Quarterly Check in (4+1)

If your organization runs on a December 31st year end, then your Q1 is ending soon.

Best practice in management is to have regular check ins (1 on 1s) and then more formal structured meetings on a consistent regular basis (generally held to be quarterly check ins).

How do you structure your quarterly check in meetings with your team members? I recently came across the 4+1 and thought it a good share...

Send the invitation at least one week but not more than two weeks in advance of the meeting to allow time for preparation and reflection for both of you. If you need to review sales, revenue or quality data ensure the date is set a week after that data will be available for you both. Make sure to include your agenda.

In the meeting, start with context setting, "the purpose of our meeting is to review the quarter with the lens of reflecting on your accomplishments to date against your targets". After reiterating the goals, use these four questions to get the employees' perspective

1. What have you tried?

2. What have you learned?

3. What are you pleased about?

4. What are you concerned about?

And after all the discussion that goes with those four, the "plus one" is

+1 What will you do next?

I would recommend that you have the employee take notes and summarize the outcome and and it out after the session to drive clarity and accountability. With that you have the beginnings of a plan to stay on target, adjust the target or get back on target...