One of the big challenges I hear from leaders I speak with, is the need to keep the team focused on the change, the goal or the initiatives. After a little exploration I find that many of them have put out a memo, they have delivered a WebEx or done some other form of communicating the initiative. And then they wonder why it doesn’t stick.
What I have seen as one of the best tool is the daily huddle, the daily gathering, the daily team call/meeting etc.
This is not a big deal. It is not a long meeting or agenda but rather a quick session where you focus the team on the goal, and have everyone re-connect with the goal and perhaps even make a commitment to the goal. Even if it is a long-range goal, we can make a daily goal in service to the long-term goal.
Joe Tye in his book the Florence Prescription discusses the “Self Empowerment Pledge”. Seven promises that people can make to themselves and to their team that will change their life and the life of the organization. (Now that the Supreme Court has said corporations are citizens I suppose we can say they have a life). The suggested method is every morning before the team hits the ground running, they gather for just a few minutes (in person or on the phone). Someone reads the promise. (The one for Monday is- “I will take complete responsibility for my health, my happiness, my success and my life, and will not blame others for my problems or predicaments.) While I like Joe’s promises, what I am writing about here is the daily huddle. You can develop your own questions, and or model to keep the team focused.
When we take the time to connect with our team EVERY DAY and to reinforce our values, our goals, our intentions powerful things happen.
Magic happens when we take the next step and have our team circulate responsibility for the daily gathering. Think about this for just a minute. If I know that Monday (in this example) I am expected to rally the team around the value of responsibility; how will I show up? Chances are I will have given this some thought, I will probably have put my spin on it and I will “own” it at a deeper level.
Think about that for a moment here is a magical tool that can help your team to take ownership of your values, goals and intentions. Like with all magic this is powerful.
How will you use it?
