We’ve covered the trade partner weekly tactical and the daily afternoon foreman huddle. Now we’re going to talk about how we communicate the plan to all the workers on site: the daily morning worker huddle. If you’ve done the afternoon foreman huddle from the last episode, you should be 100% ready for this.
Short answer: The morning worker huddle brings everyone on site into one group for five to 10 minutes to hear the day plan. Start positive, ask for feedback, cover the biggest safety focus, permits, deliveries, a two-minute training, the plan, and the weather, then close with a rally cry. It completes the cycle: appoint a leader, gather information, make a plan, communicate the plan.
Why Is the Worker Huddle Like Your Immune System?
This meeting is a lot like your immune system. It can either keep you safe or turn on you. If you’re a nice person who cares about workers, it will protect you, keep your project clean, safe, and organized, and get you the results you want. If you’re a jerk who doesn’t care about people, they’ll see it, and it will start to attack you, like an autoimmune response.
In The NeverEnding Story, Atreyu goes through the oracles, and one of the wise characters says the bravest men and women struggle at the one where they face who they really are. Some run screaming. I’m asking you to look in that mirror. If you’re not a caring, loving person who can connect with workers, which you should be to be a leader, have somebody else run this meeting.
Who Attends and What Do You Need?
It’s in the morning, about five or 10 minutes, and the superintendents, field engineers, foremen, and all the workers on the project attend in one big huddle. You need a huddle board and a megaphone or karaoke machine. Play music until everyone gets there, open with something fun, and do a stretch and flex. If people are giggling in the back, have an assistant superintendent walk around and help them pay attention and get off their phones. See The Morning Worker Huddle: Creating One Team on Your Project Site.
| Agenda item | What it sounds like |
|---|---|
| Shout-outs | Good morning, everyone. A shout-out to crew number such-and-such or this company over here. |
| Feedback | Are the bathrooms okay? The lunchroom? Is everything safe enough? What do you need? We care about you. |
| Safety focus | Watch out for this. There’s a crane on the south, and we’re flagging the area off. We’ve opened the north stairwell. |
| Permits | This crew has a dig permit for underground work. Don’t start until we sign you off. This crew is doing hot work on level three with fire watch. Please stay out of those areas. |
| Deliveries | These are today’s deliveries and where they go, per this map. |
| Training | Our two minutes of training today |
| Plan and weather | The general plan for the day and the weather |
| Rally cry | Close it out |
What if Nobody Gives Feedback?
You might have 15 days, or even 15 weeks, of silence. It doesn’t matter. Ask them. This isn’t a transactional relationship. It’s about doing the right thing. If you ask every day, no one will ever be able to say you didn’t ask what you could do for them. That’s a very powerful thing.
If you get something silly, like why won’t my company pay me more, or why isn’t there sweetener at the water stations, answer the question they should have asked, respectfully, and make sure they get what they need. Then tie the safety focus to it: we care about you, so the next thing we’re going to talk about is safety. Have them really hear how much you care. The reason we have permits is so no one is put in danger on this project.
Why Are We So Strict About Deliveries?
For deliveries, look at your crane, forklift, and hoist operators and say, I want these to end up where this map shows. If any rigger tells you to go somewhere different, call and check in, because I don’t want to disrespect workers by asking them to move this stuff three, four, or five times.
One of my favorite moments: someone asked, why are you so mean about deliveries? I said, can somebody come up here? Here’s my wallet with a couple hundred dollars cash. Would it be right for you to steal it? No, not at all. Well, if the electrician has their people lined up at the hoist, ready for their delivery, and an unscheduled delivery takes the spot, those five or six people wait. You’ve just stolen a couple hundred dollars from their company, their time, and their wages. Is that right? No. So when deliveries come unscheduled, we reroute them to a queuing area because we care, because we respect people, and because you deserve better. Then the light bulbs go off.
Why Does the Worker Huddle Matter to Last Planner?
Only about 50% of the information, and that’s optimistic, gets transferred from you through the foremen to the workers. The worker huddle corrects that. You create a social group and common standards, everyone sees, knows, and acts as a group, foremen can’t dissent from how the project is run, and everyone knows you care.
It doesn’t matter what your plan is until the trades are bought in. It doesn’t matter if they’re bought in until you’re ready to execute daily. And to execute daily, everyone has to know what they’re doing. In every leadership training, I teach the same steps:
| Leadership step | Last Planner meeting |
|---|---|
| 1. Appoint a leader | Strategic planning and procurement meeting: a leadership group steering the overall project |
| 2. Gather information | Trade partner weekly tactical: information and buy-in |
| 3. Make a plan | Afternoon foreman huddle: the day plan |
| 4. Communicate the plan | Morning worker huddle: the plan to everyone |
It’s a seamless process if you follow the key steps and show up with passion and enthusiasm. I just recorded 20 videos to use as kickoffs for these meetings that will be posted on YouTube, so people can say, yes, this is the kickoff, this is what we’re doing. Read Correcting Bad Information, Part 3: Are Worker Huddles Pointless?.
I hope you had a great July 4th. When I was younger, working as a concrete finisher, form setter, and equipment operator, going on vacation with the cash you earned felt great. A listener wrote that his field engineers were jacked about the Elevate hard hat stickers and are proudly representing the brand. People keep asking for shirts, and I’ve almost got Katie talked into it.
So here is the challenge. Run tomorrow’s worker huddle with the agenda above, and ask for feedback even if nobody answers. Keep asking every day.
Bottom line: Communicate the plan to everyone, every morning, and show them you care.
If your project needs superintendent coaching, project support, or leadership development, Elevate Construction can help your field teams stabilize, schedule, and flow.
On we go.
Takt and Last Planner Implementation series:
Previous: The Afternoon Foreman Huddle
Next: The Crew Preparation Huddle
FAQ
What is the daily morning worker huddle?
A five- to 10-minute huddle each morning where the superintendents, field engineers, foremen, and all workers on site come together in one big social group and the day plan from the afternoon foreman huddle is communicated to everyone.
What is the agenda for a morning worker huddle?
Music until everyone arrives, something fun, stretch and flex, shout-outs, a request for feedback, the biggest safety focus, permits, deliveries and where they go, a two-minute training, the general plan and weather, and a rally cry.
Why have a worker huddle if foremen already know the plan?
Only about 50% of information, an optimistic number, gets transferred from you through foremen to workers. The worker huddle corrects that, creates one social group and common standards, and shows workers you care.
People Also Read:
Lean Onboarding Series – Worker Huddles
Last Planner in Construction: Worker Huddle
The Circle of Trust
Scrum in Team Huddles
If you want to learn more we have:
-Takt Virtual Training: (Takt Virtual Training)
-Check out our YouTube channel for more info: (Elevate Construction on YouTube)
-Listen to the Elevate Construction podcast: (Elevate Construction Podcast)
-Check out our training programs and certifications: (Training Programs and Certifications)
-The Takt Book: (The Takt Book on Amazon)
Discover Jason’s Expertise:
Meet Jason Schroeder, the driving force behind Elevate Construction. As the company’s Founder and COO, he’s dedicated to taking construction to new heights. With a wealth of industry experience, he’s crafted the Field Engineer Boot Camp and Superintendent Boot Camp – intensive training programs engineered to cultivate top-tier leaders capable of steering their teams towards success. Jason’s vision? To expand his training initiatives across the nation, empowering construction firms to soar to unprecedented levels of excellence.