Check-in is a simple way for a team to open a meeting or process. You can use check-ins to encourage openness, trust and alignment by creating a space to reflect and invite everyone to take a few minutes to fully “arrive in the room”.
How to facilitate a check-in
There is no single way to do a check-in. The following are some ways you can consider foremost of circumstances.
Have every participant share one by one
This is recommended for smaller groups as you have to consider the time of each individual to participate.
Break up the group
Once groups are formed, you can specify a time for them to share within their group. This works well for big groups. Once the groups come back, they can share highlights.
Some Tips
Be aware of the group's context, situation and mood to select the check-in questions type that helps to create the experience you intend to. Is it time to be more focused at work, reflect, be creative, inspired, grateful, etc.?
Consider the time available for the check-in. You can amend the prompts with “taking a couple of minutes each”, “in one or two sentences”, or even add “explain why” if you have extra time.
Some participants might seem disengaged. Others might not be in a good mood or tense. We suggest making it voluntary to participate. Do not push participants to share more than what they want.
During the first group check-ins, participants might feel intimidated or share too many details. They might open up more with practice and respond more to the point.