54 check-in questions for your meetings

I am a keen supporter of using check-in questions in meetings. It’s a great start of the meeting and gets everyone the chance to speak early in the meeting.

Over time I’ve tried out numerous questions and collected the ones that actually worked. Here are 54 of them. Some of them are my own creations and some are collected from somewhere on the Internet, so I can’t take credit for all of them.

Do you have your own favourite check-in question? Leave a comment!

Enjoy!

1. As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
2. Do you have a favourite quote? What is it?
3. For how long would you survive the zombie apocalypse?
4. From 1 to 100 percent, how busy are you right now?
5. Give us an elevator pitch on what you are watching or reading right now?
6. Give us a recent and interesting fact you recently learned
7. Have you learned anything new today?
8. Haven’t we had enough of winter now?
9. If you lose focus, how do you recover it?
10. If you were only allowed to keep one kitchen appliance, what would it be?
11. Name a band or musician that you discovered was fantastic WAY too late
12. Name a movie or series that you secretly like.
13. Name a thing at work that you really appreciate.
14. Name a thing, preferably unexpected, that you are (or were) really good at.
15. Name something new you learned this week
16. Name something you are good at without knowing it beforehand
17. Name the best sitcom ever and explain why it’s the best.
18. Outside of work, what takes up most of your time right now?
19. Show us something on your desk and tell us about it.
20. Tell us about a recent success
21. Tell us something about your first job.
22. Tell us something positive from your latest retrospective.
23. Too hot or too cold, what do you prefer?
24. What colour/fruit/animal are you today?
25. What food (or dish) could you not live without?
26. What food or dish did you hate as a child? Do you still?
27. What gadget will be obsolete in ten years?
28. What is the best Apple product ever?
29. What is the best concert you’ve ever been to?
30. What is the strangest or most unusual food you have ever eaten?
31. What is the strangest word you know that is not in your native language?
32. What is the worst haircut you’ve ever had?
33. What is your energy level right now, and why?
34. What is your favourite desert? (no, not dessert)
35. What is your favourite lake?
36. What is your goal for today?
37. What is your signature dish when you make dinner/food?
38. What is your strongest memory from the recruitment process to this company?
39. What was your best Christmas gift?
40. What was your biggest interest growing up?
41. What was your first computer?
42. What would you like to finish up before your vacation?
43. What’s a very good piece of advice you have been given?
44. What’s for lunch?
45. What’s the best thing you bought last year?
46. What’s the best thing you bought this year?
47. What’s the most played song from your Spotify Wrapped <year> list?
48. What’s the top thing you like splurging on?
49. What’s your best trick to set yourself in a good working flow?
50. What’s your favourite and/or best board game?
51. What’s your most frequently used emoji?
52. What’s your number one priority this week, and why?
53. Where were you born? Tell us something about the place.
54. Who was your childhood hero?

Jonas Carlsson
Agile Coach at Visiba Care