How many times have you heard the question of "shall we touch base?" asked casually and without any real intention? Personally, I hear it all the time. However, to not take the opportunity to touch base with a colleague seriously would be silly. Let me tell you why and how to touch base properly.

So, why? Well for one, a touch base meeting is a powerful tool for maintaining continuous communication between team members, employees, and managers. These meetings are brief, informal check-ins and that is exactly why they can be so powerful. Often, we are more creative and open to throwing ideas around when the environment is a bit more chilled.

So, while these meetings are designed to ensure that all parties are aligned, projects are moving forward, and any issues or roadblocks are addressed in a timely manner, they can also harness some serious creative power and bring about helpful conversations. With that in mind, let's dive into exactly what a touch base meeting is, its purpose, and how to lead this meeting in a productive way with our clever tips, tricks and meeting minutes template.

What is a Touch Base Meeting?

So, as briefly mentioned, a touch base meeting is an informal, one-on-one meeting, typically between a manager and an employee, or among team members, to check on progress, discuss roadblocks, and offer guidance. These meetings are not intended to be formal reviews but rather quick catch-ups to ensure everything is on track. A touch base meeting can occur weekly, biweekly, or whenever needed, and they help promote open communication and collaboration. Their use isn't limited to that though, and these discussions can also act as a recap meeting, where two colleagues keep each other in the loop with what they're up to at that time.

Key Features of a Touch Base Meeting:

• Brief and informal: Typically 15-30 minutes in length, focusing on key updates.
• One-on-one or small group: Commonly held between managers and employees or among team members.
• Flexible agenda: While there’s often a general purpose, touch base meetings don’t follow a strict meeting agenda. Strict and informal don't often cross paths, and they definitely don't when it comes to touching base.

What Is the Purpose of a Touch Base Meeting?

The main goal of a touch base meeting is to ensure that communication is open, frequent, and clear between all involved parties. These meetings offer a chance to discuss progress, clarify priorities, and resolve any challenges that may arise. Because the nature of touching base is casual yet important, we want to give a quick tip that can help your touch base meetings be exactly that before we go into more details on the purpose of a touch base meeting.

Tip: Using Technology for Touch Base Meetings

The right technology can help touch base meetings remain casual but play into their importance. Here, we're talking about technology to help with virtual meetings, due to their popularity in our increasingly dispersed work environment.

Specifically, the use of an AI note taker in your touch base meeting to record, transcribe, and summarize the discussion and keep it as a record for future conversation between those involved. Our recommendation - Bubbles Notetaker.

Why Use Bubbles Notetaker for Touch Base Meetings?

Bubbles is an advanced AI notetaker that you can invite to join your touch base meeting through the brilliant Bubbles Chrome/Edge extension (check the reviews!). From here, Bubbles joins the meeting, records, transcribes, and generates meeting minutes. Here’s how it can improve your touch base meetings:

• Accurate Transcription: Bubbles records the meeting in real-time and generates an accurate transcript, allowing you to focus on the conversation instead of note-taking.
• Action Items: Post-meeting, Bubbles sends each participant an email that includes personalized action items and a summary of the discussion.
• Meeting Minutes: Instead of manually writing meeting minutes, Bubbles automatically generates detailed minutes with timestamps, helping keep everyone on the same page.
• Team Collaboration: The meeting recording, transcript, minutes, and action items are easily accessible in your Notetaker area and can be shared with team members, who are then able to view and comment, making sure there is accountability and continuous progress.

Using a tool like Bubbles really enhances the quality of touch base meetings by allowing you to focus on the discussion, save time, and make sure nothing is missed.

Also, a quick note - if you want Bubbles to automatically join meetings, it can! Simply head into the Bubbles app and connect your work calendar.

Back to it - here are a few key purposes of a touch base meeting that you'll want to keep in mind:

1. Tracking Progress: Managers can check on the status of ongoing projects and stay on top of deadlines and objectives, making sure they're met/are on track.
2. Providing Support: Employees can voice any concerns or roadblocks they’re experiencing and managers can offer guidance or remove obstacles.
3. Building Rapport: Regular check-ins help build rapport between managers and team members. They go a long way towards creating stronger working relationships and better employee engagement.
4. Aligning Priorities: Keeping everyone in sync is massively important. Here, managers and employees can always make sure they’re aligned on goals, tasks, and priorities, sparing any wasted efforts.

What Do You Talk About in a Touch Base with Your Boss?

So, we know the purposes, but how do you actually achieve those purposes? To cover all necessary bases, view your touch base with your boss as your chance to discuss both tactical and strategic aspects of your work.

This is similar to any old one on one, but slightly more focussed on helping you and the team collaborate better. Here are a few key topics you should consider talking about:

• Project Updates: Provide an update on your current tasks, achievements, and challenges.
• Roadblocks: Share any obstacles that may be preventing you from reaching your goals or meeting deadlines, and ask for guidance on how to move forward.
• Priorities: Ask for clarity on your current priorities, especially if multiple tasks or projects require attention and are pulling you in all different directions. Try to work out exactly what requires your undivided attention.
• Feedback: Take this opportunity to request feedback on your performance or offer constructive feedback regarding team collaboration or processes. This can be especially useful in a new team set up, or if there is a new team member on the scene.
• Future Plans: Always discuss upcoming goals, deadlines, or personal development opportunities in this conversation.

Writing Meeting Minutes for a Touch Base Meeting

Taking proper meeting minutes during a touch base meeting is important for keeping track of discussions, decisions, and action items. As we know from above, if you use Bubbles, this process is automated and allows you to focus fully on the conversation and your manager/employee relationship.

If, for some reason, you still prefer a manual method, here’s how you can write effective touch base meeting minutes:

• Document Key Points: Summarize the main discussion points, such as project updates, roadblocks, and upcoming priorities.
• Record Action Items: Clearly outline the tasks that need to be completed, who is responsible for each task, and the expected deadlines.
• Follow Up: After the meeting, send out a follow-up email with the minutes so that they are shared with all participants. Again, with a note taker like Bubbles, the follow-up email is sent automatically, and contains a summary, personalized action items, links to full recording and transcript, and more.