Slack isn’t culture. Asynchronous isn’t leadership. And “we’re like a family” doesn’t mean a thing if your team’s never seen your face.
Running a global team isn’t about timezone math or outsourcing SOPs. It’s about connection. Because the real threat to your ops isn’t just the miscommunication it is also disconnection.
At Shockwave Solutions, we’ve spent the last 6 years scaling a global remote team that runs lean, thinks fast, and actually gives a damn. Here’s how we engineered real, scalable rapport across continents and how you can too.
1. Don’t Let Slack Become a Crutch
Slack is powerful. But here’s the problem:
When everything lives in Slack, nothing gets processed at the human level.
You can’t read emotional tone in a Slack thread. You won’t catch burnout, disengagement, or tension in an emoji reaction.
We use Slack for what it’s good at: updates, links, async logistics. But the heartbeat of our team? That comes from face-to-face time.
Every single weekday starts with a live Zoom meeting on camera, eyes on. We call it our “Face-to-Face,” and it’s not optional as long as you are not out of office for the day. If you’re on the team, you’re in the room.
Culture doesn’t grow in comments. It grows in connection.
2. Make Video a Daily Ritual, Not a Random Check-In
Every morning, our entire core team meets on video. No excuses. It’s 30 minutes blocked, usually takes 15. But it’s non-negotiable.
Why? Because you don’t build trust by accident. You build it by exposure.
The daily face-to-face isn’t just about status updates. It’s how we:
- Catch tone and energy shifts
- Notice when someone’s off
- Celebrate micro-wins in real time
- Surface blockers before they become bottlenecks
You can’t “feel the room” if there isn’t a room. So we built one digitally.
3. Run Weekly Breaker Meetings With Real Questions That Matter
One of our most impactful rituals? A weekly team meeting called the Breaker.
We start every session with three questions:
- What are you grateful for?
- What are you excited about?
- What’s a personal or professional win from this week?
Sounds softhearted? It’s not. It’s actually strategic.
At first, people play it safe. “I’m excited to launch the funnel” Cool. But when leadership goes first, when we say, “I’m grateful my kid is home from school” or “I’m proud I actually took the weekend off” then you give the team a platform to actually be human.
And that’s where culture starts.
If you want real rapport, build structure around vulnerability. Don’t just sit around hoping for it to happen.
4. Build Connection Into Your Operating System
Rapport isn’t a feeling. It’s an intentional layer in your operating cadence.
Here’s how ours works:
- Daily face-to-face: Alignment + check-ins
- Weekly Breaker: Connection + perspective
- Monthly 1:1s: Personal + performance
- Quarterly recaps: Vision + feedback
You wouldn’t run marketing without a content calendar. So why are you leaving culture to chance?
Connection needs a cadence. Period.
5. Give Context, Not Just Commands
If you want your team to own the outcome, you have to stop handing them disconnected action items.
Saying “Upload this video here” isn’t leadership. It’s task delegation.
Saying “Upload this video here because it outperforms static images on mobile-first funnels by 23%” is how you create strategic thinkers.
We train our team to ask why. Because when they understand the “why,” they can:
- Preempt problems
- Suggest better solutions
- Scale their own judgment
Context turns workers into leaders. And that’s what you actually want right?
6. Match Communication to the Person, Not Just the Project
Want to see a good ops person become a great one? Learn how they learn.
At Shockwave, we don’t expect everyone to adjust to us. We pay attention to:
- Who needs visuals (Looms, wireframes)
- Who needs verbal (quick voice memos)
- Who needs bullet points and silence
We start by delivering how we prefer but we adapt based on how the work gets done.
This isn’t about being “nice.” It’s about maximizing output with less friction.
Smart communication reduces revisions. Fewer revisions = more momentum. Simple.
7. Celebrate the Small, Human Wins Loudly
Here’s what most remote leaders get wrong: they only notice work when it’s broken.
We do the opposite.
- Took the weekend off for the first time in months? Celebrate it.
- Got your daughter to sleep through the night? High five.
- Told a client “no” to protect your calendar? Damn right we’re going to call that out.
Why? Because when you make space for human wins, you create a culture where people feel safe to show up fully.
That’s the ROI of rapport.
Want the full SOP?
We’re putting together a tactical, step-by-step SOP called: How to Build Rapport With International Staff. This is inside the Visionary Vault, our private operations resource library.
→ Get it free here: https://specialopspodcast.com/visionary-vault
Listen to the Full Episode:
➡️ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gXmGguD5qw
Emma, Saka, and Richard break down the exact systems, rituals, and hard-learned lessons that helped them build an international team that runs tight and actually enjoys working together.