The Morning Worker Huddle: Creating One Team on Your Project Site

The Morning Worker Huddle: Creating One Team on Your Project Site

Welcome everybody out to this video that’s going to talk about the morning worker huddle in construction. And I’m going to use Minecraft to explain the concept and I’m super excited. Here’s the purpose: morning worker huddle all the workers on the project site, every single one of them, coming here in the morning and receiving a five-to-ten-minute orientation to the day. And what that looks like creates one social group where you see as a group, know as a group, and act as a group.

You can’t be one team if you’re all in separate meetings and you never collect everybody in one group.

The Pain of Separate Crews Heading in Different Directions

Here’s what happens without the morning worker huddle. You have separate crews heading in different directions. The plumbers are doing their thing. The electricians are doing their thing. The framers are doing their thing. And nobody knows what anybody else is doing. No coordination. No alignment. No team.

And here’s the problem: you are bought in because this person communicates real care and they want to do a really good job and you’re all heading in the same direction instead of as separate entities, separate crews heading in different directions.

Without the morning worker huddle, you have fragmentation. With the morning worker huddle, you have one team.

Here’s what happens without it. Crews don’t know what’s happening on the rest of the site. The crane is working on the west side. But nobody told the crews on the east side. They walk into the crane zone. Chaos. Nobody hears the praise. The plumbers loaned the forklift yesterday. That was amazing. But nobody else knows. No recognition. No culture building.

Two minutes a day of Lean training compounds over time. But without the morning worker huddle, there’s no daily training. No learning. No improvement. Nobody asks, “Does anybody have any feedback?” So problems don’t surface. Bathrooms are dirty. Lunch area is messy. Nobody hears about it. Nobody fixes it. And you have separate crews, not one team. That creates separate cultures, separate goals, separate directions. Chaos.

The morning worker huddle fixes all of this. Five to ten minutes. Every day. One team.

The Purpose: Creating One Social Group

Let me just take you through this and I’ll explain a couple of things. When a worker comes to the project site, obviously they come to the project, they park their car, they should have really nice parking. You know, just one quick thing. I haven’t drawn it in here, but if the parking lot is farther away from the project site and there’s a lot of walking, I would recommend restrooms and a handwash station be over here.

But basically, the workers should be able to come over here and do their parking, come in here and check in through the gate, have a place, basically a safe pathway that’s cordoned off or that’s flagged off from the regular construction environment so that whether they have their hard hat on or off, it’s super fine. Right? So I’m just drawing this path. You know, you would probably move the path along the backside of the fence, but I’m just doing this right here out in the open to make it obvious that there needs to be a path.

And there can be some pathways to walk over and go into the logistics area, but basically workers need a path to get over here to the morning worker huddle area. And we’ll do this in future videos where there’s a tent and restrooms and a place for them to eat lunch and the whole nine. We’ll talk about that in future videos.

Here’s the setup. Workers park. They walk a safe pathway  cordoned off from the construction environment  to the morning worker huddle area. Hard hats optional on the pathway. It’s safe. A tent or covered area with space for everyone. Restrooms nearby. Lunch area nearby. Comfortable. Respectful.

The elevated walkway isn’t to be more important. It’s to be heard. Sometimes the presenter will need to have a bullhorn or actually speak through a karaoke machine. One of the things that I recommend is the project delivery team, whoever’s presenting or not, can circle around the backside of the huddle and encourage people to pay attention in a kind way. And eventually, once this culture starts to take on, now you have one group. Now you’re one team.

This setup creates the environment for one social group. Everyone together. Every day. Five to ten minutes.

The Structure: Shout-Outs, Training, Plan, Feedback

But this morning, I want to talk about the morning worker huddle. Yes, I said it. Morning worker huddle. All the workers on the project site, every single one of them coming here in the morning and receiving a five-to-ten-minute orientation to the day.

And what that looks like is, “Hey everybody, welcome.” You know, and by the way, when you’re starting the morning worker huddle, typically there’s a karaoke machine or a speaker or something playing music. When the music stops, it’s like, “Welcome everybody. Welcome out to the morning worker huddle. I’ve got some shout-outs.”

Here’s the structure:

• Shout-outs (one to two minutes): “Hey, crew on level six. You all did a great job of cleaning. Huge shout-out. Hey, plumbers, yesterday you loaned somebody the forklift. Great job.” Shout-outs build culture. Every crew hears the recognition. That creates pride.
• Two-minute training: “We’re going to do two minutes of training. I want to talk about why we organize the hoist the way we do.” Two minutes a day equals 480 minutes a year. That’s eight hours of Lean training just from the morning huddle.
• Plan for the day (two to three minutes): “Cranes working at the front. Please work on the east side. Do not go near the cranes—danger tape. And we’re patching on level seven. Do not access unless you need to be there.” Everyone knows what’s happening and where the hazards are. Then ask for feedback: “Does anybody have feedback?” Then release: “Head out to your crew preparation huddles.”

This structure takes five to ten minutes. And it creates one team. Every day, you reinforce the values. Every day, you give shout-outs. Every day, you train. Every day, you share the plan. Every day, you ask for feedback. That compounds into culture, alignment, and one team.

Why Every Day, Not Once a Week

And so this is something that’s done every day. And a lot of people say to me, “Hey Jason, I’ll just do that once a week.” Hey, I’m telling you, whether it’s a massive data center or a small project or $100 million project, getting all your workers together for the morning worker huddle creates one social group. You see as a group, know as a group, and act as a group.

Here’s why every day matters. Once a week doesn’t create culture. Daily creates culture. Every day, you reinforce the values. Every day, you give shout-outs. Every day, you train. That compounds. Once a week doesn’t create alignment. Daily creates alignment. Every day, you share the plan. Every day, everyone knows what’s happening. That prevents coordination failures.

Once a week doesn’t create one team. Daily creates one team. Every day, everyone gathers. Every day, you’re one social group. That creates belonging. If you only do it once a week, you’re not creating one team. You’re having a weekly meeting. That’s different. Daily creates the culture, alignment, and team that transform the job site.

Here’s the math. Five minutes a day, five days a week, is 25 minutes a week. Once a week for 15 minutes is 15 minutes a week. You get more total time with daily huddles. But more importantly, you get daily reinforcement. Daily alignment. Daily culture building. That’s what transforms the job site.

Implementation: Straight from the Parking Lot

Okay. The only caveat to that, this building isn’t super big. If it was a high-rise, you might have to split this group. The people that are working up on the tower, maybe they go right up the hoist and into the upper floors, and there’s a separate worker huddle. But the bottom line is huddling all the workers straight from the parking lot is crucial.

Now, a lot of times people ask me, “Hey, J Money, are you saying grab them from their work and make them come down?” No. I said just on their way from the parking lot here for five or 10 minutes and then they break out and do their work as groups and do their crew preparation huddle.

Here’s how implementation works. Workers arrive. They park. They walk the safe pathway. They go to the morning worker huddle area. Five to ten minutes. Then they break out to their crew preparation huddles. Then they start work. Not grabbing them from work. Not interrupting their flow. Straight from the parking lot. Before work starts.

If it’s a massive high-rise, split the groups. Tower workers go up the hoist and huddle on the upper floors. Podium workers huddle at ground level. Two huddles. Same structure. Same culture. Same alignment. Karaoke machine or speaker playing music. When the music stops, the huddle starts. That’s the signal. Simple. Clear.

The project delivery team circles around the backside of the huddle and encourages people to pay attention in a kind way. Not bossy. Not harsh. Kind. And eventually, the culture takes over. People want to attend. People want to hear the shout-outs and the plan. It’s really quite nice and this is the game changer. If I was a superintendent again, I would never run a job without a morning worker huddle. If your project needs superintendent coaching, project support, or leadership development, Elevate Construction can help your field teams stabilize, schedule, and flow.

A Challenge for Superintendents

Here’s what I want you to do this week. Start the morning worker huddle. Set up the area. Create the safe pathway from parking. Get the karaoke machine or speaker. Gather everyone. Five to ten minutes. Every day.

Shout-outs. Two-minute training. Plan for the day. Feedback. Release to crew preparation huddles. That’s the structure. Do it every day. Create one team. Don’t wait for the perfect setup. Don’t wait for the perfect tent. Start tomorrow. Gather everyone. Five minutes. Do it.

As we say at Elevate, morning worker huddles create one team. Five to ten minutes: shout-outs, two-minute training, plan for the day, feedback. See as a group, know as a group, act as a group. That’s how you transform the job site from separate crews heading in different directions to one team heading in the same direction.

On we go.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the morning worker huddle?

All workers gather for five to ten minutes before work starts. Shout-outs, two-minute training, plan for the day, feedback. Creates one social group where you see as a group, know as a group, act as a group.

Why every day instead of once a week?

Daily creates culture, alignment, and one team. Once a week is just a meeting. Daily compounds  shout-outs build culture, training adds up to eight hours per year, alignment prevents coordination failures.

Where do workers go after the morning huddle?

They break out to crew preparation huddles in their work areas. Fifteen to 25 minutes. 5S areas. Fill out pre-task plans. Shake out materials. Start clean, safe, organized. Then execute.

What if it’s a high-rise or massive project?

Split the groups. Tower workers huddle on upper floors. Podium workers huddle at ground level. Same structure. Same culture. Same alignment. Two huddles instead of one.

What’s the structure of the morning worker huddle?

Shout-outs (one to two minutes), two-minute training, plan for the day (two to three minutes), feedback (one minute), release to crew preparation huddles. Total: five to ten minutes. Straight from parking lot.