Who attends the daily huddle?

“And, a blue roller bag!”

I recently stopped at one of my favorite nearby grocery stores.

 As the cashier handed my little helper stickers that said Feelin' Snap Pea and You're Kale-ing Me Smalls, we heard cheers coming from the middle of the store. 

 “What's that?" I asked. 

“The daily huddle,” she told me. “It's so people can share awesome things they did that day.” 

 “Do you rotate who works the register so that everyone gets a chance to attend the huddle?” I asked.

“No, I never attend. It's for lead cashiers only.”

 “Never!?” I asked. 

 “I only attended once,” she continued," and that was on my first day so I could see what it was all about." 

 This daily huddle was an example of good intentions gone wrong.

 The huddle was meant to be motivating, empowering, and celebratory. 

 Instead, it ended up feeling exclusive and demotivating for those who weren't invited to attend, but who could hear the cheers and the conversation from the front of the store, where they were working at the register. 

 A couple of very small tweaks could solve this issue: 

• If the huddle was confidential in nature (it was not), it could be moved to the back of the store or to a private office or conference room.

• All team members could be invited to attend, using a rotating approach for who works the register, so there would be coverage in the front of the store.

While the intention of the huddle is positive, the impact is not quite as intended.

We can consider the same thing within our leadership and our teams, as well:

• Are our intentions and our impact aligned?

• Are our structures supporting our desired outcomes?

• Is the format enhancing or detracting from the thing we are trying to do?

Depending on what we uncover, we can make changes accordingly.

 This could be as simple as adjusting the time of the meeting to end 10 minutes early to allow transition time before the next one, or as big as rethinking the approach for the annual all-company onsite. 

 A few questions we might consider.

Do you have anything along the lines of a daily huddle?

If so, how do you structure it?