Best Check-in Questions for Meetings

Meetings are an essential part of any organisation, but they can also be boring, unproductive, or stressful. How can you make your meetings more effective, enjoyable, and collaborative? One way is to start your meetings with check-in questions.

Check-in questions are short and simple questions that you ask your participants at the beginning of a meeting to help them warm up, connect, and focus. Check-in questions can serve various purposes, such as breaking the ice, reflecting on the past, setting goals for the future, or building trust and rapport among the team.

In this blog post, we will explain the benefits of check-in questions, provide some examples of different types of check-in questions, and share some tips for effective check-ins.

Benefits of Check-in Questions

Check-in questions can have many benefits for your meetings, such as:

• Breaking the ice: Check-in questions can help you create a friendly and relaxed atmosphere in your meetings by allowing your participants to share something personal, humorous, or surprising about themselves. This can help them get to know each other better, reduce tension or awkwardness, and increase their comfort level.
• Reflecting on the past: Check-in questions can help you review what has happened since the last meeting, what has worked well or not so well, and what has been learned or achieved. This can help your participants appreciate their progress, celebrate their successes, acknowledge their challenges, and learn from their mistakes.
• Setting goals for the future: Check-in questions can help you clarify what you want to accomplish in the current meeting, what are the expectations and priorities of each participant, and what are the potential obstacles or opportunities. This can help your participants align their goals, prioritise their tasks, and plan their actions.
• Building trust and rapport: Check-in questions can help you foster a sense of belonging and collaboration among your participants by allowing them to express their feelings, opinions, or perspectives. This can help them understand each other better, respect their differences, support their needs, and resolve their conflicts.

Types and Examples of Check-in Questions

There are many types of check-in questions that you can use in your meetings depending on your purpose and preference. Here is a list of examples for each type:

Icebreakers

Icebreakers are check-in questions that are designed to be fun, light-hearted, or creative. They can help you break the ice by making your participants laugh, smile, or think outside the box. Some examples of icebreakers are:

• If you could have a superpower, what would it be and why?
• What is something that you are looking forward to in the next week?
• If you had to describe yourself in three words, why did you describe yourself that way?
• If you won the lottery tomorrow, what is the first thing that you would do?

Reflective Questions

Reflective questions are check-in questions that are designed to be introspective, analytical, or evaluative. They can help you reflect on the past by making your participants recall their experiences, actions, or outcomes. Some examples of reflective questions are:

• What is something that you are proud of since our last meeting?
• What is something that you learned or improved since our last meeting?
• What is something that challenged you or frustrated you since our last meeting?
• How do you feel about your performance or contribution since our last meeting?
• What is one thing that you would like to change or do differently since our last meeting?

Goal-oriented Questions

Goal-oriented questions are check-in questions that are designed to be forward-looking, strategic, or action-oriented. They can help you set goals for the future by making your participants identify their objectives, priorities, or plans. Some examples of goal-oriented questions are:

• What is the main goal that you want to achieve in this meeting?
• What are the expectations or deliverables that you have for this meeting?
• What are the potential challenges or risks that you foresee for this meeting?
• How can we best support each other in this meeting?
• What are the next steps or actions that you need to take after this meeting?

Team Building Questions

Team building questions are check-in questions that are designed to be relational, emotional, or personal. They can help you build trust and rapport among your participants by making them share their feelings, opinions, or perspectives. Some examples of team building questions are:

• How are you feeling today?
• What is something that you appreciate or admire about someone in this meeting?
• What is something that you are curious or excited about in this meeting?
• How do you prefer to communicate or collaborate in this meeting?
• What is one thing that you need or want from this meeting?

Tips for Effective Check-ins

To make your check-ins more effective, here are some tips that you can follow:

• Choose the right questions: Depending on the purpose and context of your meeting, you may want to choose different types of check-in questions. For example, if you want to have a brainstorming session, you may want to use icebreakers or creative questions to stimulate your participants’ imagination.

If you want to have a feedback session, you may want to use reflective or evaluative questions to help your participants assess their performance.

If you want to have a planning session, you may want to use goal-oriented or action-oriented questions to help your participants set their objectives and tasks.

• Prepare the questions in advance: To avoid wasting time or losing focus in your meeting, you may want to prepare your check-in questions in advance and share them with your participants before the meeting. This way, you can ensure that your questions are relevant, clear, and appropriate for your meeting. You can also give your participants some time to think about their answers and prepare for the discussion.
• Keep it short and simple: To avoid boring or overwhelming your participants, you may want to keep your check-in questions short and simple. Ideally, your check-in questions should be easy to understand, answer, and remember. 

They should also be open-ended, meaning that they allow for multiple or varied responses, rather than yes-or-no or factual answers. You may also want to limit the number of check-in questions that you ask in each meeting, depending on the time and attention span of your participants.

• Encourage participation and interaction: To make your check-ins more engaging and collaborative, you may want to encourage participation and interaction among your participants. You can do this by asking them to share their answers with the whole group or with a partner or a small group. 

You can also ask them to comment on each other’s answers, ask follow-up questions, or give feedback. You can also use some tools or techniques to make your check-ins more interactive, such as polls, quizzes, games, or props.

• Be respectful and supportive: To make your check-ins more positive and meaningful, you may want to be respectful and supportive of your participants. You can do this by listening attentively to their answers, acknowledging their contributions, validating their feelings, or appreciating their efforts. You can also create a safe and trusting environment for your check-ins by setting some ground rules or norms, such as confidentiality, honesty, or respect.

Check-in Now!

Check-in questions are a great way to start your meetings with a positive and productive tone. We, at Aniday thrive off them as they can help you break the ice, reflect on the past, set goals for the future, or build trust and rapport among your participants. By using different types of check-in questions and following some tips for effective check-ins, you can make your meetings more effective, enjoyable, and collaborative