Why Morning Foreman Huddles Don’t Work (And What To Do Instead)
In this blog, I want to finally settle something that’s been debated in lean construction circles for years.
Should you do your foreman huddle in the morning or the afternoon?
Here’s the truth and some people won’t like this:
If you’re doing a “foreman huddle” in the morning, it’s not a foreman huddle at all. It’s a team daily stand-up… and you’re dragging your foremen into it to make up for a lack of planning the day before.
Let me explain.
Planning has to happen the day before.
Your foremen need to know the plan, the manpower, the tools, and the materials before they show up to work the next day. Otherwise, you essentially start the day by scrambling.
When you pull all the foremen together in the morning and ask “how many people do you have/what’s your biggest issue?”, that’s not planning that’s triage.
And yes… there is value in a team daily stand-up where the project team huddles for a few minutes each day to talk about problems and priorities. That absolutely should happen but that meeting should involve the PMs, engineers, and superintendent… not the foremen.
Here’s how an effective daily rhythm should actually flow:
| Time | Purpose |
| Afternoon (prior day) | Foreman huddle to plan the next day and stage material |
| Morning | Worker huddle to communicate the plan to crews |
| Immediately after | Team daily stand-up (PM, PE, Supers) to remove larger roadblocks |
| Throughout the day | Zone control walks + field support |
If you try to combine all of that into a single “foreman huddle” in the morning, you end up:
- Changing the plan at the last minute
- Taking foremen away from their crews when the crews need them most
- Making decisions without proper preparation or materials
- Wasting time solving problems that should have been prevented
So no a morning foreman huddle doesn’t work.
What you’re really looking for is an afternoon foreman huddle + morning worker huddle + team daily stand up.
Call things what they really are. And do them at the right time so they actually add value.
Key Takeaway:
A true foreman huddle belongs in the afternoon when you still have time to plan the next day, stage materials, and solve problems before work begins. A “foreman huddle” in the morning isn’t planning at all it’s a reactive team stand up. Plan the day before, communicate to the crew in the morning, and let the project team remove roadblocks during a short team stand up.
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On we go