Ep. 3: Trusting in your team doesn't have to feel scary - 5 questions to help
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:
- What were your work priorities for this week, at the level of the project or client?
- What did you end up working on that you consider most important this week?
- What's important that got stuck, blocked, or otherwise undone as this week ends?
- What's something new that you learned, or were reminded of that seems important now?
- 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).
The OG project management software for remote teams (back in the day we organized our work using Basecamp).

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

Liked the Simon Sinek audio clips?
Here's the full Simon Sinek Navy SEALs trust video...
Book recommendations:
- 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...