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Well, everyone’s here, so let’s get this meeting started.
Not the worst way to begin your regular digital meeting, but not exactly inspiring either.
When you lead a meeting, do you get straight to business, or do you prefer to start with a little chatter?
If you skip check in questions for meetings, you might be missing out on more than you think.
[Need a non-lame question right now? Go to our check in question generator.]
What are check in questions?
Check in questions are what the leader asks at the start of the meeting. They can be as simple as “How are you doing on a scale of 1-5?” Check in questions are a standard part of virtual meeting best practices.
What’s the point of check in questions?
Most people think of check in questions as a cute, but meaningless part of the meeting. If the agenda is tight, it gets thrown out.
But once you understand what you are hiring check in questions to do, you’ll think twice before skipping them.
Check in questions reset everyone. Especially in virtual meetings, you don’t know what someone’s last experience was. They might have been coming off a long stretch of focus work, or this might be their sixth meeting in a row. They might have just given some difficult feedback to a team member. Check in questions allow everyone to drop their baggage and start fresh.
Check in questions give context. You may have been ready to assign out several projects to someone. But you discover during the check in question that they have had a horrible day. That extra context helps decide if the projects need to be taken up immediately, or if they can wait.
Check in questions remind you that you are working with humans. When you ask “Who’s someone from your childhood that you admire?” and the answer is “My dog”, it’s a nice refreshing splash in the face that we are all humans trying to make things work.
Check in questions provide equal talking time. If you jump right into your agenda, there may be some people at the meeting who never say anything until “Ok, bye.” The loudest voices will take over the conversation. Check in questions give everyone a chance to make their presence known without having to dominate. They are also a key for more interactive virtual meetings.
Check in questions give some wiggle room for starting the agenda. They can provide a little buffer time in case someone needs to check on a family member, pet, or answer the door.
How much time should you give them?
The ideal time for check in questions for meetings is about 5 minutes. A little longer or a little shorter is fine, but once you hit 10 minutes, some folks are going to get antsy. If you have a lot of people on the call, pick a question that won’t take a long time.
What makes for great check in questions?
They should be answered quickly. Stay away from “tell me a story about a time when…” Someone should be able to answer in less than 15 seconds.
They should be inclusive. Don’t ask questions specific only to kids, spouses, countries, or class. For example, “What was your first car?” might be fine talking to middle aged folks in the US, but it’s not the norm everywhere.
They should reveal something new. Your check in question should give you extra context about the people in the meeting.
They shouldn’t force people to share what they don’t want to. This isn’t truth or dare, people. Always give people the option to “pass” on a question if they start to feel uncomfortable. Don’t follow up with “Oh, come on!”; it’s ok if they don’t want to share.
They shouldn’t be too political. The question should not become a litmus test for where you stand on divisive issues.
Can you give me a list?
You bet!
Most lists of check in questions have a bunch of fluff and a few gems. We’ve curated a complete list of all those good ones, plus a lot more that you’ll actually enjoy asking.
Use this page to get a new, guaranteed awesome check in question.
Get in touch with us on Twitter if you have some new ideas!
Well, everyone’s here, so let’s get this meeting started.
Not the worst way to begin your regular digital meeting, but not exactly inspiring either.
When you lead a meeting, do you get straight to business, or do you prefer to start with a little chatter?
If you skip check in questions for meetings, you might be missing out on more than you think.
[Need a non-lame question right now? Go to our check in question generator.]
What are check in questions?
Check in questions are what the leader asks at the start of the meeting. They can be as simple as “How are you doing on a scale of 1-5?” Check in questions are a standard part of virtual meeting best practices.
What’s the point of check in questions?
Most people think of check in questions as a cute, but meaningless part of the meeting. If the agenda is tight, it gets thrown out.
But once you understand what you are hiring check in questions to do, you’ll think twice before skipping them.
Check in questions reset everyone. Especially in virtual meetings, you don’t know what someone’s last experience was. They might have been coming off a long stretch of focus work, or this might be their sixth meeting in a row. They might have just given some difficult feedback to a team member. Check in questions allow everyone to drop their baggage and start fresh.
Check in questions give context. You may have been ready to assign out several projects to someone. But you discover during the check in question that they have had a horrible day. That extra context helps decide if the projects need to be taken up immediately, or if they can wait.
Check in questions remind you that you are working with humans. When you ask “Who’s someone from your childhood that you admire?” and the answer is “My dog”, it’s a nice refreshing splash in the face that we are all humans trying to make things work.
Check in questions provide equal talking time. If you jump right into your agenda, there may be some people at the meeting who never say anything until “Ok, bye.” The loudest voices will take over the conversation. Check in questions give everyone a chance to make their presence known without having to dominate. They are also a key for more interactive virtual meetings.
Check in questions give some wiggle room for starting the agenda. They can provide a little buffer time in case someone needs to check on a family member, pet, or answer the door.
How much time should you give them?
The ideal time for check in questions for meetings is about 5 minutes. A little longer or a little shorter is fine, but once you hit 10 minutes, some folks are going to get antsy. If you have a lot of people on the call, pick a question that won’t take a long time.
What makes for great check in questions?
They should be answered quickly. Stay away from “tell me a story about a time when…” Someone should be able to answer in less than 15 seconds.
They should be inclusive. Don’t ask questions specific only to kids, spouses, countries, or class. For example, “What was your first car?” might be fine talking to middle aged folks in the US, but it’s not the norm everywhere.
They should reveal something new. Your check in question should give you extra context about the people in the meeting.
They shouldn’t force people to share what they don’t want to. This isn’t truth or dare, people. Always give people the option to “pass” on a question if they start to feel uncomfortable. Don’t follow up with “Oh, come on!”; it’s ok if they don’t want to share.
They shouldn’t be too political. The question should not become a litmus test for where you stand on divisive issues.
Can you give me a list?
You bet!
Most lists of check in questions have a bunch of fluff and a few gems. We’ve curated a complete list of all those good ones, plus a lot more that you’ll actually enjoy asking.
Use this page to get a new, guaranteed awesome check in question.
Get in touch with us on Twitter if you have some new ideas!
