This is the Business English Podcast. How one phrasal verb leads to excellent communication at work.
Welcome to the Business English podcast from All Ears English.
Get the English skills you need to achieve your dreams in global business.
For a presentation, a meeting, or your office party, this is Real Business English with your favorite American hosts, Lindsay and Michelle, coming to you from New York City and Colorado, USA.
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Offer ends August 10th. allearsenglish.com slash connection How's it going, Aubrey?
I'm great, Lindsay. How are you? I'm feeling great.
Oh my gosh, holiday season, New Year's coming, getting ready for a great 2024.
It's gonna be a good one, Aubrey. Yes, I'm excited for 2024.
Things are looking up. It's an even-numbered year, so all good, all good.
Always good. Aubrey, here's a question for today.
Okay. So how important is it to check in with coworkers or as a manager, how important is it to check in with your team?
Yeah. Oh, man. I think it's so vital, especially nowadays with so many people working remotely.
Once upon a time, that little check-in was super easy to pop into someone's office and just say, I just want to check in on whatever status of something.
Now we have to be a little more intentional about it.
100% agree. Yes. And I think it's good if we can reserve time just for the check-in, not for other business, but it's just about that person and how are they doing.
Yeah. In some ways, I feel like working remotely has helped with that because back when we just did that quick little pop-in in the office and it was so informal, I think that was harder to make it a sort of specific check-in that was more in touch.
Whereas now we realize, okay, we need to prioritize this.
That's interesting. So there are good things and not so good things about remote work, but we got a good question from a listener on our YouTube channel, which by the way, guys, great way to watch All Ears English is on YouTube.
Don't you think, Aubrey? Yes, absolutely.
Especially, well, the Allers English podcast.
Yes, you can see all of those on YouTube.
And we wanted to mention this question that we're going to share.
We read it on Allers English because they asked about three different phrasal verbs.
And we reserved this one all about check-in for the Business English podcast because that's really where we use that phrasal verb the most.
So if you want the first two parts of this series over on All Ears English, it's episode 2101.
Check out these phrasal verbs. We talked about check out.
Is it 2101 or 2107? 2107. Did I say 2101?
Yes. 2107 and then 2115. What was that one called, Lindsay?
That was check on your English vocabulary progress today.
Yes. Yeah. That was just last Tuesday. So if you missed those, you're probably not following All Ears English, guys.
Follow the podcast so you never miss any of these awesome episodes.
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You got to complete the series, right? You know, this series is across our two podcasts, two of our podcasts.
So check them, check them all out and complete the series.
Good stuff. So should I read the question then? sure yeah you haven't ever heard it over here on business english so let's find it yeah let's read it yeah yeah let's do it all right so grammar episodes are my favorite it's always exciting to listen to these great episodes and learn something new from you guys and by the way this is from ludi so thank you i also have a grammar question i was wondering if you can break down the usage of the phrasal verbs check out check in and check on they all sound very similar to me but i've noticed native speakers use them in different ways thanks again oh boy Good question.
Yes. So this has been really great to do this series because they each needed their own episode.
Checkout has so many different meanings, right?
And as we were preparing this, we realized check-in, we definitely use most often at work.
Don't miss that one about check-on. That's more for caretaking.
And checking on people and pets and homes.
But check-in is often about work. Yeah, and that's why we did the check-on over on All Ears English.
Because over there, you get language for life, everything, right?
Everyday life, socializing, parties, some work.
But over here on Business English, it's for your work English.
So that's why we're getting into check-in today.
Exactly. So the first meaning you've likely heard, just to check in for a hotel stay.
If you're doing business trips, you're going to check in when you get to the hotel.
But the second meaning we use a lot. What does this mean, check in?
Well, this is like we asked at the top of the episode, to contact someone by basically making a phone call, dropping into their office, usually to make sure there are no problems, right?
Or to tell them that there are no problems.
Exactly. Exactly. Right. It's that short meeting.
It might be longer. It might be more formal.
It might be a quick pop in. But you're checking on problems, the possible existence of problems, making sure there aren't any or letting someone.
Yeah, it's interesting. It's different. Yeah.
It's smart too. Smart management, right?
Because we don't want to find out about a problem when it really blows up.
We want to anticipate problems down the road when they're starting, that kind of thing as a manager or a leader in the company.
Yeah. Yeah. And it's really interesting to think about how we wouldn't really use check on at work as much, unless you are working with people you know really well, you have that close personal relationship.
You wouldn't say like, I'm going to check on my supervisor, because that implies this caretaking, right?
Checking on their mental health, their physical health.
Instead, you'd say you're going to check in with them if it's a business relationship.
Yeah, exactly. It's too nurturing, this concept of check on.
It's too caretaking, too nurturing. Check in is more professional.
It's more specific about details around work.
So here's some examples. I need to check in with my team lead about these deadlines, with my team lead.
Common term, by the way, in business, right?
Yes. Right. That team lead. So if you're on a team and someone has been put in charge, there's all kinds of different ways you can refer to them.
You know, the leader, but we often just say team lead.
Love that one. What else? And you might want to say, just wanted to check in.
How's the proposal coming? And this often might be that pop in where you're just quickly checking in to check on the status of something.
Yeah, I love that. And so now in just a minute, we're going to get into, you know, how do you actually hold a check-in meeting?
I'm excited to see what we're going to learn today.
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What did we learn? You did a little research out there on the web, on the interwebs, as they call it.
Yeah, exactly. Right? Because I know how we do it here at All Ears English, which is awesome.
But every business is different depending on how many employees you have or what type of projects or what type of... timelines you have for things, right?
So I found this excellent article on Indeed that was called How to Hold a Check-in Meeting and Why It's Important, September 2022.
And so we're going to go over a few questions here and first sort of give our insights from working in the business world and then share what this article shared as well.
So we've got lots of great advice for the best way to hold these check-in meetings.
Yes. So good. So where do we start here, Aubrey?
Where do we start? Yeah. So our first question is, you know, what are the benefits of a check-in at work?
You know, is it better to do full team, one-on-one or both?
What can possibly happen if you don't hold these check-ins?
Very interesting. What do you think, Aubrey?
Or what did the article say, first of all?
Yeah, well, to first share what the article said, that it creates positive team dynamics.
I can definitely agree, right? I feel like when we're able to do a full team check-in, we all get more updated on the goal and the progress and everyone feels like more of a valued part of the team.
So that's really the first main benefit.
Totally. We call those our team syncs. And I think there are a lot of benefits that come out of those.
People feel up to date. They feel like we're working together.
There's lots of good stuff that come out of that.
Yeah. And we just get more used to communicating openly with each other.
Because if we never have that opportunity to communicate, then it'll feel sort of foreign the rarer times that we do it.
And this, the article mentioned as well, just that it facilitates healthy communication.
You learn how to, you know, not only communicate well, but like quickly, effectively, right?
You get to know that so that you can streamline things sometimes.
Right. And also to understand each other's roles.
I mean, we've been working this year at All Ears English on our primary roles and what is the most important thing we do as a company and how do we contribute to that?
So to understand what each of us does at the company is really helpful, you know, or who do you go to when you have a question?
Exactly. That helps us know what to prioritize, you know, what about the goal we're accomplishing, why it's important, the timeline of things.
And this was mentioned in the article too, just that it helps individuals to understand their responsibility and everyone else's responsibility so that things get done in a timely manner.
Yeah, I love that. And there are other ways to check in too.
I mean, one way we do check-ins is actually through a survey tool called 15-5, right?
We do that every week. And that's kind of an interesting approach, a slightly different approach that's more time effective, but allows us to flag issues, communicate with each other, cross-communication among the team.
So it's not just a live meeting. It could also be some kind of a survey check-in.
Yes. Right. This is very time saving, but also gives you that opportunity to get the little check in, give employees a chance to check in.
And it doesn't always have to be a meeting.
Yeah, totally. Especially nowadays, right?
We're all so busy. Yeah. What else? So now the second thing was just to talk about what should happen at a check-in, right?
How should it work? So you already mentioned it doesn't have to be in person, especially if you want to do them weekly or very often.
There are lots of software applications that can be used like 15.5.
But when it is in person, either virtual or actually in person, you know, what kind of things should happen at these check-ins?
Oh my gosh. Good question. I mean, what should happen?
So healthy communication should happen. Sharing, right?
Disclosing what's going on. How are people feeling?
Maybe there's a conversation about work-life balance, like what else is going on in people's lives, right?
That might be affecting their work. Yeah.
Yeah. I love we always do a positive focus from everyone at the beginning.
And I think that's so valuable to get to know each other and and to start on such a positive note.
Yeah, for sure. Sometimes we do opener games.
What do you call them? Like icebreaker. Those are always fun.
Yeah, those are fun for sure. Yeah. Yeah.
And, you know, this article mentioned to have discussions about updates, projects and initiatives.
But I loved what you mentioned where often it's so good to cover the why, like really to understand, okay, we know about these projects and these initiatives, but to also make sure the whole team is aware of, you know, the overarching goals and why we're doing these initiatives and projects.
Yeah. Yeah, I think this is really important now, at least in American and probably global business culture.
I think the days of do this because I said so are gone, right?
Those days are over. You know, that's a much more like baby boomer generation.
Like it's going out, out with the way of I don't know what.
But the new way is why are we doing this?
Why do we care? And kind of getting people on board.
And so that if you guys are in a leadership position, that has to be part of the job, right?
I think everyone's realizing that everyone's more effective if they have more buy-in, if they feel like a part of the solution and not just like a spoke in the wheel, right?
Then everyone does a better job and the goals are more likely to be reached.
Yeah. I mean, just this morning, I created a video and we're making a small change in something that we're creating and tried to spend the beginning of the video explaining why, right?
Not sure if it was clear. I'm not sure if it was clear why, but I tried to be clear about why we're making this change and why it matters and what kind of impact it could have.
And that's important, just the fact that you value that, that your entire team understands why.
You're not just sending something saying, change this, do this.
You understand, you see that when everyone understands why, then they're going to have that buy-in and we'll all be on the same page.
Yeah, we're all human beings at work, right?
So we deserve that explanation, I think.
Yeah, for sure. And then just the last thing is how often should they happen, right?
What effect, what factors affect how often they should happen?
And should it be different, maybe more frequent or less if teammates are working remotely?
Yeah. What do you think, Aubrey? Yeah, I think it really depends on the company and the employee, right?
They can be, of course, daily, weekly, biweekly.
The frequency will depend on a workplace's culture.
I do think it probably should happen more often if teams are remote, if workers are remote, because you don't have those natural check-ins of just seeing someone in the break room or quickly here and there to check in.
So you have to be a little more, do them a little more often.
Yeah, maybe shorter more often, right? Yeah, I think that's important.
I think we might add a few more check-ins more frequently, but short ones, right?
Because that is, yeah, when you're remote, you're not going to run into someone.
We're not going to run into each other. Exactly, right?
Yeah. It's interesting because there's a fine line between everyone's heard about micromanaging, right?
You guys know what this is when if a manager is trying to oversee every little thing and then they end up wasting so much time.
Yeah. But there's this fine line between making sure that the check-ins happen so that everyone's on the same page and everyone's being supported without that micromanaging.
That's a tricky line to walk. Yeah. Yeah.
I mean, I think the difference is probably micromanaging would be checking in to make sure people are doing their work versus checking in to see how they're doing.
Right? Exactly. Right. Very different. Yeah.
I think that's the key. I love this. This is so good, but it makes it clear because you found this article in Indeed.com.
Check-in is applicable to the business world, guys.
Right? Exactly. That is where we use it.
Yeah. Yeah, right. It's so vital to check in with teammates, to check in with employees.
But how these work, the frequency is going to be different for every workplace.
Yeah. So check it out, right? If you just started working in a new company, ask your coworkers, what is the culture of the company and see what needs to be done, but make sure you stay in touch with people on your team.
That's really important. Yeah. Yes, absolutely.
Right. These lead to positive relationships, open communication, clear goals, timely project completion.
So, so many reasons to have these check-ins.
All right. Good stuff, Aubrey. It's all about connection and we have to be communicating and checking in to have that connection that we want at work and life.
All right. Good stuff. All right. Well, I'll see you very soon back on Business English.
You have a good day. You too. Thanks, Lindsay.
Bye. All right. Bye, Aubrey. Thank you for listening to Business English, a podcast just for you, the high achieving global professional.
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