6 Refreshing “Standup” Ideas to Try in 2021

Standup business meetings are coming more popular throughout the business world. They’re a chance to get your staff to stand up, loosen their legs, and talk about important matters or shared concerns, as well as reiterate goals and remotivate your people to do their best work.

Not sure how to make your standup meetings as fun and effective as they can be? Try these six refreshing ideas this year.

Rotate the Facilitator

One great thing you can do to maximize the effectiveness of your standup meetings is to rotate who heads the discussion. Your meeting facilitator should be someone new every time if you can manage it, and preferably some of your lower employees as well.

Not only does this keep each standup meeting fresh, but it also gives people the chance to shine in a quasi-leadership role. It’ll also help everyone present new ideas – even shy staff members may feel encouraged to throw their ideas on the proverbial wall when they’re the ones holding the floor.

Go Around the Room

One of the biggest benefits of daily standup meetings is its ability to bring small-scale, personal stuff to your attention. But you won’t be able to hear from everyone if you don’t go around the room.

Make sure that your standup meeting gives everyone present the opportunity to speak with or voice their concerns, especially if it concerns the meeting’s main objective or focus.

Ask an “Ice Breaker” Question

Oftentimes, when you start to implement standup meetings in your business when you didn’t offer them before, people will have trouble loosening up and actively participating. To get things flowing, try to ask an icebreaker question that allows people to say something special or interesting about themselves.

This is a great tactic for ensuring your standup business meetings are actually interesting and engaging for your employees. It also helps your employees get to know one another. Just be sure to choose good icebreaker questions that don’t cross lines or make anyone feel uncomfortable.

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Add Some Music!

Nothing gets a standup meeting going like some great tunes. Purchase a small speaker for your business and play some music when the meeting begins and ends. It’s a good way to signal subconsciously to your employees that work time is momentarily paused so you can all stand up and connect with one another about what’s important.

If you want to drive engagement even further, consider asking people what kind of music they want to hear at the beginning and end of your standup meetings. Having a rotation of your staff’s favorite songs could even help them look forward to standup meetings more regularly.

Change the Standup Meeting Location

One of the best ways to keep your standup meetings fresh is to change the location from time to time. Don’t just have it in the break room every day at the exact same time in the exact same format.

Have your standup meetings:

• in the break room
• in your office
• outside (weather permitting) 
• and so on

All of this helps keep the experience novel and interesting.

Add a Stretch or Light Exercise to the Meeting

This last tip is dependent on your work environment. But you might consider adding a light exercise or stretch to each standup meeting to get the blood flowing and engage your staff’s minds. Plus, it’s good for you – when so much of our work involves sitting down, we could all use some extra stretches throughout the day!