There's a point when a leader's anxiety about losing control gets in the way of a team's work. How to build your trust in the team? How do you balance the urge to give direction with the need to cultivate their judgement about what's important?

Patrick and Abigail break down a weekly reflection ritual that we use to keep our remote team in sync with each other, monitor our employee's development, and maintain our priorities.

The Five Questions for our Team's Weekly Check-in:

1. What were your work priorities for this week, at the level of the project or client?
2. What did you end up working on that you consider most important this week?
3. What's important that got stuck, blocked, or otherwise undone as this week ends?
4. What's something new that you learned, or were reminded of that seems important now?
5. As you look ahead to next week, what seems the top 2 priorities for what you anticipate working on?

Storytime topics for today:

• Trends in employee engagement that caught our eye
• How a manager can recognize clues his employees are disengaging or falling behind
• The weekly check-in routine we've developed to help our team stay on the same page with our priorities
• Kairos and Kronos = two ways to view time (yes we're back with the Greek wisdom)
• Evaluating high-performing employees - maybe we're using the wrong metrics?

Shoutouts to Trusted Software Tools We've Tested

The project management system we currently use (and love dearly).

Project and Team Management Software | Teamwork

The trusted project management tool for client work. Teamwork lets you deliver projects on time and on budget - all from one organized place.

Paypal logoAdam Foale

The OG project management software for remote teams (back in the day we organized our work using Basecamp).

Replace all over the place with ONE place.

Basecamp is the calm, organized, all-in-one way to work remote.

Know Your Team helps you get to know your team through time zone differences, various locations, and all the rest.

Know Your Team

Hold effective one-on-one meetings, get honest feedback, share progress, and build team rapport.

Know Your Team

Liked the Simon Sinek audio clips?

Here's the full Simon Sinek Navy SEALs trust video...

Book recommendations:

1. Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. - Ron Chernow

Explore the book's summary, maybe even buy it from your local bookstore...

2.  Mastering the Rockefeller Habits: What You Must Do to Increase the Value of Your Growing Firm - Verne Harnish

Explore the book's summary, maybe even buy it from your local bookstore...