In our industry, “stand-ups” are a part of our daily routine. They’re a great way to connect with your team at the start of the day, and set things up for success.
However, sometimes it’s hard to notice if you’re hosting or leading a stand-up. We’ve noticed it on our teams too. We’ve come up with some ways to spot when you’re falling into hosting instead of leading.
Are you hosting or leading your stand-ups?
Hosting is about keeping the meeting moving. You go around the room, check in, and stay on schedule. It keeps the habit alive, but it doesn’t always help the team move forward.
Leading, on the other hand, is about recognizing when the team needs more. It asks you to read the room. Knowing when energy is low, when priorities feel fuzzy, or when blockers aren’t getting resolved fast enough.
And that’s where timing is important.
Not every stand-up needs to be deeply strategic. But the right leadership, at the right moment, can completely shift the tone of a sprint.
Maybe the team just pivoted direction and needed to realign
Maybe a key milestone is approaching and tension’s rising
Maybe momentum is slipping, and no one’s calling it out
Why it matters
Hosting a stand-up helps the team share where they’re at. Leading a stand-up helps the team figure out where they’re going and how to get there. That shift in posture might seem small, but it can completely change:
The energy of the day
The pace of the sprint
The momentum of the project
When someone steps in to lead, the team feels it. There’s more clarity. More focus. More ownership. Work starts to unblock faster. Conversations get sharper. Priorities feel real.
A stand-up is supposed to help your team make AND keep commitments.
How to "lead" stand-ups
This kind of leadership isn’t reserved for big presentations or major turning points or when something is on fire during a project/sprint. In smaller moments, like daily stand-ups, you have an opportunity to prevent the fires from happening.
That’s why we believe that Delivery Managers aren’t just there to schedule meetings or check progress. They’re there to help guide the team forward.
In a stand-up, a Delivery Manager is paying attention to things like:
Are we moving toward the next milestone?
Are blockers being heard and actually followed up on?
Does everyone know what they need to do next and more importantly, why it matters?
These don’t need to happen all at once, and you don’t need to run the perfect stand-up tomorrow. But the more intentional you are, the more your team will feel it, and follow your lead.
The kind of team we want to be
Hosting keeps the room moving. Leading moves the work forward.
We've seen it on our own teams too. When someone takes the lead with clarity and intention, it creates momentum that carries through the rest of the day, the sprint, and sometimes the entire project.
Stand-ups are there to help people make and keep commitments. Over time, this shapes the way a team works together and what they're able to achieve.
That's the kind of leadership we look for in our Delivery Managers and the kind we value across the board.
If that sounds like the kind of team you'd want to be part of, we're hiring.
