Recently, a senior leader asked me to provide feedback on their frontline huddles. At first, I felt honored by the request—but also challenged. What exactly did they expect from their huddles? Were the huddles intended simply as a review of metrics, or were they meant to shape specific behaviors and reinforce organizational habits? Understanding the purpose of huddles is critical because their effectiveness is not measured by attendance alone—it is measured by the behaviors they cultivate and the outcomes they drive.
In my experience, organizations often struggle with frontline huddles not because teams fail to show up, but because the desired behaviors of leaders and participants are unclear or inconsistent. Without clarity, huddles risk becoming routine reporting sessions, disconnected from improvement, accountability, and problem-solving.
Huddles are more than meetings. They are behavioral levers that influence how teams think, act, and collaborate. A well-designed huddle system reinforces desired behaviors such as:
By clearly defining these behaviors, organizations can measure the gap between actual and desired behaviors and take deliberate actions to close it.
Measuring huddle performance through metrics like attendance or number of issues discussed only scratches the surface. To truly understand effectiveness, we need to observe and assess behaviors—both of the team and the leader facilitating the huddle.
One approach I have used extensively is a behavioral assessment tool within the Daily Engagement System (DES). This tool identifies expected behaviors, tracks their occurrence, and highlights gaps that limit huddle effectiveness.
The first step is to articulate what “success” looks like in a huddle. For example:
Leader Behaviors:
Team Behaviors:
Clearly defining these behaviors sets the foundation for observation and measurement.
Observation must be systematic and consistent. Ideally, an observer records behaviors during multiple huddles to identify patterns rather than isolated events. Key questions include:
In my experience, observing even one huddle can reveal insights about the rhythm, engagement, and focus of the team. Over time, repeated observation builds a dataset that identifies both strengths and gaps.
Once desired and actual behaviors are documented, we can quantify the gap. For example:
Quantifying these gaps allows leaders to target improvements intentionally, rather than assuming the huddle is functioning effectively.
Behavioral gaps can be addressed through structured experiments. Using a Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) approach:
Over time, these small tests of change build capability and reinforce a culture of continuous improvement within huddles.
Once behavioral improvements are observed, sustaining them requires leader standard work and structured reinforcement. Leaders must:
Teams, in turn, internalize the behaviors, making effective huddles self-sustaining rather than leader-dependent.
At a mid-sized manufacturing plant, I applied this approach to the frontline huddles. Initially, huddles were conducted faithfully, but issues persisted—production delays, quality defects, and reactive decision-making were common.
By using a behavioral assessment tool:
Within six weeks, observable improvements included:
The result was measurable performance improvement and increased engagement. Huddles became a critical vehicle for sustaining continuous improvement rather than a ritualized reporting session.
In a hospital setting, nurse managers and department heads conducted daily patient flow huddles. Metrics were reviewed, but bottlenecks persisted, and staff were disengaged.
By defining desired behaviors—such as collaborative problem-solving, linking issues to patient outcomes, and escalating challenges appropriately—we:
Within four months, huddle effectiveness improved dramatically:
Behavioral assessment made the difference—it highlighted where huddles were not influencing the desired actions and provided a path to measurable improvement.
Daily huddles are powerful mechanisms for driving continuous improvement—but only if they are behaviorally intentional. Observing, measuring, and closing gaps in behaviors ensures that huddles move beyond data review to engaged problem-solving, learning, and alignment.
Behavioral assessment transforms huddles into a lever for operational excellence. It allows leaders to focus on coaching and capability building, rather than assuming huddles are effective by default. When executed properly, huddles become a living system, reinforcing the organization’s culture, aligning daily work to goals, and embedding continuous improvement into the DNA of the organization.
By systematically identifying behavioral gaps, testing changes, and reinforcing leader and team behaviors, organizations create huddles that not only monitor performance but actively drive improvement. This is how frontline engagement becomes both measurable and sustainable, ultimately strengthening the system as a whole.