BUT THEY ARE COMPLETE STRANGERS
Whether a new team member feels encouraged and excited, or excluded and bewildered when joining your organization is determined at the very beginning.
The first few weeks in a new team are when they feel most vulnerable and are the most likely to leave, wasting your time, energy and money in finding a replacement and training them all over again.
* The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) reported that on average, it costs a company 6 to 9 months of an employee’s salary to replace them.
For an employee making $60,000 per year, that comes out to $30,000 – $45,000 in recruiting and training costs.
If you don’t facilitate connections, build psychological safety and trust intentionally in the beginning, you will struggle with one or more of the following issues:
Creating an environment where employees feel included, fully engaged, and encouraged to contribute their best efforts and ideas should be the number one priority of a leader.
It’s one thing when they’re all in the same building 40 hours a week – but, what about when some, or all of your team members, work remotely, and rarely (if ever!) see each other?
Let’s be frank: People are zoomed out, so why would they voluntarily join another Zoom call?
Because creating psychological safety and trust is the FOUNDATION of a healthy, engaged and high-performance workplace.
Google’s quest to build the perfect team uncovered that the #1 indicator of a high-performing, innovative team is the psychological safety and trust that develop largely through SOCIAL CONNECTIONS.
Increase collaboration and innovation by building rapport, trust, and relationships between team members quickly.
Improve communication by practising listening and feedback skills that create cohesive and collaborative teams.
Lower turnover and increase retention because employees feel connected to each other, their team and the organization.
Team Building Workshop
Through a mix of fun, playful activities and facilitated conversations, your new team will quickly break down barriers, build rapport and create a strong bond with each other.
In the end, you’ll walk away with the ground rules to create a culture where everyone feels seen, feels heard and ready to speak up.
🙋♀️ PERFECT FOR: New project teams, quickly growing startups
⏱ LENGTH: 90 Minutes
Clear communication is one of the most critical leadership skills, but often we only talk about “how to talk” instead of “how to listen.” Being present in conversations and listening with empathy is what makes your team members feel seen, heard and valued.
Vulnerability is not hanging out your dirty laundry for everyone to see, but about leaning into the uncomfortable conversations instead of avoiding them. As a leader (in a position of power), it’s your responsibility to go first to set the tone, which allows your team members to follow in your footsteps and lead to deeper connections and trust.
As a leader, you must know how to facilitate connections to enable your team to work together and collaborate quickly, because they don’t happen by chance. Employees who have friends at work are happier, more engaged and more productive.
Team Development Workshop (Monthly)
This virtual experience gives your team an opportunity to connect, practise being present with each other and have meaningful conversations every month.
Each session we will explore a new theme through fun, interactive games, small group discussions and unique virtual engagement tools
🙋♀️ PERFECT FOR: Quickly growing startups
⏱ LENGTH: 60 Minutes
Each experience is centred around a theme that can be customized to a specific outcome or tackling a certain problem that your organization faces.
Here are some examples for themes and the core message of each:
Sometimes we develop a “work persona” that is different than who we are at home with friends and family. Only when we have the courage to take off our masks and show p as our full selves, we ca create a culture of belonging at work.
According to Google one of the biggest indicators of a high-performing, innovative team is trust. which develop largely through social connections. This theme will create stronger connections without trust falls.
Once we know what someone’s job is we put them into a box based on our assumptions and this might rob us from really getting to know each other. This theme gives your team an opportunity to better understand each others roles and responsibilities.
One of the most important and underrated communication skills is listening. When we learn how to listen with the intent to understand (instead of listening to respond) your team can feel heard.
In any fast-growing company your team will develop fears, concerns and worries about the future of their workplace. This theme will give employees a chance to voice any questions and also reframe possible problems into exciting challenges.
The key to enjoying your work is whether you feel valued and appreciated by those around you. This will give the team a chance to appreciate each other.
Successful organizations are creating a culture where knowledge and innovation flourish because people feel safe to contribute their ideas. This can only happen when mistakes are embraced as opportunities to learn.
Experiential Training
In this experiential workshop, you’ll learn the 3 essential skills every leader needs to create a high-trust, high-performance team culture: Human-to-human conversations, leading with vulnerability and facilitating connections.
🙋♀️ PERFECT FOR: Managers, Directors, Team Leaders
⏱ LENGTH: 90 Minutes
In this workshop, you’ll learn the 3 essential skills every leader needs to create a high-trust, high-performance team culture:
Clear communication is one of the most critical leadership skills, but often we only talk about “how to talk” instead of “how to listen.” Being present in conversations and listening with empathy is what makes your team members feel seen, heard and valued.
Vulnerability is not hanging out your dirty laundry for everyone to see, but about leaning into the uncomfortable conversations instead of avoiding them. As a leader ( in a position of power), it’s your responsibility to go first to set the tone, which allows your team members to follow in your footsteps and lead to deeper connections and trust.
As a leader, you must know how to facilitate connections to enable your team to work together and collaborate quickly, because they don’t happen by chance. Employees who have friends at work are happier, more engaged and more productive.
JAN KECK (he / him)
Trainer | Facilitator | Experience Designer | TEDx Speaker
Jan Keck has been running public events and online experiences that build trust, empower people to share vulnerable stories and turn strangers into friends.
His “Connection Cards” have been used on every continent around the globe and helped turn over 70,000 shallow conversations into deep connections.
In the past few years, he ran over 30 workshops and trainings with over 700 trainers, facilitators, educators, team leaders learning the skills to create engaging, memorable, and transformative experiences on Zoom with 5-100 participants.
Recently, he relocated from Canada to Germany to be closer to family and is continuing to build a community of trainers, facilitators and creators that create MAGICAL HUMAN MOMENTS online.
🇩🇪 Based in Germany. 🇨🇦 Often in Toronto.
🌐 Available worldwide, in English or German.
© 2026 Jan Keck
