“The Daily Huddle at my Kenridge branch this morning,” writes Amy Knoetze, a Medical Aesthetics Therapist at Pulse Dermatology and Laser, in a post with a picture of her and her team on their Facebook business page.
“Every morning I meet with each amazing member of my team, either via Zoom or in the office, and we go through each patient journey that is booked in for the day. We continuously strive to tweak and tailor each program to suit each patient’s individual needs. All programs are tailored to ensure the best possible results and patient support on their journey. “
Having daily huddles like Amy Knoetze does with her team is a great way to get everyone on the same page. It is short but very effective. It’s a good time to go over any questions or concerns that may have come up previously or anticipated to happen during the course of the day’s work.
In this article, we explain what a daily huddle is and how to conduct one effectively so that your team will leave feeling empowered for the task ahead.
Key Takeaways
- A daily huddle is held at the start of each day.It’s a quick meeting where team members can catch up on outstanding chores and make plans for the day.
- A huddle’s main purpose is to encourage team members to communicate and collaborate, allowing them to stay organised and develop accountability.
- Questions asked during daily huddles help in problem identification and resolution. However, care should be taken so that teams will not be stuck at the problem identification stage only but also in providing solutions that help the team move forward.
- Tips for running daily huddles include encouraging your team members to attend the meeting daily to increase its effectiveness; giving members time to ask questions and share personal stories and challenges; and providing honest and quality feedback.
- After a daily huddle, team members should leave empowered and excited that they will have a great day.
What is a Daily Huddle?
A daily huddle is a short meeting which is used to quickly catch up on the day’s tasks. It is also used as a way to create momentum and establish accountability.
A huddle is also known as a daily stand-up meeting. It is short and less formal.
It can be used in any size company or team, as long as it has defined roles and responsibilities. Daily huddles also help people to work together as a group. Teams discuss problems and come up with ideas to solve them. Some teams may get stuck when discussing problems. Leaders may be tempted to scold or reprimand employees about the issues and challenges facing the team. However, daily huddles aren’t meant for that. Care should be taken to avoid the blame game. “Talking about what happened should be about what we should do and should not be about blaming. It should be about one great learning that can be turned into a sustainable improvement,” says Pieter Hartog, a LEAN advocate.
In this type of meeting, members of a team commit to making changes and hold each other accountable for taking action. In other words, it fosters collaboration and communication by allowing people to brainstorm ideas together.
Research shows that the very best time to run a daily huddle is first thing in the morning. And keeping it running for no more than 15 minutes adds to its effectiveness. Daily huddles help team members get the resources they need to complete each day’s tasks without a huge time commitment.
What Questions Should You Ask In A Daily Huddle?
“A daily meeting with the team is not a passive download of information from the leader – it is a two way conversation reviewing what is important to the team (KPI’s) and discussing.” Paul Dunlop, principal consultant at Dunlop consultants.
The following questions can be used to initiate conversations and communication between leaders and members of the team during daily huddles.
- What did you accomplish yesterday?
- What are your plans for today?
- Was there a strategy?
- What were our results in terms of sticking to the plan?
- What are the challenges?
- Is there anything we can do to improve things?
How to Run a Daily Huddle
It is important to make huddles a daily routine so as to instill commitment in members of your team and to increase their effectiveness. The following tips can guide you in running a daily huddle.
- Talk about the tasks that were completed the day before. And provide feedback to the team so they can understand what went well and what didn’t.
- Thereafter, allow every team member to share what their top priority will be for the day.
- The next step is to share any company-wide events that have taken place so as to keep the team updated.
- Take questions from employees to help them find solutions to any challenges or difficulties they may be encountering. Issues that cannot be resolved immediately, should be adjourned for another day so as to save time for other employees.
- It’s also an avenue to let employees share something about their personal experiences so as to bond with them. This is why the meeting is informal: it allows for open and honest conversations.
- Document all resolutions reached.
- The meeting ends with everyone saying their goodbyes after accomplishing the task for the day.
The Professional Leadership Institute offers a course module on Business Meetings & Communication – with a free preview.
How Should Your Team Feel?
It is important that your meeting ends on a high note. This is to fuel employees or members of your team with the thought of having a positive day. “If someone leaves a meeting I’m running and doesn’t feel encouraged or fired up, I’ve failed.” says Trevor Throness, an expert at running effective meetings and Lead Instructor in the ” Business Meetings and Communication” course. Members of your team should leave feeling:
- Empowered.
- Pumped up about the tasks for the day.
- Feeling of having a great day.
- In alignment with set goals and objectives.
- The start of a positive day.
According to Throness, here are some ways of accomplishing that.
- Ask for wins. What do we have to celebrate?
- Thank people for what they’re doing
- Tell an inspirational story
- Recognize someone for living out a core value
- Give participants a chance to say what they’re grateful for
- Give participants a chance to thank their co-workers.
Why do organisations hold daily huddles? Meetings are essential for every organisation. They help to share progress, discuss problems, set goals and objectives, create accountability and assign tasks to team members. If you need help in getting better at conducting effective meetings, this meetings and communication course will help you achieve that in little time.
