Time required
Approximately 15-30 minutes, depending on the group size
Instructions
This activity may help save time spent in regular team meetings, as it can be scheduled more frequently, but much shorter in duration and more focused on tactical issues. It can also help:
- Foster positive workplace culture
- Identify potential issues early
- Identify and remove health and safety risks for employees, clients or customers
- Increase sense of self-responsibility in employees
- Increase employee engagement
- Prepare the team to be better at responding in an emergency
- Develop instant/timely communication skills
- Provide an automatic triage of team priorities for the day
The group should consist of those who work together or whose work is dependent on each other. For groups larger than 20 people, consider breaking the group into smaller teams of about 10 members each. Bring the group together daily or weekly for a team huddle to discuss successes and challenges.
If possible, participants in this activity should be standing rather than sitting. If you are facilitating this virtually, explain how people go into a breakout room. Encourage them to stand in front of the camera to more closely simulate the team huddle experience. This activity is best conducted at the beginning of the day or shift. For 24-7 organizations, you can do this as a way of building shift continuity, and connecting the outgoing and incoming shifts though sharing of successes.
No meeting minutes need be taken, but the facilitator can use a flip chart or screen to record and display action items. If you think it will improve team comfort, you can offer to go first.
Suggested wording
I’d like everyone to stand up (if you’re able to) for this activity. You’re going to take turns sharing an example of at least one success you’ve had in the past week. You’ll talk about that success in relation to what has been working well for you (it can be technology, flexibility, co-worker support, new strategies, etc.), and in the second round, you’ll share a challenge you’re facing or a need for information or assistance. For example, in round one, you might share that you met a tight deadline because a co-worker shared a template that made it easier for you to do repetitive work.
In round 2, you might share that you are still unclear about how to change images on a PowerPoint slide. Once you share a challenge or ask for information, anyone in the group can provide advice or offer their help.
Are there any questions about what you are going to do?
[Field any questions.]
Round 1: Name one success you’ve had at work and what helped you achieve that.
[Give participants 4 minutes to answer these questions in their groups.]
Round 2: You will each share a challenge you’ve experienced or ask for help or advice. The rest of the group can offer a suggestion if they have one. Each person should take no more than 2 minutes for the question and the answer. Of course, if the answers are of interest to the person who is asking, they can follow up after the huddle for more information.
[After 10 minutes.]
The point of the huddle is that it is no more than 15 minutes a day, making it a quick and easy way to check in with each other on a regular basis. For larger teams, you might want to rotate who is in which huddle so that it’s small enough to be efficient, but everybody gets exposure to everybody else over time. In addition to leveraging the wisdom of the team, this activity can increase team cohesion through celebrating successes and addressing challenges together.
Instructions
The facilitator can look out for the successes and lessons learned, and highlight them with leadership. You may also want to consider some additional strategies:
- If someone has not participated in a few days, encourage them to do so.
- Ask the team to report on positive feedback received from clients, patients, or customers.
- If one individual or question requires more time than was planned for, end the huddle on time and then pick up where you left off the next day/week, or meet with the individual privately. The huddle should be a continual, quick process.
- Depending on the team or organization, the facilitator may want to end the meeting with notes on key priorities for the day.
Find more activities like this at Team building activities.