Most people today have heard of the concept of “lean,” the continuous improvement system pioneered by the automaker Toyota. Organizations like GE have since applied similar concepts to create other system like Six Sigma. The basic idea is to eliminate waste wherever and whenever possible inside a production system. The rub, however, is that while most organizations that embrace lean see short-term results, they also struggle to sustain those gains over the long haul. The lean effort becomes frustrating for many organizations as they realize a culture of continuous improvement is never achieved.

Leading a meeting where everyone in your company is present doesn’t have to be an overwhelming, dreaded experience. Company-wide meetings or Huddles, can be engaging, educational and even interesting…if you format them in the right way. Here are four tips to make your company-wide Huddle a success:

You know from our last few posts that the Huddle Cycle is a series of meetings where financial and operational numbers are shared (and forecast) at a series of meetings. We’ve already explained the format of the first two parts of the process: The Pre-Huddle and the Management Huddle. The third and final part of the Huddle Cycle is the company-wide Huddle; or what most people think of as “the Huddle”.

Recently, we discussed the basics of the Pre-Huddle, the first step in the Great Game Huddle Cycle. Of course, in any process, there is an inevitable second step (and in this case a third, which we’ll discuss soon). The second step of the Huddle Cycle is the Management Huddle. This meeting takes place after company Pre-Huddles and provides a structure for information to be communicated through the company in a bottom-up fashion (as opposed to traditional management systems which filter information from management to employees).

“A well-executed Huddle creates focus, accountability, alignment (line-of-sight), and a sense of urgency to take action and drive improved results” Recently, we explained why you should hold weekly “Huddles” as opposed to traditional staff meetings and how to format those Huddles to ensure they are effective. However, a consistent format is only a small aspect of the overall Huddle framework. For a workplace Huddle to be most effective, you must get your team into the habit of communicating in a specific way. Complete the checklist below to see if your Huddles meet these 12 communication criteria:

In the Huddle Cycle, numbers are forecast and shared at a series of meetings (Huddles) from daily departmental check-ins to weekly company-wide gatherings. The Pre-Huddle is the first of three Huddles in the Huddle Cycle. In this workplace Huddle, the team reviews work-group performance, develops a financial opinion (or forecast) from operational performance and communicates this information up through the company.

Every year, Shawn Askinosie makes pilgrimages to some of the hottest, most humid and poorest regions on the face of the Earth, specifically: San Jose Del Tambo, Ecuador; Davao, Philippines; Cortes, Honduras; and Tenende, Tanzania.

“Why the heck would anyone want to buy a 20 year old book?” That was Jack Stack’s question to me. I didn’t know if he was going to punch me or throw up. Jack Stack is not a guy who likes to toot his own horn, and here I was asking him to re-issue a book he wrote two decades ago.

A recent New York Times article featured a Q&A with David Rock, the director of NeuroLeadership Institute. In the article, Rock explains his analysis of employees’ motivations and behaviors with the acronym “SCARF” (status, certainty, autonomy, relatedness and fairness). In explaining each of the SCARF spheres, Rock summarizes how the presence of management can serve as an ongoing threat or reward for employees:

Seth Godin recently wrote a post entitled ‘Studying entrepreneurship without doing it is like studying music without listening to it.’ In it, Godin points out that until you’re actually in the thick of things, you really have no idea of what it’s like to be an entrepreneur. Recently I’ve had the privilege of working closely with Great Game Practitioner, Hilcorp Energy. One of the things I really like about Hilcorp is that they walk the walk. They don’t just talk about making something happen, they make it happen.