
Maybe you know that all is well with your team. People are satisfied that progress is good or better than good. You've had some bumps between some team members, but nothing serious. Or maybe you know of some kind of trouble, or that the team is blocked somehow from making further progress. Whatever you think you know, are you certain that everyone has a clear view — and the same clear view — of what's working and what isn't?
Check-ins can surface differences among team or group members about what's happening. A minute per person is probably enough. Check-ins won't catch everything, but they return a lot of value for the time expended.
The goal of check-ins is to gather contributions from everyone, to create a sound basis for moving forward, or to enable the team to later address whatever comes up. Here are five suggestions for conducting effective check-ins.
- Introduce check-ins when things are going well
- Introducing Check-ins won't catch everything,
but they return a lot of value
for the time expendedcheck-ins when people feel troubled about the team's progress can create difficulties for adopting the practice. When the team is pressed and facing obstacles, the check-in might feel to some like an unnecessary distraction from more urgent work. - Learning how to conduct check-ins does take some effort. When things are going well, the few minutes spent in checking in are not a cause for worry. Develop the practice in advance of trouble, not during trouble.
- Allow a random order of voluntary contributions
- Don't go "around the table" (or around the virtual table), requiring everyone to contribute something when called on. Let people choose when and whether to contribute. If someone wants to add something later, after already having contributed, that's fine too.
- A loose, relaxed contribution protocol welcomes all contributions, and no contribution is required.
- Create a parallel anonymous contribution channel
- In face-to-face meetings, collect unsigned, written contributions on slips of paper. Have abstainers submit blanks. For virtual meetings, use technology to create an anonymity channel.
- Anonymity enables some people to comment even when commenting feels unsafe, which helps the team surface truth about risky topics.
- Use both open and themed check-ins
- Vary the format. An open check-in enables people to comment on anything at all. A themed check-in welcomes all comments, but it especially encourages comments related to a theme or question.
- Both formats have strengths and weaknesses. An open format is unbiased, but might overlook an important issue. A themed format can focus on a known issue, but might give too little attention to issues not yet surfaced.
One last suggestion enhances psychological safety: ban comments about other people's contributions. A check-in is not a debate. A contribution is the contributor's view. The goal of the check-in is to express our views about the team's progress, and all of us are entitled to our own views. Top
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Related articles
More articles on Effective Meetings:
Dispersed Teams and Latent Communications
- When geography divides a team, conflicts can erupt along the borders. "Us" and "them"
becomes a way of seeing the world, and feelings about people at other sites can become hostile. Why
does this happen and what can we do about it?
Remote Facilitation in Synchronous Contexts: II
- Facilitators of synchronous distributed meetings — meetings that occur in real time, via telephone
or video — encounter problems that facilitators of face-to-face meetings do not. Here's Part II
of a little catalog of those problems, and some suggestions for addressing them.
Rationalizing Creativity at Work: I
- Much of the work of modern organizations requires creative thinking. But financial and schedule pressures
can cause us to adopt processes that unexpectedly and paradoxically suppress creativity, thereby increasing
costs and stretching schedules. What are the properties of effective approaches?
Guidelines for Curmudgeon Teams
- The curmudgeon team is a subgroup of a larger team. Their job is to strengthen the team's conclusions
and results by raising thorny issues that cause the team to reconsider the path it's about to take.
In this way they help the team avoid dead ends and disasters.
Newly Virtual Politics: Meetings
- Pandemic or not, workplace politics marches on. But with the pandemic and the prevalence of formerly
co-located teams becoming more virtual, workplace politics takes a new form, especially clearly so in
meetings.
See also Effective Meetings and Effective Communication at Work for more related articles.
Forthcoming issues of Point Lookout
Coming June 7: Toxic Disrupters: Tactics
- Some people tend to disrupt meetings. Their motives vary, but they use techniques drawn from a limited collection. Examples: they violate norms, demand attention, mess with the agenda, and sow distrust. Response begins with recognizing their tactics. Available here and by RSS on June 7.
And on June 14: Pseudo-Collaborations
- Most workplace collaborations produce results of value. But some collaborations — pseudo-collaborations — are inherently incapable of producing value, due to performance management systems, or lack of authority, or lack of access to information. Available here and by RSS on June 14.
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