Why I turned staff meetings into “Faculty Huddles”

I stopped holding staff meetings three years ago. You know, the kinds of meetings where a school leader makes a series of announcements about deadlines, and teachers passively listen (or maybe do a little grading). 

After some serious self reflection and feedback from my staff, I replaced them with “Faculty Huddles,” where our team gets together once a week for 10-15 minutes to share celebrations, ideas, PD and pertinent information for the week. There is an agenda, and everyone plays a role in the meeting. 

I made the change because I wanted deeper engagement from my team – and with the move to huddles, I have it. I wanted to have conversations that were thought-provoking and could consider systemic change within my team. 

I also wanted to allow for collection, collaboration and celebration. These brief morning meetings have allowed for fresher thoughts and interactions – and transformed the feeling of our team collaboration.

I currently lead a middle school, but I’ve led huddles with elementary and high school teams, as well, and I’ve found it works. 

Right now, we have 30 staff members who attend every huddle, but I also invite support staff to join if they want to get updates and experience the sense of belonging that comes from those check-ins.

Sample Faculty Huddle Agenda: