Transcript of Episode #12:
Boost Team Morale with THIS Strategy

Cristina: Hello, and welcome back to the Blissful Mompreneur podcast. I’m your host, Cristina Hall, and I am so grateful you are here today. I am on a mission to help mompreneurs or female entrepreneurs who hope to be moms in the future, systemize and scale their businesses to beat overwhelm and reclaim their time. Join me each week as I dive into actionable strategies and inspiring stories to support you on your journey to entrepreneurial success and work life balance.

Today we’re going to talk about regular check-ins with team members. I am going to share how I structure these meetings, the frequency, the things that I have learned over the years to make these meetings more effective and a better use of my time, as well as the changes I noticed in both my business and my team members once I began implementing these regular check-ins.

Now this is something I began about two and a half years ago before I went on maternity leave with my son. What motivated me to begin doing this really was that upcoming maternity leave. So as I was preparing for the leave, I started to set things up in my business so that I was not involved in the day-to-day operations of the business. I also wasn’t physically present at the location as much as I had been in the past, which is kind of when I used to see my team members. But our time was so limited there because usually I’d get there or the other team member would get there and then a student would come in and I would jump into teaching and I would teach for many hours with no break and then they would be gone by the time I’d be wrapping up so we never really had times to connect. So my motivation for starting to do this was so that I could connect with each team member, see how they’re doing, see how I could best support them and also just have more of a pulse on what was going on in the business even if I wasn’t physically present.

Now once I began doing this, I noticed first this kind of shift in my overall team where they were way more open to come to me with problems. I think when I carved out that time to sit down with them face to face or screen to screen because we do these over Zoom, they started to feel really seen and heard and valued and then that meant that anytime they encountered an issue, they felt so comfortable coming to me because they knew that every time they came to me with something they were struggling with, I either had words of wisdom or a possible solution or even just like that validation of like, wow, that’s really difficult. I’m so sorry you’re dealing with that. But something you’ll learn about me if you’re new to the podcast is I am the type of person that likes to find solutions to problems. So as soon as a team member comes to me with something they’re struggling with, I’m already brainstorming how I can fix that problem and make it so that they don’t experience that ever again. That’s just kind of my, it’s actually, if any of you are familiar with the Clifton Strengths. I took that test years ago and my number one strength is restorative. And basically when a problem is presented to you, you are always looking for the solution. And it can cause fights and relationships because sometimes people just want to vent and here I am always looking for a solution. So I’ve had to kind of train myself and be like, wait, do they want a solution or do they just want to get this off their chest? So yeah, and another thing that I noticed was I started to kind of get more insights into their personal lives. Not that I would ask them questions about their personal lives per se, but just kind of having that environment of safety where they could express themselves. They just started to kind of share some things they were dealing with. And that really gave me like a lot of context to be more empathic. So like in the past, I would sometimes perceive certain behavior as them like not caring or just being irresponsible. And then like later on maybe I would learn that they were like dealing with issues at home or health problems, right? With these kind of like regular check-ins now, I kind of have a a sense of what’s going on in each of their lives. And when I start to see certain behavior, I can then strategize ways to like best support them during these difficult times.

Another wonderful benefit is I am now no longer blindsided when team members leave. I used to find out one or two weeks in advance, right, when they would give their notice. Now, I usually know months in advance because when I do these regular check-ins, they might tell me, hey, I’m looking for a full-time teaching job for next school year. This gives me so much more time to kind of navigate and begin that search for a really good team member to replace that person, which means far less stress, right? Because I’m sure, you know, as business owners, it’s so stressful trying to find those right people. And the more time I have to do it, the more likely I am to find that really perfect candidate.

Alright so I’m going to just share with you kind of how I do these check-ins. So I meet with each team member via Zoom. We do it once per quarter. So we do it in the last month of each quarter. So we meet in March, June, September, and December. We meet for 30 minutes. And I begin each check-in with asking them how they are doing and what is going well for them in their role at the studio or in their lives. And I just let them talk. Usually they share with me kind of recent wins and I’ll celebrate with them. Maybe I will comment on their growth in their position, depending if that’s like applicable. This is also just a really beautiful opportunity for them to kind of reflect on what they’re doing that’s so positive because it’s so easy for us all to harp on the negative, right? What we’re not doing well, what’s not going well. And I love starting with the positive because we rarely pat ourselves on the back. And it’s really important that we do that and we acknowledge the things that we’re doing that are really great. So I like to start with those wins, what’s going well, it just kind of starts them meeting off on the right foot. So things are super positive. And then I ask them what they’ve been struggling with, either at the studio or in their life. And this is where they really start to open up to you and share the issues that they’ve been facing. And then we usually brainstorm solutions together. I will offer some advice or wisdom or suggestions on what we could do moving forward to help them. And then we reflect on their guiding focus from the last meeting. Now at the end of each one on one check-in, I ask them to set a goal for themselves, what they would like to focus on in their role at the studio over the next quarter. And you know, I even have had some people choose something in their personal life that will trickle down and have a positive impact on their role in the studio. For example, several years ago, I had a team member who would teach Saturday mornings and she stayed up late most nights. So she really struggled to be fully present and awake for the Saturday morning lessons. So we talked about getting into a routine where she would go to sleep earlier on certain nights of the week. So she would be more well rested so she could perform better in her role and just not feel so like icky, you know. So now going back, I read back their guiding focus from the prior quarter and I ask them how it went. Did they achieve that goal? What are some things that they have done differently? And then I end with asking them to set their guiding focus for the next quarter. And then this is what they’re going to focus on moving forward.

Now some tips, some strategies to get the most out of these check-in sessions. One, I like to batch these. So I try to schedule them back to back on two different days in the month. I like to give myself longer blocks of time to do strategic work or projects. And if I were to have like a 30 minute meeting here and a 30 minute meeting there and it would just kind of break up those blocks of time. So I block off all these meetings so that I just kind of do them one after another on two days in the month. And then I’m done and the rest of my time I can focus on those other projects. So I highly recommend blocking them. It also kind of keeps you on task. You have to keep an eye on the clock because you know that you’re going to have to meet with the next person in 30 minutes. So you have to be really efficient and stay on task.

As far as scheduling goes, the way I do it is I will put time slots on my acuity calendar and then I send out in Slack a sign up link. And I ask them all to sign up for a time. Usually I need to follow up with them once or twice. But usually they go ahead and they schedule those. And what’s great about acuity is when I set everything up I already have the zoom link right in there. So they’ll get the reminder about the meeting. They’ll get the zoom link sent to them directly. All I need to do is show up and be present.

Another big tip. This is something that I’m even working on myself is listen more than you speak. It is so easy to want to jump in and say, oh yes, I had the same experience and blah, blah, blah. Right. But the best thing you can do for your team members is listen and let there be moments of silence. I always felt like I had to fill silence. And a lot of times when I would just kind of start speaking just to kind of fill the void, it was just like nonsense. And it wasn’t really adding to the conversation. It’s so much better for there to be those moments of silence and allow your team member to kind of think. And then maybe they’re going to open up about something else.

As we wrap up today’s episode, I’m curious if this is something that you currently do with your team members. And if so, what has worked really well for you. And if this is something you’re not currently doing, I encourage you to find a rhythm that would work for you, even if it’s just once a year, just some time where you can check in with team members, see how they’re doing. You’ll see such a difference in your team, the overall culture. It allows you to have more of a pulse on the business without being involved in the day to day operations of the business. You don’t have to control everything. You can just have these scheduled times where you meet with your team and you can get a sense of the health and culture of your business.

Thank you so much for tuning in to today’s episode of the Blissful Mompreneur podcast. I hope you found the information valuable and inspiring. Remember, you have the power to step off that hamster wheel, reclaim your time, and find balance in your life. If you enjoyed today’s episode, please subscribe and leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform. Your feedback helps me continue to provide valuable content to mompreneurs like you. Until next time, keep pursuing your dreams, finding joy in the journey, and creating a life and business you love. Take care and I’ll see you in the next episode.