5 Ways to Make Team Check-Ins More Meaningful
Looking for ways to effectively check-in with your team? Here are five ideas:
Individual experience: Start your team meetings by having each person share two things: 1) an approach to their work where they have found particular success and 2) something they are struggling with. This opens up the conversation about wins and challenges, gives folks context for their colleague's experiences, and offers opportunities to help and be helped.
Gather information on key challenges: When your team is facing a challenge, information is critical. Often each person on your team has different bits of information. Make space for folks to offer up information they may not otherwise share by being deliberate in your approach. For instance, you can make "data download on project X" part of your agenda.
Gaining perspective: Encourage questions or comments about the broader organizational context in which your team is embedded. You may not always have the answer, but this activity will allow you to better understand how your team sees the organization, and what role that may play in your work. This broad approach will also open up avenues for your people to bring up things they may not otherwise share. To bolster employee morale, always acknowledge that you have heard them and follow up, even if you can't take action.
Hearing from the leader: Offer your perspective on the current state of the team and how it fits in the broader context. Your view is unique and your people will benefit from hearing it. This will also likely spur questions or comments from your team, which will in turn provide you with data on their thinking. This leads us to point 5.
Reflection as a team: Once you give your perspective on the team, make space for others to share. Building a mutual understanding of the team (e.g., how it works and what it works on) will provide insight and offer avenues for updating the ways in which you work together.