A Successful Company Habit - The Daily Meeting

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

Many of the world's best companies operate with a daily meeting.

It is a proven success practice.  Easy to institute and easy to see the immediate gains.

If you work on weekly meeting cycle - urgent issues don't get resolved quickly

It used to take days for issues to work their way to the top to get authority to reallocate resources," says Tony Petrucciani, CEO of computer services firm Single Source Systems. "Now it's like FedEx. It's there by 10:30.

Petrucciani gathers his management team (five including himself ) and meets each day at 10:07 am to discuss roadblocks. Their goal is to be out in 15 minutes.

Before dismissing the idea (I've heard every excuse over the years), consider that from the top teams at Goldman Sachs to the assembly floors of Dell Computer to the offices of Australian success story, Red Balloon, an effective daily meeting rhythm is at the heart of their best management practices.

And I've not encountered a single start-up to mid-size firm that didn't benefit greatly from initiating a short daily huddle organised around a specific agenda which I'll detail below.

Customers like to know their issues are dealt with quickly

"Our key customers really like that we do these meetings and it has become a sales tool, differentiating us from the speed that our competition pulses,"explains Pettruciani.

It wasn't always like that at Single Source. The meetings were launched when they faced a large project in overrun status and their customer was getting angry. "We implemented a specific Project Adrenaline daily meeting. Within a week, we were making much better progress, and had gained back credibility from the customer we told them about adrenaline. This kept a "six-figure" project from imploding," describes Petrucciani.

Find the time for a daily meeting and you will free up much more time in return

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 (focus of a future column).

I recommend that companies set the time at an odd time, like Petrucciani's 10:07am. People do a better job of being on time when the time's not on the half- or quarter-hour.

Attendance is a requirement

Make attendance mandatory and on time, with no excuses. I've been in intense meetings with clients.  It doesn't matter; I tell them I need to take a break for my daily meeting. And it only gains one respect – a disciplined firm exudes success.

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 agenda

It should be the same structure every day, and it's an agenda just three items long:

1. what's up, 
2. daily measures, and 
3. 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.

And the only people who don't get stuck are those who aren't doing anything

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 suggest they "take it off line." Remember: The daily meeting needs to be kept short.

Questions, comments, feedback

I am keen to find out what your experiences have been in the meeting structures that you run in your company, and if you undertake a daily meeting/huddle?

If you are not using a daily meeting currently, why not trial it for a week? You will see the immediate benefits of this structure.  And you will wonder how you operated any other way!

Bark Busters - An Exceptional Brand Promise Guarantee (Cataclysmic Mechanism)

Nowadays, you don't often get surprised by the simplicity and effectiveness of a service.  And more so in the area of something as seemingly non-entrepenuerial as dog training.

But an Australian based, international dog training company has a great example of a Brand Promise Guarantee that shows how powerful this strategy mechanism can act in being a persuasive tool and compelling offer to use their services.

A new family member

New Family Member Dougal

We are new dog owners, and we were very lucky in finding our first dog.  Dougal is a handsome six year old blonde labrador, who was given up by his owner for personal reasons.  The previous owner had looked after Dougal very well.  He is in great condition, well trained, he doesn't dig up the garden.  And he is extremely friendly.

By nature Labradors love companionship and so even though he spends most of his time outside during the day, he barked every time someone wandered into his view.

Being new dog owners, we were not sure what to do, and in some ways thought that this might be normal, and that we would just have to put up with him barking occasionally.

Our neighbours had a different view

Then one of the neighbours came around, and complained about the barking.  He had also been chatting to a number of our other neighbours, and there was a little bit of discontent in the neighbourhood about us and our new friend Dougal.

So we had no choice, but to do something about it.  However, where would we start and what would we do?

Enter Bark Busters

While chatting to some friends about our dog and the barking problem, they mentioned that they had previously experienced a similar problem with their pet and had used a company called Bark Busters.

They told us that it required one 1.5 hour session only, at their home.  And the barking stopped immediately following this session.

We found it difficult to imagine what exactly would happen in this session, but it boiled down to understanding dog psychology!!!

But what was more unbelievable (and compelling), was a guarantee for the life (of the dog) for Bark Busters to provide unlimited training and support at no additional cost if we ever experienced barking problems with the dog again!

So who are Bark Busters, and what do they do?

Bark Busters Home Dog Training was founded in Australia in 1989 by dog behaviour experts Sylvia and Danny Wilson.  Sylvia spent ten years as a shelter manager for the RSPCA and became tired of dogs being surrendered due to behavioural problems.

They worked at developing a training system based on their observations of the way dogs communicate and learn.  As part of their studies it became apparent that some dogs suffer from stress when taken out of their own environment and that this hampered the learning process for both dog and owner.

Based on this knowledge they developed a unique home dog training system where dogs could learn in a familiar, stress free environment.  Today Sylvia and Danny are both still running the international company and constantly work to improve the welfare of dogs wherever they may be.

Bark Busters has grown into the largest dog training company in the world.  They have trained therapists helping dogs in the UK, New Zealand, USA, Canada, Japan, Spain and in their home country of Australia.  Bark Busters now has over 500 offices around the world and is set to expand throughout Europe, Asia and South America.

In their own right, they are a very successful growth story.  And their brand promise is one of the elements that has helped them achieve this success.

And their brand promise guarantee?

Their guarantee among other things is:

• Written: Clients receive a written, signed copy of the dog training guarantee for their dog.
• Covers all problems: The guarantee provides for ongoing, free assistance no matter if the same problems recur, or if new problems arise. There is never an additional charge.
• Moves With The Dog, and 
• Moves With The Owner

How compelling is that!

To me, I could not see how we could lose.  We were guaranteed to stop our dog barking for a single, one-time only fee.  Surely they could not offer something like lifetime support for the dog, if their methods did not work well?

And did the bark busters method work?

We decided to proceed and so I contacted the local Bark Busters Franchisee and set up an appointment.

Myself and my wife, and our three kids had a session on a Saturday afternoon.  We learnt about dog pack behaviours, and what to do to show Dougal his place in our family.

And it worked!  Dougal following that one session has not barked once to get our attention.  He does not bark when the door bell rings.  And he is so easy to keep under control both outside or inside the house.  In fact, he is happier than ever, because he feels secure in our "pack".

And as for Bark Busters, they must be doing something right, because they now have helped over 750,000 dogs worldwide.

And if Bark Busters can develop an amazing brand promise, in an area as un-innovate as dog training, just think of the opportunity for you to come up with something unique and compelling for your company in your industry?  And accelerate your own growth and success.

Questions, comments, feedback

I am keen to find out what your experiences have been in developing a brand promise guarantee?

It is a very difficult thing to come with, but if you can, it is a very compelling reason for people to use your company over anyone else.  Something you can charge a premium for.  

I will post an article in the coming weeks to help you understand what criteria you need in creating the ultimate brand promise guarantee for your company.  So keep an eye out for it, or make sure to subscribe to the blog to ensure that you will not miss it.