Part of a series describing life inside a digital innovation startup.
This morning at 9:45 a.m., everyone at BeyondCurious stood in a circle. We put our hands in, and in a passable imitation of a high school basketball team, did a team cheer. This morning's cheer was "GO LAKERS!" The cheer was part of an elaborate greeting ritual that we practice every morning. We call it "morning meeting."
We start every day at BeyondCurious with a 15-minute all-hands stand up meeting where we all say how we're feeling, and briefly talk about our goals for that day. Morning meeting starts at 9:30 exactly. There are fun punitive measures in place if you're late to the meeting, but people are generally motivated to be on time because the meeting sets the tone for the day.
Mechanics of the morning meeting:
We have a giant status board for morning meetings in the middle of our workspace. Each day, a different person leads the meeting. This is a high-pressure position, because somewhere along the way we started drawing caricatures of each other to indicate mood. Each person takes their turn sharing with the group about how they are feeling and what they are working on during the day. At the end of the meeting, we do a group cheer. The cheer is new every day, and reflects either the single biggest thing we are focused on that day, or something we are excited about (like the prospect of the Lakers making the playoffs.)
As you can guess, the mood at morning meetings is very up beat and there is a lot of camaraderie. We get to mock the leader's drawing skills, comment on each other's outfits, mourn sports team losses, and report back on events we attended the previous evening. It's a great way to start the day.
We haven't always done morning meetings. At first, it was awkward. But after a little while nervous laughter became real laughter as we realized that the morning meeting was a time for us to connect to each other personally and professionally.
Here are three things that work and two that don't about our morning meeting ritual:
What works:
1) It connects us: We all know what everyone is working on and what their mood is. Even when we're working on radically different projects, we all have a general idea of what the others are doing. And that also means that we have a good idea of who might need some extra support, and who can give it.
2) It's super efficient: You only have to give updates once about how you're feeling, what you did and what you're doing.
3) It keeps us on track: We use Outlook and track progress on project plans. But the leader board in the middle of the room is a great reminder of what we're all working on at a high level. I appreciate being able to look up at the board to get a quick visual reminder of my most important focus for the day.
What doesn't work:
1) Rambling: The only time morning meeting doesn't work is when it gets too long and involved. People are standing up, and some of us are wearing heels! Ahem. The best update is personal, focused, and brief.
2) Saying goodbye: We have a delightful, well-developed greeting ritual. But we don't have a formalized way to say goodbye. There is no definitive end to the day because we all leave at different times. On any given day some people go to networking events in the evening, and others have meetings late in the night with our India team members. So we tend to say goodbye like normal people in a small office: we either shout out a general "see you in the morning" or say goodbye to people individually. But for me, at least, it's awkward. I always feel like I'm slinking out. I don't think we should all sing Kumbaya around a campfire, but I wonder if there's a better way to end the workday.
Question of the Week:
What are your company's greeting rituals? How do you say goodbye? How do you think those rituals affect or reflect your company culture? What do they mean to you personally?
As always, I welcome your thoughts, insights, and questions about any of the above.
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