The Key to Fostering Relationships Within Your Team

We need community to survive. With the extended periods of isolation many of us have had due to the pandemic, we’ve experienced the mental and emotional consequences of having that need go unfulfilled.

Entrepreneurs who create a strong culture – one that their team looks forward to coming to every week – can scale more smoothly, pivot with more resilience, and learn from their mistakes more gracefully (because they have each other to lean on).

But when your team is remote, how can you nurture the innate human need to relate to others?

The super-sexy answer: have amazing daily meetings.

I’m not talking about unstructured, hourlong b*tch sessions or 2-hour brain drains to troubleshoot why Active Campaign isn’t talking to Demio.

I’m not talking about virtual happy hours, either. (Compulsory social events are corporate nonsense, not community.)

Instead, build low-key team building into your daily routine with a highly structured team check-in. Here’s how to make it efficient while reinforcing genuine personal connections:

1. Keep it structured.

Follow the same format for your daily check-in meeting so that team members know what to expect. At the very least, make sure your team shares a status report, where they’re stuck, and what they’re celebrating.

2. Keep it short.

This daily check-in should take an average of 10 minutes, and be no longer than 20 minutes, MAX. If you have more business to attend to, that’s a separate meeting that doesn’t need to involve everyone and doesn’t need to be every day.

3. Keep it consistent.

Do NOT try to solve problems in this meeting. If someone is stuck and it requires more than a 2-word answer to resolve, have those team members schedule another time to take care of it.

4. End on a high note.

Daily celebrations are a foundational part of these daily meetings. It gives your team a chance to acknowledge the personal, sometimes smaller wins. (Hey, the big wins will be celebrated no matter what!) If a team member has a bad day, but they still completed all their tasks for the day, that’s arguably a bigger win than if they got ahead of their to-do list. These small wins also allow more vulnerability and humanity into your company’s culture overall, fostering deeper connections that actually improve operational efficiency.

How Big Should My Team Be Before I Start Having Daily Meetings?

First: If you have at least one full-time employee, definitely start checking in daily. It’s time.

If you’re working with a Virtual Assistant and a few subcontractors, you probably won’t need to meet with them any more than they indicate in their proposal. However, if your VA is consistently clocking 20+ hours per week in your business, you should definitely consider starting with weekly check-in meetings (if they’re willing to do it).

Are you building a team? Whether you’re looking to hire your first contractor Virtual Assistant or ready to expand with a part-time (or full-time!) employee, I can help with a 1-on-1 deep dive on your business. In a Team Planning Session, we’ll:

• Explore your business goals
• Uncover where your time is going each day
• Discuss the big hurdles holding you back
• Discover opportunities for efficiencies and time management improvements, and
• Determine exactly who you should be looking to add to your team and when.

Don’t worry – this isn’t some crazy commitment. This is 10 minutes a day; one Zoom call that can change your life.

Reach out here, and I’ll reach back.