Practice tip: 5 ways to renew your morning huddle

To start your day right, practice management experts often recommend gathering your team for a five-minute morning huddle. This strategy can build morale and help the practice run more smoothly.

However, as with any routine, this exercise runs the risk of growing stale. To make this time worthwhile, here are five ideas to freshen things up:

  1. Give thanks. You may recall a previous FiercePracticeManagement column featuring advice from John Foley, former lead solo pilot with the Blue Angels--wake up each day thinking of one thing you're grateful for. "Learn to begin your day with gratitude, and you'll automatically begin your day in a good mood," he said. Considering that happy employees are generally motivated and empathetic employees, try adapting this tradition to your huddle from time to time. Much like your family might do as you sit down to Thanksgiving dinner, go around the room and give each person a chance to share one thing he or she is thankful for, practice related or not, and see what happens.

  2. Share lessons learned. Yesterday might have seemed like you were up against one problem after another, but for at least some of them, you found solutions. Ask employees to share new knowledge with the group, or even pass along tips they read about, such as those we offered this week about streamlining preauthorizations, and plan to try. Have that employee update the group on what worked and what didn't.

  3. Count down. Having things to look forward to is a big part of happiness and motivation. Periodically remind your employees of what's on the horizon. Whether it's an office retreat, launch date of a project you've been working on or even a beautiful weekend forecast, knowing that it's just days or hours away can help a tough day feel less challenging.

  4. Identify challenges. In addition to highlighting the good, be realistic about the bad and the ugly. As cold and flu season approaches, for example, debrief your team on what to expect in terms of extra effort required to inventory vaccines, triage patient calls and cover for one another when employees get sick themselves.

  5. Touch base. As burnout expert Dike Drummond, M.D., told us previously, simply taking the time to check in with team members and ask them how they are helps set a tone of caring that staff will pass on to patients.

Does your team do a daily huddle? Who is in charge of leading it (or does it rotate?) What do you talk about and how do you keep it productive? Please share your insights in the comments. - Deb (@PracticeMgt)