Submitting a weekly check-in enables you to give your manager a snapshot of how your week has gone.
While check-ins shouldn't replace regular meetings with your manager, they can be used to help structure effective conversations at your formal meetings.
Taking time out to submit a weekly check-in also gives you an opportunity to reflect on your week (such as your achievements, the challenges you've faced, and to give kudos to people across your organization) and to record important information about your personal development progress.
A weekly check-in's like bowling with the bumpers up
At its core, a check-in is about two-way feedback. And feedback is the foundation of personal development, engagement, and great performance.
How often have you thought through gritted teeth, ‘my manager has no idea what I do?’ Or delivered an epic piece of work that’s gone completely unnoticed. Or wanted to raise a concern but didn’t because there was never a right time.
A weekly check-in gives you and your manager a feedback framework. Think of it like bowling with the bumpers up. Whether you’ve got a stellar boss or a useless lump, when they use Perform & Engage 365, they’ll have the right process to follow to give you feedback that’s actually useful.
Each week you send feedback upwards; your manager then responds with feedback that’s specific to that update. That can be a simple like, a comment, or a question to dig deeper. You can then implement that feedback immediately – not 6 months after the fact. It’s also private between you and your manager so it won’t get accidently forwarded in an email trail.
But we do face-to-face check-ins
Brilliant, you’re already doing check-ins! But what happens if your manager’s on holiday? How much time does it take out of each of your diaries? And does that check-in really happen every week? And what if your manager has 8 other direct reports? And… you get the picture.
That’s the benefit of an employee check-in that’s done digitally. You can check-in whether your manager is free or not. You’re also in control of the conversation. We’re more coherent when we have time to compose a message and can be more honest and detailed compared to real-time meetings. Your manager has time to digest your update and can give you feedback that’s useful rather than off-the-cuff.
Garden peas and productivity
Pareto, a keen gardener, noticed that a tiny number of pea pods in his garden produced most of the peas. Fast-forward to The 1 Percent Rule. The idea says you don't need to be twice as good to get twice the results, you just need to be slightly better.
You do your weekly check-in on the same day each week. Think of it like muscle memory. That’s because the more you do something, the more habitual it becomes. Your employee check-in stops being a task to tick off your to do list and becomes an opportunity to learn from the feedback your manager gives.
You make small tweaks regularly rather than monumental shifts once a quarter. Those small changes make you better at your job, help you work smarter, and ultimately, make you more productive. Be more pea.
What to cover in a weekly check-in
Check-ins need to have a positive impact, not feel like a time-sucking tick-box exercise. You need to feel that you’re being championed and that your concerns are taken seriously. Your manager needs to be able to act on what you’re telling them. That’s why transparency between you and your manager is super important. The benefit of a weekly check-in also means your manager can easily differentiate between a one-off bad week and a more serious downward trend.
Your employee check-in should take no more than 10 minutes and focus on these 4 things: successes, challenges, support, and recognition.
Successes: Things that have gone well or you're proud of
Focusing on your weekly wins feels good. Having that bucket list of successes to quickly reference during performance conversations is also super handy.
Our managers are busy. They might have missed a great piece of work that you’ve delivered or not realised that you contributed to a group project. Bashful can bog off! Tell your manager about your achievements so they know that you rock.
A good question to ask would be: What have you achieved this week?
Challenges: Stuff that's making your job harder than it should be
We tend to focus on things that have gone wrong, or the things that we haven’t achieved – I know I do. And when they’re written down, they’re often not as bad as we think. Your manager’s feedback is valuable for you to learn from your mistakes or look at things from a different perspective. Incremental improvements are easier than step-change transformation.
Try asking: What’s challenged you this week?
Support: Things you need to do your job better
It’s hard to find time in your manager’s diary to ask for support. Your check-in opens the door to start the conversation. So use it to clearly outline your request. It could be a training course you've seen, a replacement piece of tech, or advice on how to handle a difficult conversation. Others might be facing the same blockers as you which can prompt your manager to do something about them.
Ask a support question with a wide scope for the best feedback: What support do you need?
Recognition: Say thanks or well done
Would you work harder if your efforts were seen by more people? You’re not alone: 69% of us said we would. Be the change. Publicly call out colleagues or project peers that have delivered exceptional work or gone over and above. They’ll feel great. You’ll get a fuzzy feeling too. They’re likely to reciprocate so kudos snowballs to become the norm.
Focus on comradery with a kudos question: Who deserves a shout-out this week and why?
Watch our 2-minute explainer video for a quick overview