual key performance indicators (KPIs = accountability) from the previous day.
In that same meeting, the leader of that team shares expectations or challenges for the day (focus). In that short amount of time, the entire team understands what happened the previous day and what’s expected of them today (alignment).
From these departmental huddles, management and upper level management huddles are held. In these huddles, information from the entire organization rolls up to the management team, allowing immediate visibility to any issues or potential challenges that are facing the business before any significant impact to the business occurs (seeing around corners).
This then allows a more focused rolling down of information to occur the next day from managers to their departments, creating further focus, clarity and alignment throughout the organization.
Worth the effort
Having the ability to gather and understand information in an efficient manner can be invaluable to your business.
Getting to the point where you achieve this on a daily basis takes significant effort and must start at the top with the leadership team and work its way down, creating a rhythm for all in the process. Once the right rhythm is established, everyone is on board with the same purpose in mind, working together to better themselves, their teams and the company.

The end result is a more informed, aligned and efficient organization, where employees feel valued and, in turn, want to provide value to the company.

 
J.D. Ewing is the president and CEO of COE Distributing, the nation’s largest wholesaler/distributor of office furniture, specializing in forward-thinking products that fit perfectly in any environment. With more than 30 years of experience, J.D. has grown this third-generation, family-owned business to extraordinary success by staying true to the most valuable business lesson he’s learned — people are the difference-makers. His business model encourages collaboration among himself, employees, customers and vendors to create a culture of empowerment and satisfaction.