You’re 45 minutes into your 60-minute team meeting. Nobody has spoken except you and two other team members. The other five people are spectators.
Yet you know they’ve got lots of opinions to share. You overheard two of them whispering in the kitchen yesterday. The awkward silence when you entered was… well - awkward.
But how can you encourage your team members to open up a bit more?
Why don’t they feel safe to speak their mind?
You’ve only ever been polite and open with them. What are you doing wrong?
Everything you ever needed to know about check-ins
What is a check-in?
A check-in is a simple method for opening a meeting. There is an open invitation for every person to speak at the start of the meeting.
A check-in can be short (such as a one-word check-in) or it could be long (like explaining your life story).
We’ve found that regular check-ins are one of the most powerful rituals to build an inclusive and effective team culture.
If you resonated with the story at the start of this post, a check-in process may be what’s missing in your workplace.
Image shows a light-up sign of a question mark lying on its side. Image by @jontyson
Why not just get the meeting started already?
A check-in serves several purposes - both in the short and long-term.
For the meeting at hand, a check in:
Helps everybody to understand who's there
Creates a norm of equal participation
Builds psychological safety so everybody feel safe to speak up and be honest (not just the official leaders)
Allows extroverts to do what they love (speaking in front of people)
Allows introverts to break their silence early (which helps them to open up later on in the meeting)
And in the longer-term, when you use regular check-ins, you will experience:
Increased trust in your group (because people are more used to being real with each other)
Increased creativity and sharing of ideas
Less burnout, because you create an environment where people feel safe to look after their own wellbeing needs
Earlier identification of roadblocks before they become insurmountable.
When do you use a check-in?
Ideally, you do a check-in at the start of every meeting, event or gathering.
This does not mean you have to do a long check-in where you "go around everybody in the room" More tips on that below.
What if we don't have time to go around everybody?
You always have time for a check-in; you just need to match the check-in to the meeting.
Say, for example, you’ve just left a 2 hour project meeting and you now have a 1:1 with a team member. You don’t need to do a deep check-in. You might both simply share how much energy you have out of 10 following the project meeting. Maybe you both realise you have 3 out of 10, so you decide to walk around the block while having your 1:1 or get a cup of coffee.
If you're feeling pressured for time, here are some ways to speed up the check-in:
Try a one-word or one sentence check-in
Model the answer so people get an idea of how long to speak for
Invite people to answer without speaking (e.g. post in the chat of your virtual meeting or write on a post-it note and paste it on the wall).
Try the back-to-back and face-to-face process:
find a partner and stand back-to-back
listen to the question and think of your answer
turn face-to-face
take turns to speak and listen.
Split people into pairs for the check-in
Split people into smaller groups then invite a few people to share some themes with the whole group afterwards.
How, exactly, do I facilitate a check-in?
Explain the purpose and the process.
Write any instructions up somewhere to people can remember.
Model the process by doing the check-in yourself first.
Image shows a sign on a table that says ‘goodbye friends’. Image by @craft_ear
What about a check-out?
The check-out is just as valuable as a check-in. But they often get forgotten - even by experienced facilitators like us. Doing a check-out requires you to be aware of time, and to pause the conversation before you want the meeting to finish.
A check-out is like the conversation you have in the corridor after the meeting where you debrief (and sometimes rant!) about the meeting you’ve just had.
Creating space for people to share their reflections or concerns in front of everybody else builds trust by creating a norm of honesty.
How do you choose the 'right' check-in?
There are three things to consider:
how much time you have
the group culture (that might already exist, or that you might want to encourage)
the purpose of the meeting and how the check-in question might support that.
This is where the link will jump to
Check-in question bank
Over the years, we’ve been collecting check-in questions. The good. The bad. And the unexpected. (What flavour ice-cream best represents you and why?)
Feel free to steal any of these or adapt them for your own work. If you have any success stories, we’d love to hear how you get on.
Quick status check-ins
How is your day/week going?
How are you doing today?
What one/three/five words describe your day today?
How is your energy today, from 1 to 10?
Getting to know each other (but not going too deep)
What's one dull fact about you? (This is an alternative to the typical “What’s one interesting fact about you?” which - strangely enough - usually results in people telling you their job title or where they were live.)
What's your favourite place in the world?
What’s your favourite hobby and why?
What’s your name and what’s the story or meaning behind it?
Deep life story check-ins
What big moments have led to you being here today?
Share a bit about where you grew up and how that shapes who you are today
Invite people to bring an object that is special to them - and then the check-in involves them speaking about that object and its significance
[First, invite everybody to choose a year - any year - when they were alive. Then, once everybody has chosen a year…] Tell us a bit about what was going on in your life that year!
Checking in on the meeting purpose
What are you hoping to achieve from today's meeting?
What do you see as your role in this project/meeting/event?
What does success look like from your perspective?
How would you rate your [knowledge/skills/understanding about meeting topic] out of 10?
What questions are in your mind at the moment in relation to [the meeting topic]?
What are your expectations for today's meeting?
Reflective check-ins
What's been the highlight of your week/month/year?
How would you describe the morale in your organisation at the moment?
What's one rose (highlight), thorn (challenge) and bud (potential) in your life?
What is bringing you joy and energy at the moment?
Unusual (but potentially insightful) check-ins
If you were an animal, what would you be?
What are your favourite pair of shoes?
What type of beverage best describes you today?
What flavour ice-cream (or insert whatever food type you like) best represents you and why?
Checking in on people’s emotional state:
What season are you in at the moment?
What's on top for you right now?
What colour are you feeling?
Draw the house that describes how you are feeling right now.
Check-ins to encourage presence
If you weren't here, what would you be doing right now?
What do you need to acknowledge so you can be present today?
Group culture check-ins
What do you notice about the people in this group?
What is becoming possible in the world because of this group?
What do you need from the group to bring your full self to this meeting/event?
Learn more about the power of checking in
In Episode 23 of the Beyond Consultation Podcast, Bre McQuade unpacks the importance of check-in questions, and shares how the power of curiosity can transform how your organisation works.