This one is small. Wildly underused. And almost free.
Open your next team meeting with a Personal / Professional Check-In.
Ask each person to answer two questions (and keep it to 30 seconds):
- Personal: What's something going on in your life the team might not know?
- Could be big, small, silly, or sweet
- "My kid lost her first tooth." "I'm running a half marathon this weekend and terrified." "My dad is in the hospital and illness is so time consuming!" “My team is in the Finals for the first time in a long time, and I am so pumped.”
- Professional: What's your priority this week?
Why this works:
- The personal question lowers the professional armor;
- It reminds everyone in the room that we are all humans carrying invisible baggage every day;*
- It creates enough warmth to make the rest of the meeting honest;
- We also focus on professional priorities;
- It takes two minutes.
One rule: Leaders go first. Every time. Model the openness you want to see.
Use your judgement on when and how to impelement this check-in. It works just as well at a weekly team meeting, or before a big strategy meeting. The goal is to clear the mental clutter so that you can focus on the work right in front of you.
Try it. Let me know how it goes.
*If you are thinking, “But I don't want to deal with everyone's invisible baggage, and I don't want them to deal with mine!” I have news for you - it's there anyway. Taking 30 seconds to acknowledge a high level headline that we are mentally one foot elsewhere helps us all. Try it.
