13 Benefits of Weekly Check-Ins With Your Team (Plus Tips)

Weekly check-ins provide the opportunity to meet with staff members and discuss their progress on projects. Implementing a weekly meeting at your company may provide improved performance levels for your team members. Learning about some of the most common benefits companies see when implementing these check-ins can help you decide if it's the right opportunity for your business. In this article, we discuss what a weekly check-in is, the benefits of having them and tips for getting the most value out of weekly meetings at your company.

What is a weekly check-in?

A weekly check-in is a one-on-one meeting with a member of your team in which you discuss their work in the last week, their planned work for the week ahead and questions or concerns you or the staff member have. They can be useful for staying informed about the work completed by employees within your organization and for keeping staff happy and on task. A weekly check-in provides a more informal style of communication with team members than an organized staff meeting or official review.

13 benefits of weekly check-ins

Using weekly check-ins at your company may have a positive impact in a variety of ways. Some of the most common benefits include:

1. Building a culture of communication

Communication is valuable within an organization as it helps to keep employees and senior staff more informed. By holding weekly check-ins with staff members, you show that your company values keeping lines of communication open. This can help staff feel more comfortable speaking to each other or senior staff members outside of a meeting setting when they have concerns that need to be addressed. Encouraging communication within your company may significantly improve performance, workplace culture and employee happiness, among other benefits.

Related: Guide to Company Culture

2. Improving problem-solving

Weekly check-ins can be a valuable tool for assisting employees with problem-solving. A check-in provides the opportunity for an employee to discuss any problems they're facing with you. This allows you to offer your suggestions if you have any and for the two of you to work together to brainstorm potential solutions for their problem. Finding a solution for the employee's concern can help them perform more effectively in the week ahead because they don't have to commit time and mental resources to find a solution to their problem.

3. Providing clarity to staff

Meeting with your staff each week provides an excellent opportunity to discuss your expectations and needs for the week ahead with them. In addition to allowing you to discuss what you're looking for from them, it also provides an opportunity for the staff to ask you questions if they're uncertain about your expectations. This provides a focus for employees so that they can work more efficiently, spending less time deciding on which projects to address, or aren't a high priority.

Related: How To Be a Good Manager

4. Increasing employee engagement

Holding weekly check-ins with your team members can also help to make them more connected with their work. Because a check-in provides an employee with the opportunity to speak with a senior staff member about the work they're doing and address questions or concerns they have, it can help them have a stronger understanding of the value their work provides. For some employees, understanding how their work fits into the overall goals of the company, or how a supervisor values their work, can make the work more satisfying and easier to engage with.

Related: Building Rapport: Tips and Examples

5. Directing focus on key tasks

When operating on a tight schedule or in a setting where staff members have multiple responsibilities on different projects, a weekly check-in provides the opportunity to direct focus on the most important tasks each week. If a particular client requires special attention, for example, weekly check-ins with staff at the beginning of the week allow you to discuss your needs and expectations for that client with the relevant staff members. This allows team members to adjust their weekly plans to provide increased attention to the most important tasks or projects.

6. Creating a culture of accountability

Accountability within the workplace is a valuable tool. It allows you to reward strong performances and make adjustments where you require improvements to meet your standards. This could be beneficial to staff as well because it shows them that their work directly leads to the response they receive from senior staff. Weekly check-ins are an excellent tool for maintaining accountability, as you can directly address performances more quickly than in an office only using annual or quarterly performance reviews.

7. Encouraging continued learning

Creating a workplace culture where staff feels encouraged to keep learning and developing their skills can be extremely beneficial as development improves the quality of work performed by staff members. Weekly check-ins are an opportunity to encourage further development and education for staff members. By discussing opportunities, such as upcoming conferences or valuable online resources, and talking about the latest developments in the industry with staff, you show them you value their continued education. This can help to incentivize them to pursue developmental opportunities, leading to more effective work habits.

8. Guiding employee development

Individual meetings with staff members each week allow you to show that you value professional development from your staff. Your weekly check-ins are also an opportunity to provide specific guidance on the areas you feel would be most beneficial for an employee to develop. This benefits the company by allowing you to focus development on generating new skills or capabilities that are most beneficial to the company's production. It also benefits the employee by allowing them to become a more valuable component, providing them with more security and advancement opportunities.

Related: How To Develop Cross-Functional Teams

9. Developing team unity and loyalty

Creating a culture of togetherness and loyalty to the team can be valuable within a business. Some employees may work harder when they feel like they're more strongly connected to the collective within your business. By engaging in direct conversations with your staff members each week, you can build stronger personal bonds with them, while also keeping them updated on other work within the company to give them an understanding of their place in the team.

10. Keeping valuable staff members

Employee retention is a key function for most successful businesses. New hires require time to learn about their new position and their role within the company, meaning it's often better for production levels to maintain your existing staff. Weekly check-ins can be a useful tool for employee retention. Other benefits the check-ins provide, such as making staff feel listened to and showing the value of the work they complete, can improve an employee's opinion of their experience at your company, making them more likely to continue working for you.

11. Identifying promotion potential

Filling senior positions is another area where internal solutions may be preferable to outside hiring. Promoting from within allows you to hire a senior staff member who already understands how the company works and has relationships with other staff members. Your weekly check-ins provide an excellent opportunity to identify employees who are strong candidates for promotion. Because your check-ins allow you to remain up to date on the work each employee is doing while also getting to know them on a direct and personal level, it can help you make more informed decisions when considering promotions.

12. Promoting employee happiness

Employee morale is a key consideration in any company, both as an obligation to your staff and for the performance benefits that higher morale can provide. Employees who are happier and fulfilled at work can produce at higher levels and are more likely to stay with your company as they develop. A weekly check-in provides an opportunity for employees to discuss any concerns that are having a negative impact on their happiness at work. This allows you to address their concerns and find solutions in order to provide a more enjoyable workspace for your employees.

13. Raising productivity

Improved production is a primary benefit of weekly check-ins, which many of the above perks combine to provide. Because the above benefits often provide a performance boost, when combined, they can result in a significant increase in your company's overall productivity. By implementing weekly check-ins with your staff, you may raise production levels and increase your company's profitability.

Tips for using weekly check-ins

If you believe that implementing weekly check-ins at your company can be beneficial, keep these tips in mind :

Be consistent

When creating a system of weekly check-ins, it's important to be consistent, particularly when first introducing the practice. Consistency allows staff to plan for their weekly check-ins so that they can get the maximum benefit out of each meeting.

Meet your employees' preferences

Each staff member is unique and, as a result, their needs and preferences for your weekly check-ins may be unique as well. As you hold check-ins with staff members, note what seems to work well. Discuss the check-ins directly to ask about their preferences so that you can alter each employee's experience to maximize their benefit.

Use empathy

The ability to meet with your staff members one-on-one in weekly check-ins is a distinct advantage compared to holding company or department staff meetings. Empathizing with your staff members during these personal encounters can allow you to alter your behavior more effectively to provide them with the best possible experience from each meeting.

Include everyone

When creating a system of weekly check-ins, it's important to hold meetings with each employee. This allows you to get a more thorough understanding of each person's performance and needs and also ensures that all employees feel included within the initiative.

Let them talk

A weekly check-in should be a conversation with your employees, not a dictation. Hearing what your employees have to say and responding to them can be just as valuable as sharing your opinions and needs with them each week, so provide opportunities within the meeting for your staff members to speak and share their accomplishments with you.

Take questions

While some staff members may feel comfortable asking you questions directly during weekly check-ins, it's possible that some ma y not be. With these staff members, it can be beneficial to ask them if they have questions or concerns before you conclude the check-in to provide them an opportunity to express themselves.

Connect on a personal level

Building personal bonds with your staff is valuable both at a professional level and a human level. A weekly check-in provides an excellent opportunity to create these bonds by also discussing personal matters, like what they did over the weekend or their hobbies or family.

Close with a summary

At the end of each weekly check-in, it can be beneficial to leave your employee with a summary of what you discussed. This refreshes the information for your employee and also is a final statement of clarity about what you consider the most important tasks for the week ahead.