Most people consider daily huddles to be beneficial but there are still those who have their doubts. This tends to happen because people confuse huddles with meetings, and discuss certain things that shouldn’t be dealt with at that specific time.
Below are a few tips on how to improve daily huddles:
Be on time
Start the meeting at exactly the same time every day, even if the entire team isn’t assembled yet. That way whoever is late realizes how they’re wasting their teammates’ time and their own.
The huddle doesn’t necessarily have to take place at the beginning of the day, but it should be scheduled at a time that is convenient for all team members. If possible, go over what you did the previous day in your head a few minutes earlier, so that you’re ready to go when the huddle begins.
Stick to a few, concise topics
Remember to stick to the 3 topics that everyone in your company chooses to use in their huddles. They usually have to do with what happened between yesterday’s huddle and today’s, what’s going to happen for the next 24 hours, and what the current obstacles are.
As soon as someone goes off topic, starts to explain an issue in further detail, or even tries to start problem-solving, take it offline. Offer the person who’s stuck to help them out as soon as the huddle is over, or set another meeting for later. Otherwise you run the risk of lowering the team’s energy; people stop listening, get distracted, and communication stops flowing.
Keep it short, but sweet!
The huddle lasts 15 minutes or less, which means every second counts. Since it’s usually divided into 3 topics, try to spend 5 minutes on each one; depending on the size of the group it may take a little bit longer to go over top priorities, but less to go over the obstacles or pending tasks. Remember, if the person speaking goes into too much detail, take it offline!
Alternate speakers
A very common mistake is assuming that the manager should lead the huddle, when in reality the idea of this type of meeting is for all team members to be involved and go over what their daily objectives are.
Try to make it fun and motivating for everyone. Even if someone doesn’t have team accomplishments, ask them for positive news anyway, even if it’s something personal so that it boosts everyone else’s energy.
Avoid micromanaging
In connection to the previous point, this is another reason why the manager shouldn’t always be leading daily huddles. Avoid telling team members what to do and how to do it. The objective here is for each person to take responsibility for their pending tasks and if a certain assignment is too complicated to do alone, they can feel free to ask for another team member’s help.
Hopefully these tips will help to improve your team’s daily huddle. If possible, try to relax and keep it simple. Talk to your teammates and think up ideas that will make it more fun for everyone!
