Kickstart Your Day: The Power of Team Check-Ins for Remote Workers

Three mornings a week, we jump onto Google Meet. This facilitated gathering has several important functions.

• To connect, especially those working remotely
• To support health and calm
• To give people an opportunity to feel heard
• To clarify priority tasks
• To laugh together

Here is our process.

The Breathing Exercise

We start with a 3-minute deep breathing video. We do this because people who work with computers develop shallow breathing, which has negative health consequences. So, we start the day by reminding ourselves what a deep breath feels like. It’s also a way to let go of the morning worries and give full attention to the team. You’ll often find this type of exercise recommended for people who may be feeling anxious. That’s not why we do it, but it’s handy to know.

The Priority Task

After the breathing exercise, the facilitator invites each person to nominate their priority for the day. This moment is also an opportunity to ask for help, which has become a natural way for team members to reach out.

The Emotional Reward

The next part of the check-in involves choosing from a list of emotions. How will you feel when you get that job done? This is about more than expanding our emotional vocabulary. (Brene Brown and her team surveyed 7,000 people over five years and found that, on average, most can identify only three emotions as they are feeling them.)

This exercise also promises us a good feeling when the task is complete. Most mornings, people experiment with different words to describe emotions, which has become a playful part of the call. It often gets a laugh.

The Facilitator

Each call is carefully facilitated by a team member to ensure everyone is heard and the call is positive. The facilitator uses each person’s first name a couple of times during the check-in and summarises each person’s task and emotion. Every few months, we change the slides to refresh the visual experience of the check-in so that it doesn’t become too routine.

Individual Benefit

By the end of the 15-minute check-in, you’ve:

• started the day with some deep, calming breaths.
• heard your name a few times
• named your priority task and heard it summarised
• asked for any help you need
• named the emotion you could feel if you get that job done
• shared a laugh with your team.

Collective Productivity

A structured and supportive morning routine like our Check-In can significantly enhance individual well-being and collective productivity. This habit stack, inspired by James Clear’s concept, combines deep breathing exercises, prioritisation, emotional awareness, and facilitation to create a powerful start to the day.

Boost Mental & Physical Health

The Check-In effectively counters the isolation of remote work by addressing physical health with breathing exercises, fostering connection and communication through structured sharing, and promoting emotional intelligence with the emotion-naming activity.

This simple yet comprehensive routine ensures that each team member feels heard and supported and lays a solid foundation for a productive and emotionally satisfying workday.