In the last blog, we discussed finding windows for collaboration across the US and Philippines in an otherwise flexible remote work environment. Our experience tells us that despite the option to do work anytime of the day, people settle into routine but appreciate the option to deviate from it when they need to. 

Here, we’ll talk about maximizing the collaboration window by setting a schedule for routine meetings. Much like a metronome guiding musicians to stay in sync, setting regular meeting schedules gives your remote team a steady beat to follow. The rhythm of predictable meetings keeps everyone aligned even as they perform their individual parts at their own pace.

KEEPING TIME: PREDICTABLE MEETINGS

Discussing a fixed schedule for calls might sound ironic right after a blog post talking about flexible time, but business calls are a fixture in any job. People will have to talk with colleagues and superiors at some point,  so knowing exactly when these conversations happen from week to week enables them to fully enjoy flexible hours and better prepare for these meetings. Here are the types of meetings we regularly hold across our companies, including their purpose and focus:

Daily huddles

Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, 9:00-9:15 pm PHT.

Huddles are brief sessions where team members discuss the tasks they accomplished yesterday and what they’re working on today. This regular check-in provides insight into each person’s daily priorities which helps create a shared understanding of the team’s progress. When done well, the daily huddle serves as a regular input of useful, bite-sized updates. Other benefits of this call include:

• The fact that even small updates add up: Thanks to the regular input of information, staff stay on-track and are informed of any change of plans or minor adjustments from the previous day.

• Reduced miscommunication: Team members can clarify roles and responsibilities. Should any gaps in communication occur within the last 24 hours, they can be identified and addressed before progress is affected.

• They’re a set venue for discussion: Huddles give each team member a set time to share feedback and exchange ideas. Outside of this call, it’s assumed by default that everyone is focused on their individual tasks.

• Identification of larger issues: Recurring concerns raised in huddles can point to larger issues which can then be discussed in longer meetings.

• Efficient use of time: Without the daily huddle, team communication would shift to lengthy email threads and interruptions that will likely take longer to resolve and disrupt work rhythm.

• Enhanced teamwork: Daily interactions improve camaraderie and coordination as team members pick up on each other’s communication styles, personalities, and how they work.

Weekly team workshops

Tuesdays, 7:00-8:30 am CST

These are company-wide meetings that recap the previous week and set the course for the week ahead. Weekly team workshops usually begin with announcements followed by updates from each department. At our board game publishing company Genius Games, Sales and Marketing, Operations, Finance departments take up the bulk of the updates and recaps portions with each report followed by feedback from myself and the other attendees. 

Next, the facilitator (usually the Operations Manager) highlights what went well and what could be improved from the previous week before determining the tasks for the whole week, labeling them according to level of priority, and distributing them among the team on our online task management tool.

In summary, the weekly team workshop covers:

• Company-wide announcements

• Departmental updates

• What went well vs. what needs improvement

• Tasks and assignments

These 90-minute meetings pack a lot of information and a lot of department-specific jargon. They’re also where blindspots are revealed, so these calls can trigger long discussions. To help everyone start off a little less on edge, we begin each workshop with an icebreaker. Each person shares a personal and/or professional “high” and “low” from the past week, offering a little window into everyone’s day-to-day lives and current state of mind.

As one would imagine, the icebreakers are only very brief. To focus on individual concerns, we also hold one-on-one staff check-ins where team members talk at length about their own professional and personal experiences which we’ll cover in a future blogpost.

Departmental workshops

Sales and Marketing

Every other Friday, 10:00-10:45 am CST

Finance

Tuesdays, 8:30-9:00 am CST

Internal

Mondays, 5:30-6:30 am CST

We hold a number of weekly or bi-weekly departmental workshops which are essentially breakout sessions from the larger weekly team workshop. In each of these meetings, we get into the weeds with specific departmental concerns. 

For example, as CEO, John ultimately has the final say in all decisions involving cash flow and there are too many financial matters that require his attention to fit into the 90-minute Team Workshop. This warrants a separate, weekly finance workshop between him and the finance and operations managers. 

Likewise, sales and marketing discussions can get long-winded with multiple staffers specializing in different platforms (social media, Amazon, email). Delving into analytics and how to manage relationships with retailers and distributors usually takes around 45 minutes.

Finally, the internal workshop, initiated by the Filipino staff, is a peer-collaboration platform whose main objective is to work on issues the team anticipates will be brought up in the next day’s weekly team workshop. Team members also use this time to rehearse presentations and receive unfiltered feedback from their colleagues.

KEEPING TEMPO: ONE MONTH’S CADENCE

That sounds like a lot of meetings for a company that supposedly offers flexible time. Trust us, it’s not. Let’s lay out these events across the month of September 2024 using the calendar of our Amazon Accounts Specialist, Nikko, and compute how much time he has to work flexibly. Refer to the previous section for the duration of each type of meeting:

September 3 was Nikko’s busiest day for the month as he attended the hiring and onboarding calls for our new Operations Assistant. Excluding this outlier, let’s estimate the time Nikko spent in Genius Games’ regular meetings and workshops for the month, which represents an average month of work:

Daily huddles: 

15 minutes x 4 times a week x 4 weeks = 240 minutes

Internal Workshops: 

90 minutes x once a week x 4 weeks = 360 minutes

Weekly Team Workshops: 

90 minutes x once a week x 4 weeks = 360 minutes

Sales and Marketing Workshops:

90 minutes a week x 0.5 times a week x 4 weeks = 180 minutes

Total time spent in meetings: 240 + 360 + 360 + 180 = 1,140 minutes

Added together, Nikko spent around 1,140 minutes or 19 hours in a scheduled call for the month of September 2024. That’s roughly 12 percent of his 160 working hours. In other words, he freely manages the remaining 88 percent (141 hours) of his time. Therefore, working hours for this month were almost 90 percent flexible for our Amazon Accounts Specialist.

When viewed this way, a clear rhythm of communication enhances—instead of restricting— the team’s flexibility. Employees can predict when to sync up and when to dive into focused work. Routine meetings create structure and connection while the freedom outside those windows lets people work at their natural tempo. This balance reduces stress and reinforces trust across borders and time zones. We believe that steady rhythm aligns with key elements of job satisfaction and retention: people stay where they feel trusted and in tune with their team.

At Wise Scout, we’ve seen how setting a clear rhythm of communication helps remote teams thrive. Predictable meetings paired with flexible hours keep employees aligned without weighing them down, which is the best of both worlds. As a U.S.-based company with a majority-Filipino workforce, we help American businesses build strong cross-border teams and share what we’ve learned about keeping them engaged for the long term. If you’re ready to grow your business with talented Filipino professionals and keep them in sync for years to come, we’d be happy to help you get started.