Checking In

Make it a regular thing

When you give your people an assignment, consider scheduling check-ins.

Some people work best with a weekly standing meeting, especially on long-term projects that might last several months.

Some people ask their direct reports to stop by and give them a status update at the end of each day. This is good for short-term projects.

Some people ask for a check-in whenever the person reaches certain milestones in the project.

I encourage scheduling check-ins. It’s preferable to the open-ended “open-door policy,” since introverts and procrastinators tend delay those conversations. Without scheduled check-ins, things can get missed; projects can go off the rails; deadlines and schedules can get blown.

Use the check-ins to verify that the work completed meets expectations. Give positive feedback! Discuss next steps and be a sounding board for their planning. Confirm that you are on the same page with timelines and deliverables. Expand by doing coaching, mentoring, and training with them when it is needed. Don’t feel like you have to “fill the time,” if the check-in one week only takes five minutes, then end the meeting and use the rest of that half-hour time-slot for other tasks—be productive! But keep the half-hour standing meeting time available in case there are questions, problems, or opportunities for further staff development as the project continues.

(image generated using Midjourney)