The value of ‘checking-in’ as a team
How using check-ins can build relationships by getting to know each other better
Co-authored by Andy Craig
What do colours, tattoos, leadership traits and the periodic table of elements have in common? Well they, amongst other random but insightful topics, have all been check-in themes for the Red Badger team building the first prototype for Mission Beyond.
Working remotely means you don’t have as many opportunities to have those casual one-to-one conversations that used to take place in the lift or at the coffee machine or walking to and from meetings or just sitting at your desk, which are all so important to getting to know your colleagues on a more personal level.
Those conversations that are not about work or the specific tasks at hand. The conversations that build your knowledge and understanding of who they are as a person, what their homelife is like — is a new baby keeping them awake at night, what their hobbies and interests are, did their football team win or lose at the weekend? The former is a great indicator of how energised they might be feeling, whereas the latter is a good indicator as to how cheerful or miserable they might be on a Monday morning.
Establishing a new team where not everyone has worked together before (or joining a new team where you don’t know anyone) makes finding alternative ways to what would have happened naturally in an office environment even more important.
The way we decided to do this is by starting every morning standup and every afternoon sync with a check-in question. During the project, our check-ins have ranged from the simple “if you were a colour, what colour are you this morning and why?”, to the somewhat more niche “if you were a wrestler, what would your wrestling persona be?”. Regardless of the topic or seriousness of the question, each one gives an insight into our mood and motivation — crucial for building relationships.
In the first couple of weeks, we’d occasionally look to the check-in generator hej.io for inspiration, using their more wholesome version of swiping left and right to kick us off. But over time, as we built the habit and got to know each other better, we soon found that sharing out the responsibility amongst the team has given us an inexhaustible bank of questions without the need for any supporting tools.
Who leads the check-in can be a democratic process: taking it in turns or being a “penalty” for being late. Check-ins can be prepared in advance or spontaneous based on something topical happening, but will generally be based on the whim of whoever’s asking. The person asking the check-in nominates the first person to respond and then once they have answered they get to nominate the next person and so on until everyone has responded.
One quirk we’ve noticed over time — the vast majority of check-ins will see the person asking the question being nominated last. Make of that what you will…
Stand ups and syncs are in the calendar for 15 minutes and we were regularly running over. The check-ins were taking about eight minutes and it would have been so easy to cut them altogether or only have one a day. But we as a team felt strongly that these were a unique part of our day, a time when we interacted on a purely personal level and that the insight shared was both informative and often hilarious and by not having this opportunity, a big part of the essence of our team would be lost. That somehow the team would feel more transactional, that we’d sacrificed getting to know each other in favour of getting things done — and that, crucially, getting to know each other better helps us get more things done.
So we agreed to extend the sessions by 5 minutes so that this powerful and invaluable activity could continue. What’s more, with our first stand up being at 9am each day, it helps to spark the creative side of our brains into life at the start of the day, as the cogs crank into gear to consider which famous monument we’d be, or our favourite fairground ride.
We are now on Day 55 of a 60 day sprint which means that, excluding four bank holidays, we have had 102 opportunities to get to know each other a bit better.
That’s 102 chances to share if we are having a good day or a bad day, to admit to things you would only normally admit to after knowing colleagues much longer or maybe only after a few drinks. Given the level of psychological safety we have created within the team though, everyone has felt comfortable sharing whatever comes to mind.
And to complete a virtuous circle, the check-ins have had a fundamental role in building that high level of psychological safety, which highlights the wider positive impact they’ve had beyond us getting to know each other. By encouraging the team to be open and honest on a daily basis — no matter how inconsequential the topic — it nudges us towards being more comfortable when having some of the bigger, more difficult project conversations. Furthermore, with everyone in the team being proactive in suggesting check-ins, it contributes towards creating a team culture of “aligned autonomy” and empowering the team to decide how best to work towards our common goals.
I could share with you some of the interesting facts and often hilarious anecdotes that have come to light but that would be telling and what happens at standup and sync stays in standup and sync. But I will tell you that as we approach the end of our final week working together I’m going to make the most of the last 10 check-in opportunities we have left, to get to know the team more and share with them a bit more about me.
