When you pull off a great team huddle, you breathe life into your remote team. It can be the magic that brings everyone together and motivates them to give their all every day.
If you don’t get it right, though, your daily huddle can also turn into a time-waster that drains energy and morale instead of building it.
It’s hard enough to keep teams connected when they’re scattered across different time zones, and trying to force a group huddle without knowing how to make it work can leave people more disengaged than when they signed onto the call.
The old playbook might not work with today’s increasingly remote workforce, but there are plenty of modern huddle ideas that do work!
In this guide, I’ll help you find the right approach to turn your team huddle into the highlight of your team’s day rather than just another meeting they endure.
Why Your Current Remote Team Huddle Isn’t Landing
Remote work has fundamentally changed how we think about daily huddles, and as leaders, we have to adjust accordingly. That said, plenty of in-person team huddle ideas fall flat, too—here are some mistakes I often see:
- They’re too long
- They’re too formal
- They completely miss the point of connecting as people
Essentially, your team doesn’t want to spend time on another status update that’s disguised as a “fun” group huddle.
What they’re craving is genuine connection, energy, and a real reason to look forward to seeing their colleagues’ faces on screen. To contrast the list above, here are three key elements I’ve seen in the most successful virtual group huddles:
- They’re brief
- They’re interactive
- They acknowledge that we’re all humans just trying to do our best while working from home
So, instead of approaching huddles like formal meetings and taking up people’s time with things that could’ve been an email, you’re hopping onto fun calls and engaging everyone for a few minutes before letting them get back to their tasks.
Morning Team Huddle Ideas To Energize Your Remote Team
I’ve seen some fun morning huddle ideas for working with remote teams that really seem to click for people. They’re the calls that people don’t mind because they feel more like taking a break from work than putting on a performance or wasting time.
Here are some of my favorite morning huddle ideas that seem to have a high rate of success—give each of them a shot and take note of what really gets your team excited and engaged.
Have a Real Check-In (Not the Fake Kind)
Skip generic stuff like “How’s everyone doing today?” or, worse, talking about the weather. Instead, jump right into fun questions to kick off your daily huddle.
You might keep a list of repeatable ones that you can cycle through, a bank of one-offs to explore different topics, or both so that you can mix it up.
In my experience, the best questions are the ones that actually help your team members get to know each other. Here are some example huddle topics to get you started:
- What’s one thing you’re looking forward to after work today?
- Share something good that happened yesterday in 1 minute or less.
- What’s your energy level on a scale of 1-10 today, and what would bump it up a notch?
- If your life right now were a movie, what would the title be?
- What’s one hobby or activity you’ve picked up (or want to pick up) this year?
- Share one small win from the last week—work or personal.
- What’s your go-to comfort food when you’re stressed?
- If our team had a mascot, what would it be and why?
- Paper books or e-books? Why?
These questions work because they’re specific enough to get honest responses and quick enough to keep energy high.
You’ll have team members relating to each other and getting to know their colleagues before you know it. If your team tends to talk longer, set a 1-minute timer for each response.
Start With a Two-Minute Energy Boost
This is another game-changer I learned from working with remote teams: try starting huddles with a two-minute icebreaker that gets people moving or laughing. It’s refreshing, it actually engages them with the meeting, and it’s a great way to start the day.
Here are some energizing morning meeting ideas that I’ve seen teams respond well to time and time again:
- Desk stretch challenge: Have everyone do 60 seconds of shoulder rolls, neck stretches, hand stretches, or some other simple stretch together. Look up different desk stretches that are suitable for everyone in the group and cycle through them each meeting.
- Show and tell speed round: Ask each person to grab the weirdest or cutest thing within arm’s reach and explain why you have it. You’ll end up with people showing off their pets, collections, hobbies, and so much more, and you’ll get some true candid responses.
- Background storytelling: If your team uses virtual backgrounds, ask why they picked it or ask them to make up a fictional story about how they ended up there. If you put this on the schedule every week, people will start showing up with increasingly interesting backgrounds each time.
- Mood weather report: Ask each person to describe their mood using only weather terms. If this is a hit, try different themes—for example, ask them to sum up their mood using only food terms next! Trust me, you’ll get some laughs and hilarious answers.
- Laughter yoga: This one’s a real treat—laughter yoga is so much fun and it’s proven to relieve stress and anxiety. Your team will leave feeling lighter, more connected, and seriously energized—the fun is contagious. You can even schedule it with us and let us do the planning.
Want more ideas? Consider sending out an anonymous survey that asks your team to submit their own ideas for morning energizers after a couple of these.
I’ve seen some teams do this for big milestones and give their members several virtual team building activities to pick from—it’s always a hit.
Some leaders also keep the energy high with a weekly virtual event to kick off or wrap up a week. Escape the Virtual Mob or Corporate Feud Online are some great choices to get your remote team engaged and excited.
Weekly Theme Days for Group Huddle Variety
One of my best pieces of advice? Don’t let your team huddle become predictable. I recommend rotating different work huddle ideas and topics throughout the week. Here’s what I’m talking about:
- Monday Momentum: Start with an energizer, move into planning the week, and then end by setting personal and team goals.
- Tuesday Trivia: Start with some quick brain teasers or industry-related questions, move into quick status updates from each person, and end with a fun fact.
- Wednesday Wins: Start with a real check-in question, move into celebrating big and small recent accomplishments, and end by reviewing to-do lists and goals.
- Thursday Thoughts: Start with an energizer, move into updating goals based on how the week is going, and end by sharing an interesting article or insight.
- Friday Fun: Start with a fun game, move into a weekly wrap-up and review, and end with casual conversation. Alternatively, schedule this one at the end of the day and wrap it up with a virtual happy hour.
These are just my ideas, feel free to come up with your own. You could even get your team involved in planning out the week. Regardless of how you plan it, this approach keeps your work huddle fresh and gives team members something to look forward to.
Whatever you do, your top priorities should be keeping things informal, quick, interactive, and human. That’s the trick to making sure your team doesn’t dread their group huddles!
It’s All About Bridging the Physical Gap
These team huddle ideas are a great way to bridge the physical gap and help connect your team, but don’t stop your efforts there. Keep that connection going throughout the day.
There are tons of channels to engage remote teams, ranging from Slack to daily emails to team games like crosswords, Scrabble, or chess that let them compete against each other.
Try a Long-Term Challenge
Long-term challenges are great, too. For example, you could do a 30-day wellness challenge together and use a few minutes of your daily team huddle to check on progress.
The 30-day challenge can be tailored to any goal you want your team members to achieve, from push-ups to purchase orders.
Do Some Team Building
Another way to improve remote teams is by scheduling regular remote team building activities.
We have tons of options, ranging from goal-specific professional development to customizable virtual games, and they’re all designed to improve engagement, communication, and productivity.
We also have plenty of virtual celebration ideas and events for hybrid teams, so you can get your on-site and remote teams engaging together!
Ready To Tap Into the Power of Team Huddles?
After years of watching teams struggle and succeed with remote engagement since the big shift around quarantine, here’s what I’ve learned: your remote team huddle will only be as good as the intention and energy put into it.
Ultimately, this is on par with what I’ve learned about on-site teams since starting TeamBonding over 35 years ago.
The most successful remote teams don’t treat their huddle as another pointless video call or lengthy meeting to interrupt everyone’s days. They treat them as an investment in the relationships between team members and the key to real, lasting engagement.
The team huddle ideas I’ve shared here aren’t revolutionary. They’re practical, tested approaches that acknowledge the reality of remote work while creating genuine moments of connection and energy.
When you want to step it up for celebrations or because your team’s energy is dipping, check out our catalog of team building events. Most workers assume they’re giving up this type of activity when they go remote, and I say, show them otherwise!
A remote team building activity is also a great way to kick off a new approach to your daily team huddle.
Ready to transform your team’s remote experience? Get in touch to find out how we can help you create a better foundation for success.
