The Power of a Daily Briefing for Operations Leaders
If you're like me, you're responsible for understanding the ins, outs, and current status of multiple departments across your organization. It can be overwhelming to keep track of so many moving pieces and be the go-to person whenever there's a question about, well, almost anything.
One way to keep your finger on the pulse is to have regular meetings with department heads where they share their department's latest news and updates. Relying solely on meetings however, won't cut it once your business starts to grow. Let's say you have a meeting with each department head once per week. If you meet with the head of marketing on Monday at noon, the campaigns that they are running will hypothetically gain some traction or perhaps need adjustments by Wednesday at 9am. By the time you have your next meeting with your head of marketing, a lot will have changed. This is just one example that demonstrates how quickly things change at a fast-paced company. Now multiply this by the other 5 or 6 departments at your organization and you'll never be fully up to date.
Regular email or slack updates are a step closer to having a full understanding of every aspect of the business, however, it can be arduous for your team to manually write updates daily. There is a better way, and it's automated.
Here's How a Daily Briefing Will Change Your Life
It's possible that you and I start our days the exact same way. The first thing I do once I get to my desk in the morning is open my email. I don't however, start reading every message, deleting spam, or organizing my inbox. No, I open one specific email - the daily briefing. This one daily email gives me an up-to-date report on all facets of the company. I don't have to chase managers to ask them basic questions because 80% of the information I need to know is delivered to me daily. (You thought I was going to 80/20 you didn't you?) This allows me to ask higher level questions based on the information that I see in the daily briefing email.
After I've gone through the daily briefing, I amend the plan that I have for the day and write down any questions that I have about the information I've absorbed. With a daily briefing, I have a high level view of every area of the business. And, it takes no more than 5 minutes.
Benefits of a Daily Briefing
Here's how you'll benefit from a daily briefing:
You save time in meetings by having the basic information sent to you preemptively.
You can ask higher level questions based on the information in the daily briefing.
You can sound the alarm quicker if something looks off.
Your team will have a much broader view of business activities outside their direct department.
Your colleagues see their progress in a quantitative fashion and are recognized for their success
What to Include in Your Daily Briefing
The information in your daily briefing is going to look different that the information in mine. The great thing about a daily briefing is that you get to customize it for your needs! Here are some of the things that I want to see every morning before I dive into the day.
Company wide announcements
Updates about clients' strategies
Anything notable to share with the client
Deliverables (complete vs outstanding)
Status changes
Onboarding or offboarding clients
There are countless items you can include in a daily briefing, but my unsolicited advice is to keep it as short and concise as possible. Nobody wants to read an endless email every morning. Hit the most important items and keep it simple. Work with your development team to create something that will be useful, and gather feedback so the briefing can evolve with your company as you grow.
Image by Andrew Neel on Unsplash