If you look at your team during your morning huddle and they look like hostages, you have a problem. If the energy is low, eyes are rolling, or people are checking their watches waiting for you to stop talking so they can actually get to work—your huddle isn’t a productivity tool. It’s an expensive waste of time that is actively hurting your culture.
Today we are talking about the morning huddle. Now, if you’ve been following BR1 for a while, you know I am a huge believer in the daily huddle. I even discussed this previously: Wake up and win with morning huddles. I call this the "Wake Up and Win" strategy. When done right, it is the single best way to create alignment, safety, and momentum before the day even starts.
But here is the reality check: For a lot of companies, the morning huddle... sucks.
It’s boring. It’s negative. It’s disorganized. And instead of firing the team up, it drains their battery before they even answer their first email or get their truck loaded.
If your team isn’t excited to do them—or at least engaged while they are there—it’s not because "huddles don't work." It’s because you are running them wrong.
Let’s break down the reasons why your team hates your morning huddle, and exactly how to fix it so it becomes the most valuable fifteen minutes of the day.
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Reason #1: It's a "Beat Down" Session
The number one reason teams check out during huddles is that leadership uses that time to highlight failures.
If the first thing your team hears every morning is a list of what went wrong yesterday, who messed up a project, or why revenue is down, you are training them to dread the meeting. You are starting the day on defense.
Nobody wants to start their day getting yelled at or listening to a lecture. If your huddle feels like a trip to the principal’s office, don’t be surprised when your top performers stop listening.
The Fix:
You have to flip the script. The purpose of a huddle is momentum, not misery.
Start every single huddle with "Good News." It doesn’t have to be earth-shattering. It can be a client compliment, a project that finished under budget, or even just a personal win from someone on the team.
This isn’t about "fluff" or toxic positivity. It’s about psychology. When you start with a win, you raise the energy in the room. You remind the team that they are winning. Address the failures later, in private, or in a dedicated problem-solving meeting. But keep the morning huddle focused on the game plan and the wins.
Reason #2: It's a "Solving" Session Instead of a "Reporting" Session
We see this constantly in the Green Industry and operational businesses.
The team gathers up. Someone mentions a problem with a piece of equipment or a client issue. Suddenly, the Operations Manager and the Foreman start debating how to fix it. They go back and forth for twelve minutes discussing parts, logistics, and schedules.
Meanwhile, the other eight people in the huddle are standing there, staring at their boots, doing mental math on how behind schedule they are now.
A morning huddle is not the place to solve complex problems. It is the place to identify them.
The Fix:
Implement the "Parking Lot" rule immediately.
If an issue comes up that cannot be solved in thirty seconds or less, or if it doesn’t involve everyone standing in the circle, you "park it." You say, "Okay, that’s a blocker. Dave and Sarah, see me right after this huddle to solve it. Everyone else, moving on."
This shows your team that you respect their time. Nothing kills morale faster than forcing people to listen to a conversation that has nothing to do with them.
Reason #3: The "Monologue" Huddle
If you are the leader and you are doing 90% of the talking, it’s not a huddle. It’s a speech. And let’s be honest—your speeches aren’t that good.
When the leader just reads off a clipboard or barks orders, the team disengages. They become passive observers of their own job. They aren't taking ownership of the day; they are just waiting to be told what to do.
This creates a culture of dependency. If you have to tell everyone exactly what to do every morning, you don’t have a team; you have a collection of helpers.
The Fix:
Pass the torch. The huddle should be interactive.
Structure your agenda so that different people speak. Let the Safety Officer cover the safety tip. Let the Sales Manager give the revenue update. Let the Foremen give their own status reports.
Better yet, rotate who leads the huddle. Let a different employee run the meeting each week. This forces engagement, builds leadership skills in your staff, and proves that this meeting belongs to the team, not just the boss.
Reason #4: It Drags On Too Long
I don’t care how important your updates are—nobody wants to stand around for thirty minutes in the morning.
The human attention span is short. If your huddle drags on, energy drops. The "urgency" that you are trying to instill in your team completely evaporates if you spend the first hour of the day drinking coffee and talking in circles.
If you are in the service industry—landscaping, snow, construction—time is literally money. A twenty-minute huddle for a ten-person crew is over three hours of payroll gone before a single dollar of revenue is produced.
The Fix:
Stand up. Literally.
We call them "Stand-up Meetings" for a reason. If you let people sit in comfortable chairs, they get too comfortable. They lean back. They relax. The meeting expands to fill the time.
Make everyone stand up. It creates a natural sense of urgency. It keeps the energy physical. And keep it to 15 minutes max. Use a timer if you have to. When the buzzer goes off, the huddle is over. The team will appreciate the efficiency, and they will leave the huddle with a faster pace than when they entered. How you start the day is how you execute the day.
The Structure That Actually Works
So, if you want to turn this ship around, you need a structure that breeds excitement and clarity.
Here is the "Wake Up and Win" agenda we recommend at BR1. It’s four simple parts, and it should take less than 15 minutes:
- Good News (2 Minutes): Start with positive momentum. Shout-outs, wins, or client praise.
- The Numbers (3 Minutes): Where are we vs. the goal? Give them the scoreboard. People play harder when they know the score.
- The Plan & Blockers (5-8 Minutes): What are the top priorities for today? Does anyone have a "roadblock"? (Remember: Report the roadblock, don't solve it yet unless it’s very quick).
- The Launch (1 Minute): A safety tip, a core value reminder, or a final word of encouragement to send them out.
That’s it. Clean, fast, effective.
Why This Matters for Culture
You might be thinking, "Mike, it’s just a meeting. Does it really matter if it’s boring?"
Yes. It matters.
The way you start the day sets the standard for the rest of the day. If your morning huddle is sloppy, late, negative, and disorganized, you are telling your team that "sloppy, late, negative, and disorganized" is acceptable here.
But if your huddle is crisp, positive, on time, and focused on winning? You are programming that mindset into your team every single morning.
You are building a culture of execution.
And here is the other thing: High performers love efficient huddles. They love knowing the score. They love clear communication. They love not having their time wasted.
If you want to retain top talent, stop wasting their time with bad meetings.
BR1 Can Help!
If you are reading this and realizing that your leadership team needs help—whether that is putting together effective morning huddles or recruiting top-performers who know how to drive performance—that is exactly what we do at BR1.
We help companies in the Green Industry and beyond build stronger teams, through recruiting, employee retention, and stretching your entire team’s combined potential. If you want to stop guessing and start building a team that executes, contact us to start the conversation.
Until next time, keep building your stronger team!
