Keeping Morning Huddles Quick and Effective with the Plus/Delta Whiteboard
Written by Wyatt Smiley, General Foreman at Southland Industries
As a foreman, I’ve learned daily huddles are crucial for getting everyone on the same page, aligning priorities, and quickly sharing critical information needed for the day, as well as lessons learned from the day before. But in order to be effective, they need to be short, sweet, and to the point.
To streamline the daily huddle process, I use a simple Plus/Delta whiteboard. I take a few minutes during our morning huddle to track what’s working and what tweaks we can make right away to improve our team’s daily processes.
Key Tips for Effective Plus/Delta Whiteboard Usage in Daily Huddles
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Keep the meeting fast paced, and focused.
The huddle should be a quick checkpoint, not a drawn-out problem-solving session. We focus on those issues we can address within our crew, right away.
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Briefly review the previous day’s bullet points for the Plus/Delta columns.
Focus on action items, this is not a review of personal performance.
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Make Delta items action oriented.
What do we need to fix, change, or stop doing?
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Use a parking lot.
If a delta item strikes debate or involves a drawn-out strategy use the two-minute rule: move that topic to the parking lot for later discussion or escalate it to others if it can’t be addressed quickly. Be sure the parking lot items don’t sit unaddressed for too long.
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Assign ownership to delta items.
Find someone to champion the solution to each identified delta. Give them a clear deadline for implementing the fix.
Benefits of the Plus/Delta Whiteboard Process
From my experience using the process over the past few years, I have seen significant benefits to the Plus/Delta whiteboard process:
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Team Engagement
It keeps the team aligned on a shared daily mission. We share problems and possible solutions and keep everyone in the mindset of continuous improvement.
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Daily Adaptability
Every project has challenges, changes, and new dynamics. The team has an opportunity to make impactful changes every morning while reinforcing communication and collaboration.
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Responsibility
By identifying a champion for each delta, that person knows they’ll need to stand up with the group the next day and share what they did to improve it, not just for themselves, but for the entire team.
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Psychological Safety
Framing the challenges we encounter as “deltas” (changes) rather than failures removes blame and encourages team members to speak up about roadblocks and share ideas. We are a team, and we share both the challenges and the successes together.
I strongly encourage you to consider using a Plus/Delta whiteboard in your morning huddles. I have found it to be a highly effective tool for improving daily workflows, aligning teams, and providing an immediate channel for improvement and quick wins.
Plus/Delta White Board Examples
Morning White Board
Afternoon White Board
