I hope you had a huddle with your team last week and asked the question, “What did we learn from the marketplace this week?”. I did. Guess what happened? My team liked it. The meeting was for one business unit, our human resourcing product, which deploys recruiters and HR consultants to our clients. The question started a conversation. The conversation was not about me talking. The conversation was about staff working together and sharing. We learned a lot about the customers and prospects we talk to each week. However, the real benefit in this case was the team realization that they need to talk to do their jobs well. That the insights give them confidence, and with confidence they feel more in charge. We also stopped ourselves when we became aware of our internal focus, when we were not focusing on the impact of our thinking on the customer. It helped bring us back to our purpose.

I asked a customer that I coach to start doing the same activity. He agreed, but then admitted that rolling a new meeting format out was difficult. “We don’t talk about this sort of thing; we barely talk about the day to day…” in mid-sentence he stopped himself. “Wow, no wonder communication is always on our agenda.” The big aha? It is hard to talk about something strategic or something new if your meeting rhythms are out of whack (or non-existent).

I asked my good friend Tim, who runs a sales organization, how they gather intelligence from their marketplace. Tim said it best. He asks this question with each of his 27 staff. In one-on-ones. In team meetings. In annual kickoff sessions. But it is what they learn that enable him to ask each time. Tim does something with what he learns. Tim has changed and altered a sales process. Simplified the customization of his products. Taught his leaders to ask questions and listen to the answers. His organization is now market driven or Outside-In®!

Three simple things to do:

1. Bring sales and service staff together around the question. Once the fireworks subside there is tremendous learning that takes place.
2. Repeat the question in every internal meeting for three weeks to build the habit. Staff need to be certain it is not the leadership flavor of the month.
3. Shift your focus external to your constituents.

Most importantly, ask yourself the questions: What did you learn as leader about your marketplace this week? Do you see any trends? Identify any opportunities for staff development? See anything you want more information on?