3 Reasons to Huddle Up: Monday Morning Management Tip
January 12, 2009 by Phil Gerbyshak
Filed under Business
For the past 3 years, my team and my peers teams along with our manager, have gotten together for a 15 minute huddle to talk about what’s going on with our respective teams. It starts with one manager sharing what projects being worked on, his or her personal time off, and anyone who is off on the team for that day, then another manager shares, then another manager shares, then associates share, and then we go back to clarify anything and take questions.
These are the most powerful 15 minutes of our week for a number of reasons. I’ll share the top 3 below.
-
More communication – If there are offices opening, closing or expanding, if there’s a new version of a product going out, or known issues are being worked on, and any bigger issues we might get questions about, we learn about it sometimes for the first time during these meetings.
-
More connection – Every person from 4 different departments get together and we all see each other. We use each other’s names, and we let everyone talk about what they are working on. We give the person talking our full attention. Anyone on a phone call is asked to put their caller on hold or call them back after the meeting, and everyone listens intently to whomever is sharing.
-
More timely rewards and recognition – This is the time we celebrate each others’ successes. If anyone gets an award, or a super awesome email, we share it during this time in front of the entire team. The award is read aloud, and the manager gives it to the associate, along with a smile and a firm handshake. It gives the rest of the team a chance to congratulate their peers for a job well done as well.
What ways can you share to make 15 minutes deliver a week’s worth of impact?
15 minutes left photo credit to cogdogblog
I like the idea of keeping it short but you also have to make a point and make it relevant!
We use to do that when I was at a different department. We would go over the tasks for the day and keep everyone abreast of what was going on. It was great but that was then …
These 15 minute huddles are an excellent way of accomplishing a overrun of important information for the day. Keep it seperate and keep topics that require greater discussion, as well as meeting that you can have one on one with individual for longer meeting formats.
i have found these short meeting to be effective for overview of daily routines and responsibilities.
Myself and my management team just started doing this last week. I’ve learned more about what the other people do in that time than in the past 6 months of working in this area.
I also find it helps me focus on what I plan to do for the day.
You might ask us readers if we have additional pointers for huddles.
For example, when I lead a division, 7-person groups in it had weekly huddles & one part was that anyone in the group could ask for post-meeting help from another person in the group (10-minutes) on a specific problem or opportunity
Phil: Your example sound terrific to me. On quite a different note, I have the privilege as a consultant, of facilitating (with little input from me) a regular learning session focusing on competencies in collaboration. The six members bring successes in client collaboration–and analyze what can be learned from them. And they also openly bring failures and gain a terrific amount of constructive input from others in the session. It’s been going on for more than year on a once-a-month basis. The fact that attendance is never an issue is an obvious statement of value. But individuals regularly talk to me privately about their learning–and push me as well. They also periodically complain to me if they happen not to get the focus they want. I think that open complaint can often be a characteristic of effective communication.
In my mind, there’s not much better than authentic team learning.
Great suggestion. Another positive of the fifteen minute huddle may be in power and influence. You gain, as a leader, referent power when you connect with individuals at that level. That will serve you, in the long run, as a leader.
I think short forums to share the air work great.
Those are the keys – short and share.