Given the profusion of books in the business management market–a quick Amazon search turns up over 90,000 titles–cranked out by a procession of indistinguishable CEOs and consultants trumpeting the same banal maxims about “vision” and “disruption,” it’s not merely understandable but necessary to regard yet another entry in this saturated field with a jaundiced eye. And at first glance, INTELLIGENT HUDDLES (laden with the unwieldy subtitle “How to Launch and Facilitate Meaningful Daily Huddles to Improve Team Communication, Strengthen Culture, and Reduce Employee Turnover”) looks to be cut from the same voluminous cloth as its 90,000-plus predecessors. Beneath its faintly huckster-y exterior, though, is an unexpectedly insightful and convincing work.
What immediately sets the book apart from other management guides is its author. Andrea Hemmer is a far cry from the typical C-suite executive, as the co-owner of Lunatic Fringe, a hair salon in Boise, Idaho. The notion of a hairstylist and small business owner dispensing business advice to leaders of huge corporations may raise a skeptical eyebrow, but it’s a perspective this Fortune 500-obsessed field too often overlooks. As such, INTELLIGENT HUDDLES should be of particular interest to owners and managers of smaller businesses, who stand to benefit most from Hemmer’s guidance. While a hair salon may seem an unlikely incubator of business wisdom, it’s an operation that requires skillful teamwork and communication in a chaotic, unpredictable environment, and anyone able to forge success out of such rocky terrain merits careful attention.
The Big Idea at the heart of INTELLIGENT HUDDLES is the daily huddle (also known as a daily scrum or stand-up), a brief meeting held at the start of the workday that allows the business employees and leaders to sync up, share updates, and bond. Properly implemented, huddles, the author asserts, can produce engaged, motivated teammates, a strong company culture, and a productive, successful business. The huddle is hardly a novel concept, and most white-collar employees have probably sat through their share in the decade or so since they became trendy. Anyone familiar with the practice, however, knows that they can often be an unhelpful waste of a morning that might be better spent chatting around the coffee maker.
Hemmer champions the daily huddle from a novel angle–neuroscience–drawing on recent research into how the different parts of the brain, as well as neuron-rich regions of the body like the heart and gut, affect and are affected by social communication. The author makes a compelling case for a more effective daily huddle that is informed by an understanding of the brain and the neurochemicals that influence our social interactions. Knowing, for instance, that negative interactions can trigger the release of cortisol–the “stress hormone”–and shut down the flow of communication, while the neurochemical oxytocin stimulates empathy and trust, leaders can use the huddle as a means of strengthening bonds among teams by up-regulating oxytocin and down-regulating cortisol.
Admittedly, these ideas, which comprise the concept of “Conversational Intelligence,” or C-IQ, fairly reek of pseudoscience and marketing woo woo. The heart is one of the body’s six “brains” of communication? And generates a three-foot-radius electromagnetic field that ignites emotional fireworks between people standing in close proximity to each other? It all sounds a bit dubious. Nonetheless, Hemmer backs up her argument with links to credible sources and legitimate research. INTELLIGENT HUDDLES benefits from the author’s lucid, pragmatic approach to her material, developing its case with a methodical explanation of its underlying principles, articulating both potential benefits and common mistakes, and providing a systematic, detailed plan for developing a successful huddle. Like most books in this field, it promises a great deal–but backs up those promises with a thoroughly outlined, actionable strategy.
INTELLIGENT HUDDLES makes a bold and unconventional case for the lowly (and oft-maligned) daily huddle, combined with principles of neuroscience, as a transformative business tool. Supported by credible science and bolstered by clear, persuasive writing and a solidly-constructed argument, this is a business management book that brings modern and practical insights to the conference room table.
~Edward Sung for IndieReader