How to Make Team Huddles More Engaging

Have your team huddles become stale? Disengaging? Even boring?

Then it’s time to switch things up! As our Editor – Megan Jones – found out when she spoke to contact centre experts Clare Santos, Emily Simmons, Jessica Ham, Marco Jetmir Ndrecaj, and Vinay Parmar.

So, without further ado, here’s how to turn every huddle into a meaningful and valuable opportunity to connect with your team…

Keep Your Team Huddles Short and Purposeful

You first need to be clear about the purpose of the huddle, so it doesn’t just become a tick-box exercise to stand around for 15 minutes at 10am every day!

It can really help to have a simple agenda on a whiteboard too, to make it visual for everyone to see and reduce the opportunity for time-wasting.

“When I've done team huddles in the past, we’d typically have a whiteboard with a really simple structure, focusing on what’s really going to help us function more effectively as a team, including what happened, what's happening today, and where we need to go next.

This really helps to keep it short and sharp – 15 minutes only! After all, it’s a huddle, not a team meeting!” – Vinay Parmar, Managing Director at Customer Whisperers Limited

Be sure to publish the agenda in advance too, so people know what to expect and have a chance to prepare if they need to.

Let Your Agents Take It in Turns to Lead the Huddle

Don’t always be the one to host the team huddle either! Let your agents have a turn too!

This is a fantastic opportunity for personal development, encouraging more team involvement, as well as fostering empathy, and helping others understand what it really takes to facilitate a successful session.

Even more so for newer team members, as leading a huddle can build early confidence and spark leadership growth.

“I’ve always preferred rotating who chairs the huddle. This is because, if it’s always the manager, it can feel one-sided. Inviting volunteers to take the lead varies the voice and the dialogue, gives team members responsibility, and encourages engagement.

It often leads to a shift in perspective from individuals too, because if you've run a huddle, you’re more likely to be supportive of the chair when you’ve experienced – first-hand – the challenges of getting buy-in and filling awkward silences.” – Jessica Ham, an experienced contact centre leader and receiver of the UKCCF Gold Award for Head of Contact Centre

Make sure you stick to an agreed agenda, though – for consistency, as well as to give your agents the confidence and support they need to run the huddle well.

“In my previous role, I'd always ask my team to take it in turns to run the huddles. This was great for adding an element of enhanced responsibility in their roles. 

We'd stick to an agreed structure, though, as this supported them when it came to gathering metrics and data to share with the team.” – Emily Simmons, Learning Facilitator at Boost

This mindset should also be applied to structured sharing, where you go around the room and ask each person for updates. This ensures everyone has a voice and makes the huddle feel more like a team conversation – rather than a broadcast.

Encourage Peer-to-Peer Collaboration and Problem Solving

Team huddles should be embraced as regular opportunities to boost teamwork and collaboration too. For example, for team members to share where they may be experiencing issues or feeling behind, and then asking for help and support from their colleagues.

Huddles can also be a great opportunity to share examples of customer conversations and talk through common objections.

For example, sharing, “I say this……… when the customer says this………….” – as we spotted on our site visit to Ocado’s Customer Hub in Sunderland (UK).

As a leader, be careful to not always be the one stepping in, assigning tasks, or providing solutions either. The focus should very much be on peer-to-peer collaboration.

However, it can take time to build this momentum in a team, and in the beginning, you may find you have to poke and encourage agents to have these conversations with each other.

When this is the case, one of the most powerful things you can do is to use silence.

Always Make Time for Fun and Celebration

Don’t overlook the importance of fun and celebration too, as this will help your agents see the huddles as something to look forward to and a real mood-booster for the day ahead.

“I love doing a trivia quiz with my team! Sometimes, it’s just for bragging rights, other times, there’s a small prize at the end.

These games can be themed too, such as “How well do you know your colleagues?” or “What details can you recall from a recent product promo?”.

I find games like this really help to break up the monotony, as well as help with team bonding and knowledge reinforcement.” – Clare Santos, Director, Knowledge & Quality, Customer Experience at Aviso

It doesn’t have to be work related, though. You could even play a quick game of hangman for a change of pace.

It’s important to celebrate agent successes too! So, build in regular opportunities for this.

This creates a positive, supportive environment, where your team are consistently encouraged to celebrate together.

Don’t Forget to Check in on Your Team’s Wellbeing Too

It’s too easy for individuals to get lost in the shuffle of a busy contact centre floor, so why not try doing a quick “temperature check” to gauge your team’s mood at the start of each huddle?

And always read the room! If everyone is joining the huddle in a low mood, sometimes the most valuable way to then spend that time is to not talk about work at all – and instead talk to your team about how they feel and show your support.

“Sometimes it’s far better to use that 15 minutes to switch off and chat to boost overall morale.

Especially when agents come in on a dark, winter’s morning, it can really help to break up the routine and throw something completely different at them to help reset the mood.” – Marco Jetmir Ndrecaj

What Have You Tried to Improve Your Team Huddles?

Click here to join our NEW Reader Panel to share your experiences and feature in future Call Centre Helper articles.

With thanks to the following people for sharing their thoughts for this article:

• Clare Santos, Director, Knowledge & Quality, Customer Experience at Aviso
• Emily Simmons, Learning Facilitator at Boost
• Jessica Ham, an experienced contact centre leader and receiver of the UKCCF Gold Award for Head of Contact Centre
• Marco Jetmir Ndrecaj, Director of Customer Experience Management at Shared Services Connected Ltd
• Vinay Parmar, Managing Director at Customer Whisperers Limited

If you are looking for more advice on how to engage your teams to improve huddles and meetings, read these articles next:

• 10 Inspiring Spots to Host Your Next Team Meeting
• Hit the Ground Running! How to Help Your Agents Be Shift Ready
• 12 Ideas to Keep Agents Engaged During Meetings and Training Sessions