In one-on-one meetings, it’s easy to start the conversation by asking how the other person is doing. In larger team meetings though, it’s harder to do a check-in for each person who attends. Last year, my manager introduced the energy/mood plot as a quick check-in at the beginning of each team meeting.
I’ve found the energy/mood plot to be a nice exercise to encourage individual self-awareness. It also facilitates offering support and understanding to our fellow team members.
What is a check-in? Why should we do a check-in?
Let's face it - in pharma, we work in teams. Functional teams. Cross-functional teams. Workstreams too. Certainly, there's a lot of group work going on. Some of us are in lots of meetings with our teams. How do we get the pulse of our team members when we all come together (in-person or virtually) for a meeting?
A check-in can help us remove distractions and regain focus, even if just for the span of one meeting.
Many of us have a lot going on in our lives. We’re often pulled in multiple directions by what’s happening in the world and at home with our families. Oftentimes, women are juggling long to-do lists both at work and in our personal lives. These distractions can get in the way of the collaboration and productivity of team meetings. This can be true for both meeting attendees and the lead or facilitators of meetings.
A check-in can help the meeting facilitator understand whether to adjust the meeting content or approach to the agenda items.
Setting the tone of a meeting based on where everyone’s mind is at is so important. For example, the meeting lead that acknowledges that a team is stressed because of impending organizational change can approach the discussion with more tolerance and understanding. The leader may adjust the meeting tasks if everyone is experiencing zoom fatigue at the end of a challenging week.
How to do a team meeting check-in
A check-in requires both self and collective awareness. A successful check-in can drive clarity for how people show up to the meeting and how the meeting will proceed.
Practice self-awareness
The check-in can start immediately before a meeting or at the beginning of a meeting. We can individually practice identifying whatever is on our minds and how we feel physically and emotionally. For example, am I feeling energized from my morning coffee? Am I still in a fog because the baby kept waking up overnight? Or am I stressed that a coworker abruptly left the company and that I may have to pick up additional work? Am I still reeling from watching the televised train wreck of a presidential debate yesterday evening?
Knowing what’s currently occupying our minds and knowing how we are feeling means that we can be more present at the meeting. Regardless of whether colleagues choose to share with each other how they are doing, the practice of self-awareness enables us to identify what might be distracting us. After that, it’s easier to put those things aside and bring our focus into the meeting.
Encouraging collective awareness
While people trickle into the conference room, they may already be checking in with colleagues on how they’re doing. Or when working virtually, maybe colleagues are texting or chatting with each other before the official start of the meeting. However, doing a team check-in at the beginning of a meeting to encourage collective awareness will require people to share with the group how they are doing.
There are many benefits of having this check-in practice: team members can offer support when someone is facing a challenge; and people may be less judgmental if a colleague is defensive or less talkative than normal during the meeting. The opportunity to share can increase the team’s diversity of thinking. Becoming aware of diverse ideas and points of view can expand the team’s perspective. The group check-in reminds us that our most powerful professional asset is our humanity.
Using the energy/mood plot for your virtual meeting check-in
The energy/mood plot is a nice tool for doing team check-ins prior to and at the beginning of a meeting. This plot can be displayed on a shared document (use Google Slides or a shared drive folder) that everyone on the team can access and modify. Even for in-person meetings, this simple plot can be drawn on a whiteboard or easel pad.
First, we each conduct a moment of our own self-awareness check-in. The work energy level (x-axis) ranges from bored to comfortable to focused to stressed and overloaded. The mood (y-axis) ranges from terrible to blah to great!
Then, we share where we are on the mood scale and energy scale by placing our names on the plot. Collectively, the group can then examine the plot and see whether everyone is clustered in a particular area or completely scattered across the plot.
An advantage of using this energy/mood plot is that people who are hesitant to talk about how they are doing can simply place their name on the plot. No need to share any more details beyond that. Of course, outliers on the plot may prompt discussion, and people who are keen to share can certainly speak up. The check-in provides the opportunity to discuss how the team may want to approach the meeting agenda. They may also determine that additional support is needed outside of the meeting.
Reinforcing a culture of trust and vulnerability
Doing a meeting check-in might be a tricky thing when it comes to people being open to sharing. Many have been taught or are accustomed to keeping their work life and non-work life completely separate. However, we know that your personal beliefs, mindsets, and emotions all influence how you work and vice versa. Therefore, being comfortable with bringing your whole self to work is essential to your wellbeing.
Effective check-ins will require trust among team members. Trust will dictate how much and when people are willing to share what’s going on with them. Individuals, especially junior people, may need assurance that whatever they share will not be professionally held against them. On the other hand, check-ins can also increase trust among team members if people are willing to be vulnerable.
Team leaders who share their mindset will encourage others to speak up about what’s happening with them as well. Such vulnerability is a strength and a sign of courage. However, I know it may not be part of the company culture. In fact, even within a company that encourages sharing vulnerabilities, teams and individuals may not embody that culture.
Final notes
We all know that introducing change, especially in the corporate world, can be difficult and cause stress. Thus, introducing a check-in at the beginning of team meetings may be challenging. People might find it unnecessary or too touchy-feely. Others might be uncomfortable exposing emotions or being around people who are sharing emotions. Paradoxically, people might also criticize a check-in as being a distraction.
Over time, though, if the check-in is routine and short (5 minutes), then it can become a critical component of the team culture. The check-in is meant to provide a space for people to have a voice and an opportunity where people listen to each other.
The energy/mood plot is a tool that allows for a moment of self-awareness. Individuals have full control over how much and what they intend to share aloud and what they simply only want to reveal on the plot. My team starts each meeting with a revisit to the plot. This check-in helps to center us in the same place, even while we’re scattered around the globe.
Credits: Icons made by Eucalyp, surang, Freepik, xnimrodx, and Smashicons from www.flaticon.com.