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One Simple Habit That Builds Trust in Teams

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One of the most powerful things you can do as a leader is to talk to your team every day. It sounds simple, but it’s often overlooked, especially in distributed teams. Daily conversations help build and maintain relationships, foster trust, and remind your team that they matter as people, not just as task-completers.

Let’s be clear: this isn’t a psychological experiment. There’s no hidden agenda or behavioral study behind it. It’s simply about genuine care and human connection.

But what should you talk about? It doesn’t have to be complicated. Ask how they are, how their family is, or how life outside work is going. The point isn’t the topic, it’s the connection.

I usually start with something like:

“Hullo! How’s things?”

It often takes a few tries before people realise I’m genuinely asking about them, not their current task.

A colleague once raised a concern: Doesn’t this feel like micromanaging?

It’s a fair question, and the answer lies in how you do it. This isn’t about checking up on work progress, it’s about checking in on people. Here are three tips to make sure it feels supportive, not intrusive:

  1. Be upfront: Tell your team from the start that you’ll reach out daily to stay connected. Transparency builds trust.
     
  2. Keep it light: Use instant messages (e.g., Teams, Slack) rather than video calls. A quick “How’s your day going?” is enough.

  3. Focus on them, not tasks: Make it about their wellbeing, not their deadlines.

The New One Minute Manager uses a clock face to remind us to take a minute each day to look into the faces of the people we lead and realize they are our most important resource. 

In a distributed world, that “look” might be a message, but the principle is the same.

Leadership isn’t about control, it’s about connection. Start today with a simple “Hullo! How’s things?” and see what happens.

If you’d like more practical leadership tips like this, check out my book: https://paulgrenyer.com/so-you-think-you-can-lead-a-team.html

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