The Power of Daily Team Huddles to Build Workplace Culture

Jun 6, 2026

I am a huge fan of daily team huddles – not to be confused with team cuddles, which one audience member thought I said!

Every one of my clients who has stuck to daily huddles has raved about the impact they have had on their workplace culture. Daily huddles serve as a check-in point, set the tone for the day, reduce the number of emails exchanged, and help create a sense of belonging.

(This post is an excerpt from Michael’s raved about leadership book, “Small Moments, Big Outcomes: How Leaders Create Cultures That Fuel Extraordinary Results.”)

 

No One Wants to Go to Another Meeting! 

 

Now, no one wants to go to another meeting, which is why it’s important to stick to the basics.

• No chairs
• Short and sweet (typically between 5-10 minutes)
• Consistent agenda
• Same time, same place

Nurses Next Door holds 7-minute huddles every day at 10:54 am, where they review stats, goals, and issues. They hold another huddle in the afternoon to review how the day went. The unusual start time and 7-minute length signals that they have these huddles down to a fine art. They also have a huddle room with a reporting board where everyone can review priorities, key stats, goals, and issues.

The IT company, Citizant, holds daily huddles where everyone presents their top priority for the day in 8-15 seconds.

Some Marriot Hotels hold daily huddles where they identify one theme for the day – something that may need extra focus or a recommitment. The huddles always end with the question, “What tools or support do you need to get your work done more effectively?”

While not a traditional huddle in the “stand up” sense, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts are legendary for their Flitch Meetings. Every morning VPs brainstorm how to fix any customer experience stumbles from the previous day and look at how they can wow any returning or VIP guests.

And don’t think these huddles only apply to small teams.

Menlo Innovations promotes what they have coined a “one team culture.” To strengthen their culture, they hold daily 15-minute stand-up meetings at 10:00 a.m. with all 50 employees. During the stand-up meeting everyone shares: what they are working on; a challenge they may be experiencing; and any social news. To reinforce their culture where everyone works in pairs, anyone speaking in the stand-up meeting must hold or touch their most important cultural artifact – a plastic Viking helmet (the two horns of the Viking helmet represent the importance of working in pairs). If a larger team is reporting on a project, then just one person will speak for the group, but everyone must touch the Viking helmet.

The company 1-800 Got Junk? holds daily operational and motivational huddles with up to 200 employees. Their 7-minute huddles are held in a room specifically designed for huddles and led on a rotating basis by trained “huddle masters.” Each huddle begins with a good news item, followed by three critical operational numbers, a review of one department’s activities, a recommendation for one thing the company could do better, then ending with a positive shoutout to one employee.

 

If You Can’t Do a Daily Team Huddle, Try This!

 

Daily Huddles too daunting? Try a midweek Humpday Huddle.

If you find committing to a daily huddle is too daunting, try a midweek Humpday Huddle on Wednesdays – an energizing 15-minute huddle to help everyone get over the midweek hump.

Several companies I’ve worked with also have Friday afternoon huddles, where they celebrate any new employees in a fun ritual and celebrate the past week as a way of ensuring everyone leaves on a high note.

If you are stuck for how to get started with a huddle agenda, here are two generic frameworks to test drive.

Verne Harnish, author of the book, Scaling Up, suggests this huddle format.

1. What’s up? Each person has 30 seconds to offer an overview of their day ahead, noting any irregularities or special things they are working on.
2. Review key daily metrics.
3. Where is anyone stuck? This isn’t for brainstorming right now, or else it will turn into a full-fledged meeting, but merely flagging it for resolution later.

I’ve used another generic framework that works well for smaller-sized teams.

1. Everyone shares the number one best thing that happened yesterday.
2. What’s different/unusual about today that people need to know?
3. What do we need to remember to do today?
4. What do we need to remember to stop doing today?
5. Share any social news (birthdays etc.).
6. Share an employee shout out.

I’d love to hear your thoughts! Do you do daily huddles? What works and what doesn’t work?  What’s holding you back from doing team huddles?

For more ideas to help you ramp up your workplace culture, hop on over to 16 Ways to Jump Start Your Workplace Culture. 

 

Known as “The Workplace Energizer!” Michael Kerr is a Canadian Hall of Fame keynote speaker on workplace culture, workplace culture leadership, and humor in the workplace. Michael Kerr is the author of nine books, including Small Moments, Big Outcomes: How Leaders Create Cultures That Fuel Extraordinary Results. Michael is known as one of the most entertaining, humorous, and insightful keynote speakers on workplace culture and leadership in Canada.

“By far, Michael Kerr was the best speaker we ever had.”  Rod Smith, VP Business Development, Century Vallen