I was recently introduced to The Rockefeller Habits (Verne Harnish, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits, Select Books) and thought you might find them valuable too.

They are a model for achieving real and positive change, for positioning your business to take advantage of emerging opportunities as the economy improves, and for achieving profitable growth. The clients that I have been working with, who are using the habits, have seen increased effectiveness and productivity.

The habits are John D. Rockefeller’s management and leadership principles. Harnish gleaned them from Ron Chenoa’s biography of Rockefeller’s, The Titan. The 3 key principles are: Priorities, Data and Rhythm:

• Priorities. Growth requires an alignment within the organization on goals and priorities. Does your organization have a large, long-term goal or vision? What are your top 5 short-term goals or priorities for the year and the next quarter ? Is the number 1 priority understood through the organization? Does everyone in the organization have their own 5 priorities that align with the organization’s priorities?
• Data. It is important to have metrics that cover an extended period of time as well as metrics that provide a short-term focus on an aspect of the business or someone’s job. Do you have data on a daily and weekly basis to provide insight into how the organization is running and what is happening in the marketplace? What real-time feedback do you provide as to how your organization or team is performing consistent to your priorities? Does everyone in the organization have at least one key daily or weekly metric driving his or her performance?
• Rhythm. “Being in a groove” with the business requires a well-organized set of daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual meetings keeping everyone aligned and accountable. The agenda for each provides the balance between the short and long term. While many businesses leaders may feel that they are spending too much time in meetings, in fact, they may be spending too much time in ineffectual meetings.

Rockefeller attributes his success, in part, to meeting daily with key team members to discuss the priorities they were working on, the daily metrics for those priorities, and, importantly, where they were stuck. These daily meetings can be likened to huddles or, as I call them, “stand-up” meetings, because they are quick and focused. A sit-down meeting has a different culture.

Weekly meetings have a different purpose and therefore a different agenda. They are issue-oriented, and their success is depended upon the daily meeting. The monthly meetings are educational; and quarterly and annual meetings are about strategy.

As these habits begin to bear positive results for your organization, a parallel growth of the organization’s leadership is also needed. The role of a leader is to take the organization into the future. They will have to predict, delegate and teach, and perhaps the most important, to envision and speak about where you are headed.