The Importance Of Daily Check-ins With Your Team

Take a moment to consider what the culture is like at your dealership. Are you and your team lighthearted and funny, often making jokes and poking fun at each other? Serious and focused, each minding your own responsibilities and tasks? For most, the answer may be somewhere in between.

Regardless of how you would describe your dealership's "personality," there is one thing that should be a guarantee: You and the rest of your dealership staff are a team. And one crucially important aspect of being a team involves regular meetings and/or check-ins.

Ideally, this meeting will happen every day, before your dealership opens to customers. The best time to share news, report numbers, and reinforce your business' goals and priorities will be during this daily check-in.

Like the idea, but don't know where to start? Here are some suggestions:

• Structure is key. The time and place of the meeting should be consistent - example, every weekday morning from 8:30 - 9:00 a.m. This way your team members can adequately prepare to collect their information and give updates that will be useful to the rest of the group. A loosely-formatted agenda or order of business that is also consistent could help these check-ins run smoothly and efficiently.
• Encourage positivity. It would be easy to turn the daily check-in into an opportunity to list off problems and issues, but part of the reason for a morning meeting before the workday begins is to energize and encourage your teams to have a productive day. While it's only natural that a discussion about problems may come up - and those conversations need to happen - it's best to try to keep things on a positive note. This is a great time to recognize team members who are high performers, and acknowledge team goals as they are met.
• Take a step back. The conversation needs a leader, but it's important to allow for collaboration. New, fresh ideas and perspectives result from openness and flexibility, so allow others to chime in and contribute. Your team members will be more interested and invested if they feel like they're involved in the process and being heard.

In the busy day-to-day environment of a successful dealership, it's easy to eliminate those seemingly "extra" company events that focus on culture - but even if it does free up time, doing so creates more problems than it eliminates. While you could certainly use an extra twenty minutes in the morning, you'll find that the conversations that come up in these meetings benefit everyone in a positive way - whether it's solving an issue, praising a top performer, or motivating everyone to work with purpose for the rest of their day - you'll find that it's always worth the time spent.