Working virtually doesn’t just mean working from any location at your convenience. It means staying on top of tasks, and employees, without meeting in person. How do you keep tabs on everyone’s distinct responsibilities? How do you make sure you meet deadlines and fulfill obligations, even if you don’t have a manager looking over your shoulder?
There are several ways to make virtual work just as productive and successful as working in an office. One of the best tools is the morning meeting. Virtual meetings through online platforms like TriviaHub help you and your employees stay in touch and even improve the quality you deliver to your clientele.
If you run or manage a business that works remotely, here are the top 6 ways in which virtual morning meetings benefit your company.
Re-Establishing Intentions
One of the best tools for being productive is setting an intention: a goal or set of goals that will guide you through your day. Studies have shown that setting an intention in the morning increases your chances of meeting your goals on time. A great way for individuals to set intentions is with a work calendar or list. A preferred method for setting an entire team or company’s intentions is to voice your goals during a morning meeting.
What do you want to achieve on this day? Do you want to increase your client list, improve poor customer service from previous days, or finalize a contract that’s in the works? How does this day work into your team’s long-term goals, like overall growth and financial success?
Team members may have different intentions, but they’re unlikely to clash with one another. Encourage team members to set their intentions for the day, while also following your overall goals for the entire company. Setting intentions in virtual morning meetings reminds everyone that their contributions are important and that individual successes benefit the team as a whole.
Checking In
How is everyone’s progress with ongoing projects? Rare are companies that can start and end each day without leaving any loose ends. Sometimes, projects take multiple days or even weeks to complete. Morning meetings are an excellent means of checking in on your employees’ progress. When employees feel that they have to present progress during morning meetings, they’re less likely to procrastinate about or forget about important tasks.
Feel free to open the floor to your team as well. Do coworkers need to check in with each other about collaborating on a project or handing off a task? Would anyone like to check in with you about something, like new software updates or adding a new employee to the team? Respectfully acknowledge everyone’s concerns.
Checking in not only encourages employees to stay productive but also alleviates concerns that could distract them throughout the day. When someone can address a concern in the morning, they won’t spend the entire day worrying about upcoming changes or other coworkers’ progress.
Reflecting on the Previous Day
This perk is best experienced when you make morning meetings a daily practice. Start your meeting with a few simple greetings, then reflect on the previous workday. Was everyone’s performance up to par? How do clients and customers feel about yesterday’s work? Where do individuals need improvement?
Even if you’re speaking from a place of authority, feel free to include reflections on your own work. This can break down employee-manager barriers and build trust.
For best results, you can smoothly transition yesterday’s reflections into today’s goals: see “Re-Establishing Intentions” above. How can you adapt to challenges or unfortunate news from the previous day and make the best out of today? How can the company learn from negative experiences like poor customer reviews or losing a longtime client?
Gauging Feedback
Morning meetings are best when they involve multiple speakers. Don’t just lecture your team; invite them to participate. Does anyone have feedback? Which systems can be improved? How does everyone feel about the work they’re doing? Asking morning meeting questions like these can inspire positive change, encourage creative input, and challenge remote workers to improve.
This facet of a virtual morning meeting can boost employee engagement. When they feel that their leadership cares about the work that they do and values their input, they feel like important contributors to a team. Remote workers can often feel detached from their coworkers or even the company itself, so gauging feedback is incredibly important for remote employee engagement.
Requiring Attendance
Many remote companies struggle to keep their employees on a productive schedule. Of course, employees may prefer to work during certain time frames, but it’s important for productivity and quality that employees work similar schedules. Virtual morning meetings are your summons to remote employees, insisting that they participate in work early, make themselves available for communication, and stay on your clock.
Requiring attendance at morning meetings is great for time management as well. When the entire team attends meetings, you get to save time and address everyone all at once. This prevents ongoing communication woes, like several different employees emailing you with the same question. Address an announcement or update once, then move on.
Boosting Company Morale
Finally, while company meetings may seem like a chore to some employees, meeting with your coworkers is a huge boost to company morale. This practice helps remote employees who spend most of their day alone feel like they’re part of a cohesive, cooperative unit. It’s humanizing to see the face behind the name of people with whom you work. You aren’t just coworkers; you’re a team.
Employees may even feel thankful to be included in company meetings. You take time out of your day to welcome them into important conversations, and this has value to them. They may feel like more important company assets who have unique contributions to add.
In Conclusion
We hope you’ll utilize these morning meeting ideas so you get the most benefits out of every gathering. Don’t forget that your company needs a virtual meeting platform, too. TriviaHub is an easy-to-use service that helps remote workers connect and communicate. It’s an excellent tool for holding meetings as well as enjoying fun team building activities.
Get started today to streamline meetings and boost your remote business.
