Check-in and Check-out Rounds

Coaching community volunteers about communications protocols and equipment, the group noticed how I practice check-in and check-out rounds for all our sessions. Explaining allowed me to reflect on what brought me into that practice.

Three things fuel my practice of checking in and checking out in formal meetings:

Connection before content - Chad Littlefield
Share of voice - David Marquet
Learning organization - Integrated Project Delivery Alliance

Check-in Rounds serve three additional purposes:

Brings people who participate into the same moment
Warms people's voices up for speaking
Tests audio equipment and connections

Check-out Rounds could serve 5 additional purposes:

Learning from reflection on the session
Celebrating what the people participating enjoyed about the session, when shared as a "plus" in a Plus-Delta
Identifying improvements for the group, when shared as a "delta" in a Plus-Delta
Solidifying learning when shared as a "what I want to take away" round
Solidifying commitment to actions, when shared as a "my actions for next time" round

Let's take a moment to reflect on the sources and the results.

Links at the end.

1. Connection Before Content

When I was looking at convening practices under sociocracy, holacracy, and Art of Hosting, I found the basic guidance and Chad Littlefield's energizing public recommendations. Practising a year of check-in rounds in a project team helped make a team of remote-working colleagues get to know each other.

I learned later that one of the team members had come forward in online meetings more frequently than before.

I even practised check-in rounds in my volunteering for multiple years. I am unsure how well that helped our volunteers. It definitely helped me become more familiar with our members.

Even a little connection in a meeting can help flatten the power gradient and help with David Marquet's Connect Play from Leadership is Language: the enabling play that makes all the other plays work. I dread being on a team like the El Faro with too steep a power gradient (it sank when the crew didn't speak up to the Captain-- everyone lost).

2. Share Of Voice

David Marquet's second book Leadership is Language describes how an imbalance in how much each person speaks when together indicates a situation that could stifle contribution. Check-in Rounds and Check-out Rounds reserve time to spread out the share of voice.

I have sat through many meeting closings when the project manager facilitating the session just rattles off the list of what everyone needs to do. It's tedious hearing the same person speaking. Over 80% sure more than half the team has tuned out during the repetition.

Conversely, when I have held a check-out round where we recap what we each noted that we need to do before next session, the participants generally sound engaged. Frequently, people add items that we needed yet missed during "meat" of the meeting. As facilitator, you get a moment to confirm that your noted action item matches what the person plans to do.

3. Learning Organization

My first check-out round was a Plus-Delta after a workshop day on Integrated Project Delivery. The team had designed the workshop to include an example for how to practice continuous improvement in lean construction and design.

A Plus-Delta is a time when your team pauses to reflect on an activity and capture observations about what to keep doing and what to improve.

Plus - addition symbol in arithmetic, invites statements starting with "I liked that" and capture something to sustain or continue.

Delta - increment symbol in calculus, invites statements starting with "I wish that" and capture how you suggest an improvement.