Traditional circle check in

Purpose: To allow individual teams or groups to check in on the work they are doing within the lab/workshop. Often, these are better mid-cycle as a check-in, or can be scheduled as part of working time.

Materials: Space for teams/groups to meet. Post-its if you are asking the teams to harvest, synthesize or share back. It is helpful to have the questions written on a piece of flip-chart paper.

Time: 15-30 mins

Step 1: Ask participants to get into their teams, or sit at a table if forming random groups. Invite them to check in, based on one to three questions. These questions could be focused on the personal experience or the content of the workshop.

• Personal check in - How are you? What do you need from the team to show up well for this workshop?

• Content check in - What’s one thing/highlight/insight that is sticking with you from the process so far (or an individual session)? What did you learn that surprised you?

Step two: Inform participants of the length of time they have for the check-in and if they are required to collect insights. Content check-ins could be harvested and shared back with the bigger group if beneficial. Usually personal check-ins are kept within the group in order to create a container for people to feel as though they can speak freely.