Best Practice from Best Company: Alston & Bird

Engaging Employees with a Workplace Practice from the Hospitality Industry

Morning round-ups have been a mainstay practice in the hospitality industry for years.  Before the start of a shift, managers will gather employees for a quick meeting to review team goals and progress toward them, share stories that highlight successes, update employees on new procedures or reiterate service standards, and informally collect employee feedback, questions and concerns.

Round-ups are the perfect vehicle for communicating with and listening to employees who don’t spend their days at computers with access to email and intranet and other tools that have become central to employee communications.

Long time Best Company to Work For and Atlanta law firm, Alston + Bird, decided to borrow this practice when creating daily round-ups for each administrative department at the firm.  These ten –minute dialogues invite employees to set the game plan for the day and address any issues that might prevent them from providing top notch service to clients.  This time is often used to review service procedures, or gather feedback on existing procedures and ideas for new ones.  

Here are 3 reasons why this practice works for Alston + Bird:

1. It keeps the emphasis on the main purpose of the business: to offer exceptional service to clients.
2. It invites real time two-way communication; ideas are given and ideas are received.
3. It generates camaraderie and a sense of shared purpose.  Even if the information could be communicated through an email, it is processed differently when presented communally.

What great practices has your company borrowed from another industry?  What benefits do you see from morning round-ups at your company?

Leslie Caccamese