Improve Teamwork and Productivity With a Morning Huddle

I recently wrote about a study that suggested the recession is killing productivity. While one of the so-called time-wasters mentioned in the study was "chatting with co-workers," a number of readers took issue with that activity's inclusion. They argued that chatting with fellow employees fostered community, camaraderie, and the sharing of information.

Reader Shannon Dillard shared a sort of formalized chatting strategy that I thought was brilliant in its simplicity: the morning huddle. She wrote,

One way to encourage creative networking, but keep it in a "controlled" setting with a positive feeling is to do what in our hospital we call morning huddles. This practice started in the patient care areas, but quickly was adopted by non-clinical departments in the hospital. Each morning at a specified time, members of the department meet for a 5-10 minute huddle. Someone is assigned to lead the huddle (not always the manager). Each member takes turns quickly talking about what they are working on, and any celebrations they may have. The celebrations can be either work or personally related. This allows for idea sharing and builds a sense of team which I find promotes productivity.

(image by ninjapoodles via Flickr, CC 2.0)