Latest / The Remote Revolution / The Remote Revolution Episode 133: Mid-Year Team Audit: The Questions Every Business Owner Should Be Asking

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The Remote Revolution Episode 133: Mid-Year Team Audit: The Questions Every Business Owner Should Be Asking · The Remote Revolution

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Hello and welcome to the Remote Revolution, a podcast by VirtualMojo.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: This is where we explore how modern businesses are transforming the way they work through remote teams, virtual support, and smarter operational strategies.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: In each episode, we bring you insights, conversations, and practical ideas to help entrepreneurs, leaders, and growing companies build efficient, scalable, and future-ready organizations.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: If you're looking to work smarter, scale faster, and unlock the power of remote talent, you're in the right place.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: Let's begin.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome to season one, episode 33 of the Remote Revolution with your host Hashem, and I am joined by Angela as our guest.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_02: Today we'll talk about Mid-Ear Team Audit, the questions every business owner should be asking.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, this is a big one.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_02: It really is.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_02: So whether you're managing a growing team, stepping into a leadership role, or just, you know, insanely curious about team dynamics, you are in the right place.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely, because we are looking at a deep dive into a fascinating dialogue between business experts about a ritual that frankly almost every business owner gets entirely wrong.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, completely wrong.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_02: Like it's wild.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_02: Imagine it is December 1st.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, setting the scene.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_02: Your top performer walks into your office, they quietly close the door behind them, and boom, they hand in their resignation.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_02: Ouch.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_02: And you were just completely blindsided.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, your quarterly revenue numbers looked phenomenal.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_02: The performance dashboard was completely green.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_01: Everything looked perfect on paper.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_02: But what if that resignation was not sudden at all?
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_02: What if the exact warning signs that led to this moment were uh sitting right in front of you back in June?
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_01: They usually are.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_02: So our mission today isn't to look at spreadsheets.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_02: We are not doing that.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_02: We want to uncover the hidden warning signs and those like silent resentments brewing in your team right now.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_01: So you can actually intercept a fourth quarter disaster before it happens.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_02: So, okay, let's unpack this.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_02: We have to start with what a mid-year audit usually looks like, right?
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, let's establish that baseline because the standard approach fails spectacularly at predicting the future.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_02: It really does.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_02: So what do most companies actually do in June?
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_01: Well, most companies execute what the sources call a scoreboard check.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_02: A scoreboard check.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_01: Management pulls up the performance dashboard, they look at revenue against the target, and they check who is over or under their specific quota.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_02: And if everyone is hitting their KPIs, everyone just pats themselves on the back and goes back to work.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_01: But here's the problem.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_01: That scoreboard tells you what happened, but it tells you literally zero about why it happened.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_01: Or, more importantly, what's about to happen next.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_02: Right, because by the time a problem actually shows up in those numbers, it's already old news.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, the damage is done.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_01: Those sudden Q4 surprises, they are rarely sudden.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, I have an analogy for this.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_02: Looking at the scoreboard tells you who is winning the game, right?
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_02: But it doesn't tell you if your star player is quietly playing with a sprained ankle.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, that is a perfect way to look at it.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_02: But let me push back a little bit here to playing devil's advocate.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_02: Aren't numbers the most objective measure we have?
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, why shouldn't a business owner rely on cold, hard data?
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_01: It's a fair question.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_01: And yes, the numbers are real and objective, but they are what we call a lagging indicator.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, lagging indicator.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_01: They measure the output of the work long after the actual work has been completed.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_01: There is a massive critical gap between we looked at performance and we actually understood the team.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_02: So if the numbers only reveal the past, what should we be looking at to actually predict the future?
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_01: This naturally leads us to looking at what employees are actually doing versus what they think they're doing.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, this is huge.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_01: It is.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: The sources point to a critical question you have to ask.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_01: Who on your team is doing a completely different job than the one they were hired for?
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_02: Wait, like doing things outside their job description?
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_01: By June, people quietly absorb all these unassigned responsibilities.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_01: You know, maybe they're covering for a coworker who left, or they become the unofficial tech expert because they're good at the new software.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_02: Right, and they get no update to their title, no change in compensation.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_01: None.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_01: And the experts call this job drift.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_02: Job drift, I see this happen all the time in fast-growing companies.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, it's everywhere.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_01: The paper org chart just drifts completely away from the real org chart, and that breeds this invisible resentment that turns into a resignation months later.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_02: And there is a second part to this, right?
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_02: The knowledge risk.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_01: Think about it.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_01: If you lost that person tomorrow, do you know what they actually do in enough detail to replace them?
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_02: Oh man.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_02: Usually the answer is no.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_01: And if not, it is a massive blind spot and a huge exposure risk for the company, regardless of how well that employee is performing right now.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, here's where it gets really interesting.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_02: Because I'm thinking, as a manager, how on earth do you find this drift without making it feel like an interrogation?
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_01: Because if you just ask them to list everything they do, they'll panic.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_02: I feel like I was being evaluated for a layoff.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_02: Be like, uh, let me list every single email I sent today to look busy.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, people get super defensive.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_01: So the sources share a really specific tactic for this.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_01: You do an unprompted time audit.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, how does that work?
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_01: You just have each person describe, completely unprompted, what they spent the most time on last month.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_01: You frame it as trying to find organizational time sinks.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, that's smart.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_02: It removes the pressure.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_01: Completely.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_01: And then you map that list against their official job description.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_02: And the gaps between those two lists, that is exactly where the job drift lives.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_01: You find the drift without triggering their defenses.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, so let's say you identify that a role has drifted.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_02: Once you see it, you start noticing symptoms, right?
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_02: Like maybe a drop in their output.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, and this is where so many managers fall into a massive trap.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_02: Because they treat every drop in output exactly the same way.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_01: Precisely.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_01: They confuse a performance problem with a fit problem.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, explain the difference there.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: Well, if output drops, the standard instinct is to manage the output tighter, right?
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_01: You introduce more check-ins or maybe put them on a performance improvement plan.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe you paint the screws.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_01: But if the issue is a fit problem, meaning the job drifted so much that it's no longer the right role for them, applying pressure won't fix it.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_02: It just stresses them out more.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_01: It actually speeds up their exit.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_01: Because you're demanding they excel at a job they never signed up for and might not have the temperament for.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_02: Like taking an introverted analyst and forcing them to do constant client conflict resolution because of job drift?
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_01: Their cortisol spikes, they panic and they just quit.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_01: Performance problems require clearer expectations.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_01: Fit problems require a real conversation about whether the role still makes sense.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_02: So how do you start that conversation?
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_02: Because you can't just say, hey, is everything okay?
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, never ask, is everything okay?
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_02: Because they'll just say, yeah, fine, right?
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_01: It's a reflex.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_01: It gives them an easy escape hatch.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_01: Instead, the sources suggest asking directly with no escape hatch.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_01: What part of this role feels different from what you signed up for?
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_01: And is that a good different or a bad different?
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, I love that phrasing.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_02: Good different or bad different.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_02: Because it acknowledges that drift has already happened.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_01: It takes the burden off the employee to complain.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_02: And what about checking their workload?
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_02: Because if you just ask generally if they are swamped, it turns into like a grievance listing confession booth.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, everyone wants to prove how busy they are.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_01: So don't ask generally.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_01: Ask specifically.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_01: Say, walk me through what a hard week looked like for you last month.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_02: Wow, specificity is really doing all the heavy lifting here.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_01: It absolutely is.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_02: Because it's so much harder for an employee to spend a specific week than it is to just vent about a general mood.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_01: Vague questions get safe, vague answers.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_01: Specific questions force a real illuminating dialogue.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_01: They have to tell you the actual bottlenecks.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, so we've gathered the truth.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_02: We have the right specific questions.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_02: But what happens next?
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_02: Because this feels like the moment where companies either save their team or completely destroy trust.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_01: It is the defining moment because what separates a real audit from just a box-checking exercise is action.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_01: Action.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_01: If you sit down, uncover the job drift, name it, and then do absolutely nothing to shift their compensation title or workload.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_02: Oh man.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_01: You just prove to the employee that speaking up is completely useless.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_02: That is actually worse than not asking them at all.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_01: It is.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_01: It accelerates their exit because now they know you see the problem and you just don't care.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_02: So how does this tie into that concept from the sources, the 90-day ghosting thing?
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_01: Ah, yes.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_01: The 90-day ghosting connection.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_01: Usually that applies to new hires, right?
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_01: They realize the job isn't what was promised, so they mentally check out and go quiet.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_02: Right, they just do the bare minimum until they find a new job.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_01: But tenured employees experiencing job drift do the exact same thing.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_01: A team member quietly absorbing work without complaining gives off the exact same signal.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_02: So wait, owners usually see an employee who isn't complaining and just taking on more work, and they read that silence as stability?
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, they think the system is running perfectly.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_01: But it's an illusion of calm.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_01: It's actually the early stage of someone making the internal decision to leave.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_02: So, what does this all mean for you listening right now?
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_02: If you have an employee who is completely silent, never complains, and just takes on more and more work, you shouldn't be relieved.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_02: You should be highly suspicious.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_01: You really should, because reading silence as confirmation rather than investigating it is a fundamental leadership failure.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_01: The real audit happens in the uncomfortable conversations that leaders keep putting off.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_02: That makes so much sense.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, let's wrap this up and summarize the core takeaways here.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_02: First, ditch the scoreboard as a predictive tool.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_02: It's a lagging indicator.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_02: Second, you have to actively hunt for job drift.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_02: Third, use those hyper-specific questions to separate a fit problem from a performance problem.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_01: Walk me through a hard week.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_02: And finally, remember that an audit without action is just a fast track to losing your best people.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, these insights aren't just for business owners.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, right.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_02: If you're an employee listening to this, it's time to evaluate your own job drift.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, run this time audit on yourself.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_01: It helps you prepare for these conversations with your boss using actual data.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_02: That is such a good point.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_02: But before we go, I want to end with a lingering thought for you to mull over.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_02: Something that builds on all this.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, let's hear it.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_02: We spent all this time talking about how to uncover job drift in your team, right?
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_02: Playing the diagnostician.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_02: But here is something to think about.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_02: What if the person experiencing the most severe, unrecognized job drift in your organization isn't your employee, but is actually you.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, wow.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_02: Like, how far has your own day-to-day drifted from the visionary role you actually wanted to play when you started the business?
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_01: If you're spending all your time frantically checking scoreboards and patching up other people's work, you've definitely drifted.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_02: And the dashboard will never tell you that you're burning out until your own foundation finally cracks.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_02: So take a hard look at the reality beneath the metrics and ask yourself those uncomfortable questions before December arrives.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much for joining us on this deep dive.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_02: Keep questioning the obvious, and we'll catch you next time.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening to the Remote Revolution.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to subscribe and share it with other professionals who are building the future of work.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: To learn more about how VirtualMojo helps businesses grow with highly trained virtual assistants and remote support teams, visit www.virtualmojo.com.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: For inquiries or collaborations, reach out to us at contact at virtualmojo.com.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time, keep building smarter systems and embracing the future of work.