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How to Realize the Power of Checking In
- jessicaandersoncon
- Jan 1, 2024
- 2 min read
Heading back to work with low batteries? Realize the power of checking in!
Ask yourself / your team this simple flow of questions (and check out the attached PDF):
1️⃣ How do you feel?
<Therefore>
2️⃣ What do you need?
<Therefore>
3️⃣ What supports do you require and from whom>?
<Take a pause><Reflect on the answers><Act accordingly in a timely way>
Why?
While some folks had the opportunity to “rest and digest,” as I like to say, this holiday season, others didn’t or they were navigating a new normal that was far from rejuvenating.
Here are some examples of barriers to resting and digesting that you or some of your team members may have experienced this holiday season:
⭕ Occupying children full-time while schools / daycares were closed
⭕ Caregiving for ill or older family members
⭕ Running a side hustle to stem the rising costs of living or save money for a brighter future
⭕ Studying to advance one's (un)learning and gain new credentials
⭕ Managing the majority of the housework and/or food preparation
⭕ Recovering from illness
⭕ Negotiating family traditions and memories in the face of loss
⭕ Hosting out of towners
⭕ Mourning ongoing atrocities in their communities
Personally, I can attest to several of the above: my holidays were taxing in many ways and a mix of all the feelings, especially without my father for the first time. Since I’m my own boss, I’m accountable to checking in on myself and addressing my own needs so I can best support my clients.
So, what might this mean for you?
Use the check in framework provided with yourself / your team: genuinely inquire about how folks are doing in group or one-on-one settings, hold space for feelings and stories that aren’t “rosy” / “feel good moments,” or that make you feel uncomfortable, and find / offer supports particularly if you or your staff came out of the holidays with less energy than you went into them with.
Sometimes the urgency to get on with the work competes with checking in, but if you invest in psychological safety, hold yourself / your staff accountable to self-reflecting, and follow intention with action using the steps above, you’re practicing empathy, equity and empowerment that can deliver on much, much more that your new fiscal goals.
Here’s to all the power you can realize in 2024!
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