I want to talk about something that doesn’t show up in any ops playbook, doesn’t require a software subscription, and can’t be automated — but in my experience, it’s one of the most powerful things an operations leader (or really, any leader) can do.
Checking in.
Not a performance review, not a pulse survey, not even a structured 1:1 with a shared agenda. I mean a real conversation where the only real agenda is: how are you actually doing?
I know how that sounds. And honestly, I’ve thought all of those things myself. It feels soft and hard to justify when your plate is already overflowing.
The companies I’ve seen run well (sustainably well, not just sprint-well) tend to have something in common. Their leaders have a genuine, current read on their people. Not a quarterly read or a read filtered through managers and metrics. A legit read on their team, and that read comes from consistent, simple human contact that most operational systems are actually designed to replace.
We’ve built a lot of infrastructure around understanding our teams. Engagement surveys, eNPS scores, stay interviews, performance frameworks. I’m not against any of that, as it all has its place. But there’s a risk that we start to feel like we have a handle on our people because we have data about them, when, in fact, what we have is a lagging indicator of how they felt three weeks ago when they filled out the form.
A real conversation tells you things a survey never will. It tells you when someone is quietly carrying something. When a team dynamic has shifted. When a person who looks fine on paper is actually starting to disengage. When someone is ready for more and hasn’t figured out how to say it yet.
The Integral Index, conducted with The Harris Poll, captures the experiences of 12,000 U.S. workers across industries. This year’s findings show that employees with highly activated managers are 57 percentage points more likely to predict supportive workplace behaviors — the single strongest positive lever identified in the research.
"There's a risk that we start to feel like we have a handle on our people because we have data about them, when, in fact, what we have is a lagging indicator of how they felt three weeks ago when they filled out the form."
So what does this actually look like in practice?
Early in my career, a manager sent me a Slack message just asking if I had a few minutes to chat. I’d been struggling that week with some family health stuff I hadn’t told anyone about, and honestly, I was doing my best to hide it. When she asked how I was really doing, something in me just… told her what was going on. She didn’t just tell me to take time off — she sat down with me, helped me sort through what needed to happen and what could wait, and took one of my assignments onto her own plate so I could actually step away. I left that conversation feeling seen in a way I hadn’t expected. And I’ve thought about it often since, because that’s the kind of leader I want to be for my teams.
For me, it’s less of a scheduled thing and more of a consistent habit. Popping into someone’s office hours, or sending a Slack DM with no task attached. Asking a genuine question and then actually listening to the answer rather than waiting for my turn to share. Remembering what someone mentioned last time and following up on it. Basic human stuff that, in the velocity of agency life, is surprisingly easy to let go.
It also means being accessible in a way that doesn’t require someone to book time on your calendar to tell you something important. People will often share the real thing in a passing moment, or at the end of a call when the “official” part is done. Those are the moments worth being present for.
The operational payoff, because there is one, is getting an early signal from your team.
Most people problems don’t appear suddenly. They build slowly, quietly, below the surface — until they become a resignation, a conflict, a client impact, or a culture issue that everyone acts surprised by. Leaders who check in consistently tend to catch things earlier, when they’re still small enough to address without drama. That’s not soft, that’s just good operations.
We work differently when we feel seen. Not managed, not evaluated… seen. It changes the quality of our work, our willingness to raise problems early, and our loyalty to the team in hard moments. None of that shows up in a utilization report, but it’s real and it compounds over time.
You don’t need a program for this. You just need to make it a habit. Pick a few people each week to just have a conversation with no agenda other than to see how they’re doing—personally and professionally. Just check in. It’s one of the highest-leverage things you can do, and it costs nothing but a little time and genuine attention.