Checking-in/out invites each member in a group to be present, seen and heard, and to express a reflection or a feeling. Checking-in emphasizes presence, focus and group commitment; checking-out emphasizes reflection and symbolic closure. At MobLab we like to start all meetings and workshops with a check-in to land in the space and create connection.
Many of our meetings and workshop are virtual these days, and making space for checking-in because even more important with dispersed teams and virtual meetings as it helps build the social glue to support open communications and collaboration.
Checking in on people’s nervous systems, not just deadlines
Stand or sit in a circle, ideally with no tables or obstructions in the middle to create physical openness. If you’re checking-in virtually, invite everyone to turn on their cameras.
Invite each member of the group to share one thing they “check-in” with. This could be a feeling, a reflection from the previous day, an attitude they bring into this session, or something playful. Choose a check-in question based on the group and the purpose of the the meeting or workshop.
One-by-one participants check-in, either in order around the circle or at random. Once every person has checked-in once, check-in is over. It’s important to avoid check-in turning into a conversation between a few people – this is a time when everyone gets to have a voice and share their unique perspective.
Checking-out and conscious closure
Stand or sit in a circle. Invite each member of the group to share one thing they “check-out” with. This could be a feeling, a reflection experience or the most important thing they take with them. Choose a check-out question based on the group and the purpose of the meeting or workshop.
One-by-one participants check-out either in order around the circle or at random. Once every person has checked-out once check-out is over.
Facilitation Tips
The time you take for check-in/check-out will depend on the size of the group and you can introduce different constraints to a check-in or check-out to allow for more or less time. For example:
“In one word…”
“In one sentence…”
“Think of three things…”
“Taking as much time as you need…”
You can also pose specific questions to get a better sense of where the group is and probe for deeper reflection. Think about what would it be useful for them to reflect on and share? Choose a reflection question that will support the kind of mood and atmosphere that you want to create. For example:
What do I need to share to be present in this session?
What are you excited/concerned about?
What am I bringing to this group?
How do I feel working in this team?
What’s making me heavy and what’s making me lighter right now?
What has been my highest high and lowest low from this project?
What big insight am I taking with me?
What am I going to do differently as a result of this workshop?
MobLab first published this method in our Campaign Accelerator Toolkit and we are grateful to our friends and partners at Hyper Island for introducing us to this method many years ago.