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Unlock creativity
Anyone who’s worked in a restaurant probably knows what pre-meal is. It’s that thirty-minute meeting where we get the team together right before we open the doors and start serving our customers. That meeting, often called a daily huddle in other industries, is wasted when you spend the entire time talking about things that could be so clearly communicated via an email – a new dish, a new wine by the glass, information on health insurance enrollment. It’s an opportunity not just to talk about the “what” but the “how” and the “why.” When that meeting is done well it’s when the people you work with cease being a collection of individuals and come together as a trusting team, unlocking the collective creativity and capacity required to do anything of greatness.
In my restaurant, that meeting was the most important thirty minutes of the day. And if you don’t have some version of a daily huddle, I implore you to figure out how to integrate it into your world. And if you do have one but it’s been a while since you’ve looked at it with any sense of creativity, I encourage you to take another look. When done well, I believe it is the most culturally transformational thing that any leader can do with their team.
Prioritize meaning and impact
There’s a bunch of ways that I’ve learned to keep that daily huddle meaningful and impactful.
My dad used to say to me, “Keep your eyes peeled.” If you walk through life with your eyes wide open, there’s inspiration all around you. You just need to be open to it. And then when you see it, grab onto it and hold on to it and bring it home with you. Make that something you tell your team about.
As importantly, give the floor to a colleague – with enough of an advance warning that they can prepare as well. As a leader, if you’re doing every single daily huddle, A) people are gonna grow sick of hearing your voice, and B) you’re not affording your team the opportunity to lead themselves. We should all be trying to hire teams of leaders regardless of what positions they might be filling in that moment. So talk about work one day. Talk about a TED talk you saw the day before the next. Talk about a new program you’re trying to initiate. Praise someone on your team the following day such that it encourages other people to crave that same sense of affirmation.
Make it dynamic. Make it connective. These days, with so many people working hybrid and remotely, we need to be more intentional about bringing the team together, keeping them connected, establishing a sense of community, and having everyone around a table, a metaphorical or a literal table, for a meeting on a daily basis is one of the best ways to achieve that.