Use this guide to design a status and risk check-in for your team. You can run this as a recurring content block in a standing meeting you lead or as a standalone session you convene when you need a dedicated pulse check.

Use this when: You need to understand where your team's work stands so you can surface risks before they become problems and use meeting time to troubleshoot together.

Sample Objectives - choose from this list or write your own

• Blockers and risks have been surfaced early enough for the team to act on them
• The team has troubleshot solutions or agreed on next steps
• Priorities have been reviewed and adjusted based on what surfaced
• Team members who need support have a clear plan for getting it

Before the Meeting

As the meeting leader, you prepare:

• The list of projects or work items you want the team to check in on (or a prompt for team members to self-select their most important items)
• Context the team needs: shifting priorities, upcoming deadlines, asks from your leadership, or decisions made since the last check-in
• A plan for how you want to capture decisions and action items in real time

Suggested Flow

🟢 Green: On track. No support needed from this group, and nothing that affects others here. 🟡 Yellow: Something is developing that this group should know about. Either it could affect others' work, or early input from the group would help you stay on track. 🔴 Red: You need this group's help to move forward, or what is happening will directly impact others if you do not address it together now.

A project can be behind schedule and still be green if you have it handled and it does not affect anyone else in the room. And something can be technically on track but yellow if a piece of it is heading toward a dependency that involves someone else on the team.

For yellows and reds, ask for one sentence on what the risk or need is. Greens get a brief acknowledgment. No full status reports. You can do this as a round robin, in the chat, or on a shared board - ask people to write on stickies and place in the appropriate category. | | Varies | Troubleshoot reds and yellows | Work through the items that need the group, starting with reds. The person who flagged it gives a brief framing (30 seconds, not a full recap). Choose an engagement approach:

Option A: Full group discussion. Work through each item together as a group. Best for smaller teams, when topics are interconnected, or when only a couple surface.

Option B: Pair problem-solving. Pair the person who flagged the item with someone who has relevant context or capacity. Pairs troubleshoot for a set amount of time, then share their plan with the full group. Best when multiple items need attention simultaneously.

Option C: Prioritize and focus. If more items surfaced than you have time for, use a quick dot vote or group decision to pick the 1-2 most critical items. Give those items deeper attention and schedule follow-ups for the rest.

Example troubleshooting questions for any of these engagement options: "What's getting in the way? What options do we have? What have you tried? What do you need from us?"

Capture decisions and action items as you go. If an item needs more time than the group can give, name it and schedule a follow-up meeting. | | 2 min | Debrief/processing questions | "What patterns are you noticing across these items? What does this tell us about where the team needs to focus this week?" | | 2 min | Close and follow-up plan | Summarize decisions made and action items with owners and deadlines. Name anything that needs to be escalated or revisited. |

Estimated total: ~15-45 minutes (scales with how many reds and yellows you troubleshoot)

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Tips for Leading This Effectively

• The biggest barrier to honest ratings is fear of looking bad. If people get questioned or criticized when they flag a red, they will stop flagging. Your reaction to bad news trains the team on whether it is safe to share. Model the response you want: "Thank you for flagging that early. What do you need?"
• Watch for ratings that look green on the surface but mask real risk underneath. If ratings are consistently rosy but deadlines keep slipping or surprises keep landing on other people's desks, you may need to address a psychological safety issue directly.
• Do not let the check-in become a status report. The temptation is strong. If someone starts giving a full update on something the group does not need to engage with, jump in and redirect: "Got it, that sounds like a green. What do you need from us right now?"
• Adjust the timing based on what surfaced. Some weeks there are no reds and one yellow. That is a short check-in, and that is fine. Do not fill time with generic status updates just because you have the calendar slot. Give people time back or move to other agenda items.
• The first few rounds may feel clunky as people calibrate what counts as red vs. yellow vs. green. Keep the structure consistent. After a few cycles, ratings get more honest and the conversation gets more useful.
• Reinforce the distinction between status and need. If someone rates something red but cannot articulate what they need from the group, help them get specific: "If you could walk away from this check-in with one helpful thing in the next 10 minutes, what would that be?" </aside>

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For a Standalone Session

If you are running this as its own meeting (not as a content block in a standing meeting you lead), consider adding these elements.

Suggested warm-up question

"Think about a time someone gave you a heads-up about a problem early enough that you could actually do something about it. What made them comfortable raising it?"

Gets people thinking about what makes it safe to surface risk before the troubleshooting begins.

Suggested check-out question

"What's one thing that came up today that you're glad we talked about as a group?"

Reinforces the value of bringing risks to the group instead of holding onto them alone.

Housekeeping tips

• Open with the meeting objective and a recommended norm: "Surfacing risk early is how we help each other. Red means 'I need this group,' not 'I'm failing.'"
• Clear note-taking plans to capture decisions and action items in real time
• Use a parking lot for issues that need deeper discussion beyond what the group can solve today </aside>