Huddle Up

Hank Christen

Most of us are familiar with a traditional football huddle where players immediately hear the next play. Huddles are now catching on in the non-sports world. Examples include the following:

1. Medical teams huddle to coordinate transferring a violent patient from the Emergency Department to a receiving unit.

2. Key players in a business organization huddle to discuss safety issues at the start of a shift.

3. A government agency conducts huddles to address emergent threat issues.

4. Active Shooter 360 instructors huddle before exercises.

Huddles are not like the usual meeting because they are short and immediately get to the point. Effective huddle characteristics are as follows:

  • Short duration – under ten minutes – once per day
  • Small group of five or six people on average
  • Framed by safety issues or key problems
  • A plan, do, study, act (PDSA) cycle
  • Safety issues from the past day or shift
  • Issues for today
  • Maybe a written huddle agenda
  • Important announcements

Key Takeaway:

Teams in High Reliability Organizations (HRO) should begin their shift or work day with small group huddles to discuss safety and emergent issues. 

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About Hank Christen

Dr. Hank Christen was an Atlanta Fire Department Battalion Chief, Emergency Manager, and Director of Emergency Services for Okaloosa County, Florida. He has responded to multiple disasters in his career and was the Incident Commander for Hurricane Erin, Opal, Earl, and Georges, and responded to Hurricane Andrew (Miami), and Hurricane Marilyn (U.S. Virgin Islands). He co-authored eight books on crisis management and the incident command system in the disaster response field. Dr. Christen has served on a team that evaluated a biological non-traditional syndromic surveillance program during the 2000 George Bush Presidential Inauguration. Dr. Christen has also responded with a Disaster Medical Assistance Team (FL-1 DMAT) to the 2001 World Trade Center Attack, and served as team commander during the team’s deployment to the Atlanta Olympic Bombing. Additionally. Dr. Christen has served on a panel that evaluated the medical response to the Boston Marathon Bombing in 2014. Dr. Hank Christen EdD currently is responsible for developing curriculum, technical writing, and instructing courses with Active Shooter 360, LLC. The materials developed and taught by Dr. Christen include Active Shooter Awareness, Threat Intervention Practices, Incident Command System (ICS), Crisis Decision Making, and Emergency Operations Planning.
See all posts by Hank Christen 

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