Here at Create-i, we ensure that every Monday we ‘check-in’, we focus on our priority goals for the week and draw from a deck of 100 ‘quote cards’ our 2 ‘Thoughts of the Week’. We would like to share with you why we do this and how this helps us navigate our week, both as a business and for us as individuals.

The ‘check-in’ is an effective way of grounding members of a team at the beginning of a meeting, facilitation and coaching session. The process promotes psychological safety, which is crucial when it comes to enabling people to be vulnerable, open and fully present. It originates from the aviation industry – where pilots were found to be making ill-informed judgements or catastrophic mistakes. After deeper investigation, it was noted that systems and processes were focusing their attention to the mechanical “instruments”, however were not “checking-in” on the “human instruments” enough. A check-in can completely change the atmosphere in a room and between team members in a few moments. The structure is often 3 simple questions:

• What are you feeling? (using only one or two words)
• What, if anything, is distracting you? (naming it and putting it out there allows people to feel more present.) 
• The third question is your choice, ideally based on the context of the meeting! 

Alongside the check-in, we make sure we go through and prioritise the key accounts, activity, projects and appointments on our  ‘to-do’ list for the week. Nothing is better than the feeling of you accomplishing something important, and even better if they are things you set yourself to do or set as a team! It makes you accountable and reaffirms your purpose – crucial when you are motivating people. It is important to reflect on the previous week with your team and see how well you achieved your goals – what you did well and EBI (Even Better If). 

To close, we select our  ‘Thoughts of the Week” which can manifest as rhetorical questions, inspirational quotes or motivational statements. For example, Create-i’s 2 ‘Thoughts of the Week’ for the week commencing the 4th November 2019 were:

“The thoughts of leadership is not to put greatness into people but to elicit it from them.”

“Little by little, great mountains are climbed – take each day as it comes, do what you know to be right and you will achieve your objectives.”

We recommend you experiment with one, two or all three of these things. They have definitely helped us! Have a great week. 

Sources: 

https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/volume-27/edition-2/improving-aircraft-safety