Daily Huddle

Earlier this year the acquisitions group started doing an all hands on call at 6pm every day. The call was to update the team on individual accomplishments, goals, missing systems and then a wrap up by me on what it all means. We have now been doing this huddle for more than 5 months and the results have been amazing. What once took us a week or even a month to address is now talked about and brainstormed on a daily basis. Problems are discussed and solved 10 times faster than under the previous once a week or once a month schedule. Problems that would not have been raised on a weekly meeting now find their way into the conversation and are solved by the group.

The format of the Acquisitions huddle is simple:

GOOD NEWS - (anyone can start by putting something out there)

NUMBERS - (each individual shares a significant number from their day- example - 100 calls made today, or 2 purchase agreements signed)

GOALS - (individuals will update everyone on where they stand in relations to weekly or monthly goals) examples - 1 deal signed this week with a goal of 2 more.

WHAT'S IT ALL MEAN - This is my chance to piece it all together. - This is where I talk about what I am seeing in the real estate market based on the information being shared by the acquisitions group. This is real time information processing at its best.

HURDLES/MISSING OPPORTUNITIES - Individuals share problems they are having in their markets or with potential sellers. Examples - I have an owner who keeps saying my partner doesn't want to sell but he won't let me talk to his partner. What do I do? - the group then shares their stories of dealing with this situation.

CHEER - Group picks a good cheer for the day and counts down - three, two , one ...

The calls last no more than 10 mins every day and are the best way we have found to communicate in real time.

Recently I was at a business conference and they asked participants for ideas on how their companies are dealing with the changing economic and business environment. I offered my story of the daily huddles and it led into some great discussions of companies that do and do not have meetings like this. Turns out that Goldman Sacks does two a day 6am and 6pm, Merrill Lynch (now defunct) did not do one, Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie started these in the early 1900s. Every Walmart store does this every morning. We all know of the results that Walmart has shown.

We started doing these calls at the operational level a few months ago and again we have seen great and immediate results. What was taking months to hear about and act on is now taking just a day.

In this ever changing economic business environment we as a company need to be nimble. Information needs to be shared and acted on a daily basis not a weekly or monthly basis. Some of the topics that should be discussed on a daily basis are rental rates, resident satisfactions, the competitions, major maintenance items or statistics, property curb appeal and other market strategies. What this call is not is a chance to talk about the stopped up toilet in 2F, or Ms. Smith's late payment. This needs to be a quick moving high level meeting that should address the major items you are seeing in your markets. My suggestion would be that the calls take place first thing in the morning when everyone is ready to get their day started.

I will not be able to make everyone of these calls, but I will be on a schedule so I can join each call once a week.

I look forward to hearing in real time what is happening at the ground level of the properties. If anyone has any ideas on how to structure these calls better please share them with me. Otherwise please be involved in the calls, we need your involvement, ideas and problem solving skills to help solve others problems and let others share ideas with you.

Thanks for making it happen.

Nick Jekogian