Running a pre-shift meeting people actually listen to

This is part 2 of 7 in our series Your first year as a restaurant manager. Part 1 was your first 30 days.

You can have a perfect pre-shift agenda and still lose the room. People check their phones, the kitchen keeps prepping, and the one thing you needed everyone to hear (the walnut pesto is back on the menu, and it's a tree-nut allergen) slides past.

We've already published the agenda itself: a minute-by-minute, 10-minute pre-shift huddle template (coming Nov 3), with a food safety topic rotation and a printable sheet. It also covers why the huddle is paid time. This post is about the other half: how you run it so people listen, especially when you're new and some of the team used to be your coworkers.

Why people tune out

Most huddles fail for a handful of familiar reasons:

• It's the same speech every day. If it sounds like yesterday's, people assume it is.
• It's a lecture. One person talks, everyone else waits for it to end.
• It's only bad news. If every huddle is about what went wrong, people stop wanting to hear it.
• It runs into the open. A huddle that eats the setup time makes the start of service harder, and the team knows it.
• Nothing said there ever happens. Someone raised the broken ice scoop three times. It's still broken.

Every fix below targets one of those.

Prepare in five minutes

Before the huddle, take five minutes with three things: the last shift's log, the 86 list, and today's sales or catering. Then decide on one message: the single thing you need everyone to remember when the rush hits. Everything else is supporting detail.

A good one-message test: if someone asked a barista at 11:30 "what did the manager say this morning?", what would you want them to answer? If you can't say it in one sentence, the team won't remember it either.

Start on time, every time

Start at the time you said, even if two people are still tying aprons. If you wait for stragglers, the people who arrived on time learn that on time doesn't matter. Keep it standing, in the same spot, where everyone can see you and you can see the door.

End on time too. If a topic needs a discussion, say "let's pick that up after the rush" and write it down where people can see you writing it.

Ask instead of tell

People remember what they say more than what they hear. Turn statements into questions:

Rotate who you ask, and make it safe to get it wrong: thank the answer, add what's missing, move on. If someone doesn't know, that's the most useful thing you've learned all morning.

Better still, let the team teach. Ask the cook who made the special to describe it and name its allergens. Ask your best closer to explain the new sanitizer test. It's a small promotion in front of their peers, and the room listens to a coworker differently.

Praise in public, correct in private

Open or close with something specific that someone did well: "Jo restocked the lids before the rush without being asked, and it saved us at 8:15." Specific praise tells everyone what good looks like. Our post on recognition that costs little (coming Nov 7) has more on making it specific.

Never use the huddle to correct one person. "Some people aren't labeling their prep" makes the people who label feel accused, and the person you mean knows exactly who you mean. Talk to them alone, after the huddle. Part 3 of this series covers how.

Keep a promise list

The fastest way to earn credibility as a new manager is to do what you said you'd do. Every huddle ends with "anything I should know?", and every answer either gets a "here's the answer" or a name and a date: "I'll call the repair company today and tell you tomorrow."

Then open the next huddle with the follow-up, even if it's "they can't come until Friday." When the team sees that what they raise in a huddle gets handled, they start raising things, and you start hearing about the broken ice scoop before the inspector does.

Bad news, split crews and the eye-rollers

Bad news. Hours cut for the slow season, a bad review, a policy change from the owner. Say it plainly, say why, say what it means for them, and say who to talk to with questions. Don't blame the owner ("it's not my decision") and don't pretend it's good news. Anything that affects one person's pay or hours gets a private conversation first, before the group hears it.

Split crews. The kitchen and the front often start at different times. Do the full huddle with whoever starts first, then a two-minute version at the pass with the rest: the one message, the 86 list and the allergens. Write those three on the board where both sides can see them.

Language. If not everyone on the team is fluent in the language you huddle in, speak in short sentences, show instead of describe (hold up the new cup lid), and put the key points on the board. Ask a bilingual team member to repeat the one message if they're happy to.

The eye-roller. Someone talks over you, or makes a point of looking bored. Don't call it out in front of the team; that turns a huddle into a contest. Finish the huddle, then talk to them alone: "I noticed you were talking while I was giving the 86 list. I need everyone to hear it, because a guest asks about it every shift. What's going on?" Sometimes there's a real answer.

When the huddle can't happen

Some days the line is out the door when the shift starts. Don't skip the huddle; shrink it. A 60-second version at the counter with the one message and the 86 list is better than nothing, and it keeps the habit alive.

Where Mays fits

• What happened last shift. Scheduling → Logbook shows the day's entries for your location, and the Follow-ups tab lists what's still flagged. Read the top item at the huddle. See The manager logbook.
• Your promise list. Turn a question raised at the huddle into a task for one person with Tasks → Create Task → Custom Task, so it doesn't live only in your head. See Creating one-off tasks.
• The talking points. Keep the week's specials, their allergens and the food safety rotation in a Knowledge Base article people can read on their phones. See Knowledge Base basics.

Mays doesn't record who attended a huddle, so keep that on the paper huddle sheet.

Your pre-shift meeting checklist

• Five minutes of prep: the log, the 86 list, today's sales and one message
• Start on time, end on time, standing in the same spot
• Questions instead of statements, and a team member teaching one part
• One specific shout-out; no public corrections
• Every question raised gets an answer or a name and a date
• The next huddle opens with the follow-up
• Bad news said plainly, with private conversations first for anyone directly affected
• A two-minute version for the second crew, and the key points on the board
• A 60-second huddle on the days a full one can't happen

Run the huddle from what happened yesterday

Read the logbook, assign the follow-ups and keep the specials where everyone can find them.

Start your free trial: 30 days, every module, no card needed. Or book a walkthrough and we'll set up the logbook with you.