Out of the slump

Out of the slump

In three of my four previous blogs, I wrote about getting out of a slump. I think I can officially say that I am out of it.  I hit a few of the goals I set out to meet by Halloween - not all, but I'm pretty happy in general. I wish I could have done more with my Peer Coach,, but our schedules have clashed drastically.  I have gotten more organized and focused at work and though home has been more stressful, it's been more fun.  I have not gotten fully into “Getting Things Done,” but I have put in e-mail filters and just let things ride without responding. The problems  seem to get themselves resolved a lot of the time.

Here are some hints that might help in a similar situation.

Small victories - I spent an hour straightening up the basement and my workspace just seems much clearer.

Focus on the one goal - I got the back yard winterized in one afternoon, which was a new world record and the first time in 10 years I managed to get that done.

Be present in what you are doing - Last weekend we went in search of a piano for the house.  We had a very limited budget and had to go to a few places that were about forty-five minutes away from home. Scheduling snafu's abounded, we started Saturday at noon and finished Sunday at around 8pm. I didn't worry about how this ruined all of the things that we had planned, but enjoyed time with the family.  Even though we didn't get to the errands run that we needed to, we were together.

Put the phone away - My wife and I are very conscious about not constantly looking at e-mails. I was horrible about this for a long time and I struggle with it.  We have a rule of no phones at the dinner table.  I was noticing when we were on one of our many kill-time-while-we-wait-for-someone-to-show-up detours that everyone in the restaurant was looking at their phones.  I was proud of myself and my family that we were not.

Talk to someone - Talking about your slump is good.  I don't think that anyone I talked to about the slump really said anything.  I don't think the conversation was more than "Man, I'm in a slump," followed by, "That sucks, me too" and then we changed the subject.

"At the end of the day, things get done." - this was something my father's boss said after a particularly stressful conversation about the lack of movement on a particular project. The point of this wasn't that there was nothing to worry about, but that the good news and progress should be recognized and not ignored.  Nothing in life is perfect.  Try to keep things in perspective.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/read-this-if-you-want-to-be-happy-in-2014/2014/01/02/d96370f0-7192-11e3-9389-09ef9944065e_story.html

Do the ONE THING - lesson from the garden

 This is a lesson from the garden. It is not really a garden, but more of a discontented lawn. This spring I decided instead of going to Home Depot four times for mulch and supplies I would have them delivered. I would sand the deck. I would clean out the herb garden. I would get more plants. I would clean junk that had accumulated over the years. I would plant grass. I would relocate the moles. I would. I would. I would.

Today, I said to myself, I am going to move the pile of delivered mulch from the driveway to the planting areas. I loaded the wheelbarrow and started to the first planting area. Then, I saw ants moving near the house. I went into the garage and got ant spray. I sprayed the ants. Then, I saw that a drain cover had popped up. So, I repaired the drain cover.

Bottom line - I worked outside all day and got 20 things done. However, only two loads of mulch were moved to the planning areas. Why did this happen? There were too many distractions and lack of prioritization.

I thought about this as I drove past the mulch pile the next day. What was the ONE THING that I needed to do? Get a three foot high pile of mulch out of the driveway of course.  So, I made a deal with myself. I would not do any other yard work until the mulch job was done. I would move at least one load every day until the much pile was not in the driveway, but in the planting areas. After a week, I had the job done.

What's the point of all this?  The point is that the distractions of what's going on around you can prevent the most important thing from getting completed. The distractions themselves may be important too, which makes it that much harder to focus on that ONE THING that makes a difference.

Charles Schwab learned this too - http://haziqali.wordpress.com/2010/01/29/charles-scwhab-learns-easiest-time-management-trick-ever/ 

As has Verne Harnish - http://www.gazelles.com/stop_doing_email_first.html#.VCtpn_ldXdk

I hope this helps!

On The Way Out of The Slump

I keep thinking about Ross Perot in his 1992 presidential run. In response to a question he would always say, "First...." and then state what he would do. I don't recall him ever saying "next." I read an article about him. It stated that he always felt "next" was just a new "first" and was determined by how this "first" turned out.

In getting out of the slump, first, I wrote about the slump, which cleared my mind. I thought I was relaxing, but that didn't happen until I took a week off with my family and read Agent 6 by Tom Rob Smith. I thought after a week on vacation, I would be good-to-go, but I still feel slump-like. Here’s my checklist:

Relax - done

Do one thing - done

Keep it simple - done

Procrastinate - I think so, since the suitcases still aren’t back up in the attic, there's a pile of dirt still in the driveway, and the kitchen cabinets aren't refinished yet. Yes, procrastination is still done.

In my relaxation I was watching some Scrum and TED videos and came upon one that really hit home for me called Getting Things Done by David Allen. It’s a system of making lists that you can prioritize. The point is that once you finish the first thing on your list, the rest of the list needs to be re-organized. In the days before e-mail I had a system of folding an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper so that it would fit into my shirt pocket. On the top area was my to-do list and I would bury tasks inside that were less important in covered up areas. Every Monday my ritual was to create a new sheet of paper. I completely forgot that I used to do this until today. I don't know if I was more or less productive during that time, but certainly less distracted.  

I'm searching for the proper medium of the sheet of paper now, but in the meantime...

First, I've set some new goals for the rest of the year and through Halloween in my Living Legacy and have a breakfast setup with my Peer Coach. Depending on the outcome, I'll have something to do first next.

Getting out of a slump

I'm in a slump and don't know how to get out of it.

Well, maybe I do, but I'm in denial because, quite frankly, this slump is pretty darn comfortable. Many things are going along just fine having reached autopilot. I'm not working super-hard on any goal right now. In fact, most of my personal goals, especially my day-to-day ones,  have gone to the wayside. I've had some non-work and work stresses and figured that a little stress eating here and there wouldn't hurt. Usually, exercising helps me work out stress and other pensive issues. Summer put the family's schedule in a tizzy so "regular exercise time" doesn't exist. I am not in a depressed state, but just don't feel like I have any direction outside of making sure the cat box is cleaned and the dirty dishes don't pile up.

What should I do?

To use the parlance of our times, I Googled and found 5.5 million ways to get out of a slump. Since that's a bit overwhelming, I decided to scan the top 5 and see what they had in common.

http://www.wikihow.com/Get-Out-of-a-Slump
http://www.forbes.com/sites/dailymuse/2012/10/30/the-surprising-way-to-get-out-of-a-slump/
http://chrismccombs.net/how-to-make-the-comeback-of-your-life/
http://1000lifelessons.com/get-out-of-a-slump/
http://www.thechangeblog.com/get-out-of-a-slump/

The first two links were informative and the last three weren't quite my style. However, I found these things in common:

Relax - chill out and realize that there is no need to panic, it happens to everyone
Start with one thing - even the longest journey starts with a single step
Keep it simple - baby steps
Procrastinate some things - part of a slump is being overwhelmed by things you aren't doing, so agree with yourself to put them off

Now, I'm relaxing and started with one thing - this blog entry. I will be trying another "one thing" tomorrow.

Wish me luck!

Let's keep this short and to the point.

Several years ago I was faced with a communication issue that I did not know how to resolve – I could not get straight answers from our head of sales.  He was on the road a lot and not always able to talk within the confines of my rigid schedule so most of our communications were via e-mail. I would send long, very detailed emails and get terse responses or none at all.  When we did speak, things were fine.  Finally, he came to me in frustration and asked that I remove “RE” from the subject line.  During this conversation he explained that he really couldn’t follow my conversations and e-mail strings because he did most of his e-mail from his Blackberry (you can now date the “several years”).

  

As I started to replace “RE:” with things like “ISSUE RESOLVED:” or “CALL JIM:” our communication improved.  Then he remarked, “You know, I check most of my e-mails from client waiting rooms, at breakfast or while I’m waiting to board a plane and it is hard for me to read past whatever comes up in the first screen of text.”  Of course!  I wrote most of my e-mail from my desktop in full-screen.

Since that time I have done my best to avoid writing long e-mails.  If the message is more than a few sentences long, I should call the person or put it into a document or some other system if it is instructions.  I try not to ask a question other than “Do you need my assistance in resolving this?” in an e-mail string.  The busier the person is whom you are communicating with, the more this is important. 

Here is an example:

From CEO- “How is project going?”

My reply – Subject: “Update: how is project going” – Message Body: “On schedule.  No serious rocks at this time.  Check this link if you want details <link to project plan SharePoint>.”

I could provide the CEO with any amount of detail in the rest of the e-mail, but it would not matter.  One thing that would be really bad, would be to put the “On schedule…” at the end of a three-page-update. 

Here are some opinions of others:

From Guy Kawasaki, author, publisher and entrepreneur

I get several hundred emails per day. I wish people would just ask for what they want in the first sentence. I don't need to know their whole life history to make a decision. Getting people to be brief would save everyone a lot of time.

From Verne Harnish, author and growth guru:

Subject Line Etiquette! -- one of my email pet peeves -- the "Subject:" line of emails should match the substance of the email, period!! For instance, if there is a request for an 15th April phone call, put "15th April call" in the Subject line. And if the reply email switches it to 17th April, don't keep using the old 15th April Subject line. Take 3 seconds and change the Subject line to 17th April. As back and forth emails morph into different topics, the Subject line needs to change so it aligns with the modified or new topic. Take Subject lines seriously and communication will flow better.

Email Etiquette #2 -- my second pet peeve is too many requests in one email, especially if they involve different people. I would rather receive three separate emails with one topic/request per email (with matching Subject lines!!) than one long email and a generic Subject line.

Email Etiquette #3 -- my third pet peeve are long emails. The above quote from Guy Kawasaki is his testimonial for Joseph McCormack's book Brief: Make a Bigger Impact Saying Less. When we invite big names to keynote our Summits, like Ben Horowitz for the Growth Summit, we take Kawasaki's advice and put the request both in the Subject line and as the first sentence of the email. It works rather than drone on about the details.

Links:

Verne Harnish's website.

Some Dilbert

Making a KPI

A Key Performance Indicators (KPI) is a number (statistic, average, total) that identifies a key component of a person’s or group’s performance.  KPIs are many times thought of as “big corporate nonsense” or something for the “numbers guys”.  I didn’t believe in KPIs for a long time because I knew what I was doing and tracked my time on projects..  However, other than “great, I put in 55 hours this week,” I didn’t have anything else to say. 

I did a lot of research on KPIs and finally came up with that it’s as a starting point. What’s one thing I can track that, if improved (up or down), would have positive impact on a company goal?”

A fairly simple question, but often hard to find an answer to.  I start with the question, “What do I do well and how much time am I spending on that?”  It was improve processes for me.  I found that I was spending a lot of time helping people navigate existing processes or assisting by doing.  I started to track how much time I was spending on improving what my team was doing.  Questions for you might be “How much time do I spend on conference calls where I say nothing” or “How long does it take me to turn around requests?”

Your first pass does not need to be correct, but should be easy to track or better still, something that you are currently tracking.  Let it go for a month without making any changes to what you are doing.  I initially found that I was spending less than an hour a week making things more efficient.

Once you have your KPI, spend another month improving it.  Do you need to spend less time or more time? Set a goal.  Your goal should not be what you would have in a perfect world, but something that you can achieve.  My goal was to average 2 hours/day on making things more efficient.  You will be surprised to see what a difference this makes!

The important thing is to work on one KPI at a time when you start. Next, make your goal a little more ambitious.  Keep repeating this, or if you are finding that it’s not quite what you need, pick another number.   Once you get the hang of it you can move on to more numbers, but start slow.  Focusing on one thing at a time will get you better faster.

Benjamin Franklin’s KPI’s – http://www.artofmanliness.com/2008/02/24/lessons-in-manliness-benjamin-franklins-pursuit-of-the-virtuous-life/

“How’m I doing?”

Ed Koch, Mayor of New York City from the late 70’s to late 80’s, famously opened his press conferences with "How'm I doing?"  He was the first really public person who had an open feedback loop.  Today this lives on within Amazon reviews, Yelp, customer feedback surveys and so forth.

It's important when getting feedback to listen.  As I try to be a better listener, I'm also trying to ask more of "How'm I doing?"  Regardless of the answer, I need to listen.  I need to seek to understand what is being said and give a good reaction.  I may not be able to solve every issue, but understanding means a lot.

Here are some things that I do and have done to get some answers to "How'm I doing?"

Send a survey - Use SurveyMonkey.com to create anonymous surveys.  Responses are not always that honest, but it's important to be consistent (end-of-year, quarterly). It's also important to send back a general response to the survey takers.  Be transparent.  Don't just show the results, but thank people for their honesty and appreciate what they have done. This shows you are listening.

Start with your own problem - Start any feedback meeting (or retrospective for that matter) with volunteering information of how you can be better.  For instance, "My communication during that last project was horrible.  I need to do a better job with that.  Thankfully I have a great team who backed me up."

Reward and encourage negative feedback - The most useful feedback is not "you're great," but "you stink!" Of course getting a reason of why “you stink” is more helpful, but sometimes it's hard to get to the root of that.  Regardless, the person who is telling you what you are doing wrong is going to improve you the most. They should be rewarded and recognized so that you get more honest feedback.  Don’t take anything negative personally.  If we don’t know our weaknesses, how can we possibly grow?

Here are some good links for this week:

Stop racing to the bottom - http://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-to-beat-a-lower-priced-competitor/

And some Dilbert - http://www.dilbert.com/strips/comic/2008-12-09/

Listening hints, talking tips

As I've been on a professional and personal journey the last 11 months, one thing that I've focused on and is probably key to my imagined success is “learn how to listen.”  Listening is hard for me because I tend to want to think about the next thing I need to do.  As conversations wrap up, I start thinking about the next thing and stop paying attention.  I'll admit to writing and reading e-mail during a conversation (still a problem) and a bunch of other bad habits.

Here's what I've been trying to improve on during my remote meetings:

Put away the keyboard - If you can't type, you can't get into “other things.” I have a keyboard drawer and I slide it closed.

Close down e-mail - Close your email application. This is probably the hardest thing for me to do because somebody might need me! There's always the phone and a "beep" will let me know if someone is trying to call while I'm on the phone.

Don't just hear, listen to what the other person is saying - The key to listening is  paying attention.  Focus on what is being said.  Ask questions.  Listen with your mind as much as your ears.

Take it from their point of view - Different takes on the same subject are not necessarily a Men Are From Mars/Women Are From Venus thing, but when people don’t have a common ground (gender, projects, backgrounds), they can say the same words and mean something completely different.  Even a statement as simple as "I'm satisfied" may not mean the same thing to two different people. One may think "Fantastic!  We did our job and you are satisfied. Someone else may think "That's terrible, why are you not extremely happy?"  Make sure to listen to the context of what is being said.

Say it back - This is probably most important thing that I try to do. Repeating back to the person is an excellent way to make sure that you were listening as well as letting them know that you heard them.

I hope these things help you as much as they help me. I also found a great application this week to use on my desktop to see if I'm actually spending time where I think I am.  https://www.rescuetime.com/

There's a great blog entry about working remotely at http://blog.rescuetime.com/2013/11/21/im-about-to-start-working-remotely-and-its-sort-of-freaking-me-out/

Scott Adams semi-related blog about PowerPoints - http://www.dilbert.com/blog/entry/the_science_of_making_your_story_memorable/

And some Dilbert: http://www.dilbert.com/strips/comic/2014-03-01/

Running a Retrospective

I believe that there is always room for improvement within teams. Improvements can be small, large, incremental or even mind-blowing. In all cases the best way to improve what you do is to hold a retrospective. A retrospective is a meeting with the following agenda:

• What did we do well?
• What did we do not-so-well? 
• What could we do better next time?
• Is there something that we can do better right now?

When I run a retrospective I try not to focus on an individual project, but on the overall productivity of the team. In some cases it makes sense to retrospect a project, but if you do, here are some guidelines:

Failed Project Retrospective - I try not to focus on a failed project. This goes counter to most retrospectives or "review" of failed projects. When you do this after a failed project the team tends to feel like they are being beat up for their failure. By the time you get to your retrospective your biggest issues should have already been addressed and it isn't productive to continue flogging the team. So, keep it short, make sure that the big problem won't be repeated in the future. Above all, make sure that the team knows the goal is to improve overall and learn from mistakes.

Successful Project Retrospective - Many feel that there is no reason to talk about a successful project because it was in fact successful. This is where the "not-so-well" can come out. This is typically where the team will identify something that is really a risk to future successes. For example, we found out that someone had saved us from a critical problem "again" and that we were relying on this one person to fix a lot of problems on the fly. We were able to identify a bottleneck that could have caused a really big problem.

Overall Retrospective - I try to do these a couple of times a year. In general the team enjoys these. This is where there is a lot of patting on the back, real thought on what can be done and building morale. Focus on improving strengths and minimizing weaknesses.

It is important to try to come out of the retrospective with one thing that you can do right now to improve. For example, we had one week in our project timeline that was essentially just scheduling a task. We found that it was always one of two people who were assigned this task. The team decided that these individuals would reserve time in their schedule to do the task. Then we could always count on them to be available rather than trying to coordinate. We cut a week off of the timeline! The side effect was that we all had non-meeting time blocked in our calendars to get real work done!

Take time to look back at what you do. You'll be surprised at what can happen.

Helpful Links:

http://skycoach.be/2010/06/17/12-retrospective-exercises/

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/agile-management-and-the-sprint-retrospective.html

How can a busboy affect sales?

Three months ago I went to a falafel (Chickpea) place to hang out before a sales call in Manhattan.  It was just one of five places in the block where I could go.  I noted that the place was really clean, food was good and there was a busboy, I'll call him Mario, who was working really hard keeping the place clean.  I remembered that he took my tray to the garbage can for me.  The next time I went to that client, I went back to Chickpea only because I remembered that the bathroom was clean. The place wasn't that busy and Mario came up as I was leaving and asked "are you selling to the hospital?"  I guess I stood out like a sore thumb.  He made some small talk and wished me good luck and walked me out.  The next time, I I went back to Chickpea.  I had to leave in a hurry because I was running late and only ate half my wrap.  Mario was right there, and grabbed my tray, and while wiping down my spot at the counter asked if my food was okay, then hurried to hold the door for me as he saw I was on the phone and struggling with my laptop bag.  He yelled "Good Luck!" as I left.

As my company has started putting out quarterly goals, some employees are feeling disconnected because they are looking at something that doesn't affect them.  For example, how does a goal of “Sell more widgets” affect me?  Customer Support staff says “oh well, nothing for me to do.”  Software Engineers say "I don't do sales". Others may say "I work with cogs, not widgets, so there is nothing for me to do."  My friend Mario doesn't care about the menu, the website, how much ingredients cost, or any of that.  He just knows that if he does his job over and beyond expectations that he's doing everything he is doing everything he can to make the business succeed.

There is something for everyone to do in every goal.  How can Customer Support help to sell widgets?  Support existing widgets the best that you can!  Software Engineers can make the widget more work faster.  If you work with cogs, offer new ideas to the widget department, give them a call and say "hey, we added a light blue color and it made all the difference in the world to one client." Oh and maybe one of your cog customers needs a widget and they don't even know about it!

Doing your job better, breaking up rocks, reporting rocks, giving input are all things you can do. Most of all you have to remember that the company goals are not “their goals”, but “our goals”.  Everything the company does affects customers, so everything you do affects customers.  Customers are who write your paycheck.

p.s. Did you notice in the 2nd paragraph I called Mario my "friend"?  Think about the impact you can make if customers think of you that way?

Missing Commmitments

Keeping commitments is the best way to earn trust from your colleagues.  No matter how nice you are, how smart you are or how much you are "the only one who knows".  Many cascading events can be set back if you even miss a commitment by one day.  Sometimes a missed commitment can even cause an initiative to die on the vine.

Unfortunately I know this because I have missed commitments.  One thing that my personality has built in is a need to please, so I have a tendency for optimism which leads to committing to too many things.  One thing I work hard on is reeling this in and making sure that I set realistic expectations for myself first, then for what I'm telling my team members that I can deliver.

Here's what I'm working on:

Previously I may have said, "I'll get something from Joe by mid-January".  Now I say "I will commit to getting a list of similar projects Joe has worked on by January 15th".

1. I am specific in WHAT and WHEN - NOW if I don't have that list by January 15th, I'm in big trouble.  I didn't say "I'll call."  I have a specific outcome - the list.  I gave myself a deadline - very important.  I didn't just re-direct to one person (Joe) because there can be other ways for me to get what I need.  
2. I reinforce for myself. I used a strong word - "commit" - and I know when someone else uses that word with me that they take what they are promising to do very seriously.  Think of the difference of "you said you would do it" and "you made a commitment to me".
3. I follow up with myself.  I put a reminder in my calendar at intervals leading up to my commitment - not the day of the commitment.  These remind me to work on it, or let my co-worker know that I need more time. Needing more time can be okay if I let them know well in advance of my deadline and gives them the opportunity to say "We can't wait due to other dependencies".

I'm continuing to work on this and will be giving more thoughts on this in the future!

5 Minute reading suggestion:
http://informationanthology.net/CareerMentor/Keeping-Commitments.html

And if you haven't read The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, at least check out the chart:

Thoughts on Expectations

On Christmas Day I told my 8-year old son I would help him get his toys going if he had problems.  Over the course of the day I helped him with batteries, hard to remove screws and packaging - all the while managing a houseful of family and friends and cooking two meals.  I thought the day was great and that everyone had a great time.  I was proud of myself for paying attention to my son and not letting host duties distract me. At the end of the day, my son says to me, "You didn't help me with one of the toys".  My response was "What?  Are you crazy?  I stopped sooo many times to help you... " (you get the picture)  Turns out that the very first toy he asked me to help him with was still on the counter awaiting a battery.  After discussing how we should be thankful and focus on positive things, he realized he did have a great day and we both calmed down.

However, I had indeed failed to meet his expectation of "Dad will help me 100% of the time I ask".   He's an 8-year old hopped up on Christmas excitement and sugar after all, but I hope you get my point.  Maybe we can think about customer or even co-worker situations that were not all that different from this.

Let's say we have a meeting and I say "I'll call Joe and find out what he thinks."  You come to me in a month and say "Hey, did you ever call Joe?"  I say, "I did but he was busy with a support call, then I was, so we've been playing phone tag."  Did I break my word? Maybe I just didn't fully follow up or since Joe was busy put the blame on Joe.  The problem is that I didn't set a good expectation.  In my head I meant "If I have time, I'll call Joe."  You heard "Preston is going to call Joe and get this critical information for me.  I appreciate that because Preston can talk to Joe on a more technical level than I can."  Our expectations clearly were not aligned and our trust was broken over a simple thing.

What can we do better?

Expectations and commitments are a two way street.  If you're expecting something from someone, make it clear what you are expecting.  If you have a commitment to deliver, make sure you're delivering the right thing.

Here are some tips that I try to use to help me set correct expectations:

1. Be specific - "I'll find out what Joe thinks and get back to you by Wednesday"
2. Say it back - "Ok, so by Wednesday you'll find out what Joe thinks and send me an e-mail."
3. Ask a question if someone says they'll do something - "Are you going to get a spreadsheet from Joe?"
4. Communicate open and honestly - If you are having a problem "Joe won't respond", bring it up on Monday.  "Joe has been tied up in some critical support issues and probably won't get back to me until next week."
5. Keep track - Keep track of your commitments. Don't let the commitment date come and go with no action. 

Here's some interesting reading on Setting Expectations:
http://blog.clientheartbeat.com/customer-expectations/
http://worxsolution.com/what-four-year-olds-taught-me-about-success-of-a-team

Have Fun!

P

How to be a good huddler

How can you do a better job?  Be engaged in your daily huddle!

The daily huddle is, or should be, the life blood of your group and the foundation for all communications.  Don't take it for granted and don't give away the time.  From time to time the huddles I participate in tend to suffer from at least one of the following issues, and I include myself as a contributing guilty party.

• Lack of energy - people are reporting, but there is no energy
• Time bandits - people show up late or start problem solving or tell a really long story
• Uh, Umm, Well - people are not prepared and so can't give a report quickly
• Lack of attention - e-mailing or being otherwise engaged in something other than the huddle

Huddles should be quick (10-15 minutes), concise updates so that you can communicate what you're doing with your group and get help with any rocks you are facing.  

A few quick tips...

• Bring some GOOD NEWS!  - no matter how bad things are, they could be worse.  I'm sure that there is some bright spot in most days, even if it is that you are thankful that yesterday is over and today is another day.
• Come ON TIME - don't be late to your huddle.  
• Be PREPARED - be prepared with your GOOD NEWS and things to report
• Report QUICKLY - make your reports quickly and concisely.  Announce your rock and ask for help, but there's no need for details on the huddle
• You DON'T have to provide every single update on everything, just what you think is important.
• Pay ATTENTION - stand up, flip your keyboard over if you're on the phone, stay focused.  

Most of all, stay positive!  If your team is communicating, it's performing better.

Good quick reading:
http://www.gazellessystems.com/blog/bid/148238/The-Daily-Huddle-A-Key-Component-in-Mastering-the-Rockefeller-Habits
http://www.gazellessystems.com/blog/bid/113811/4-Steps-To-Keep-Your-Daily-Huddles-From-Becoming-A-Daily-Chore