Questions for a mid-year management check-in

Sarah Park -

ICYMI, 2019 is halfway over.

Today, I realized that I'd left my date stamp on 2018 for the last 6 months without even realizing it. As I finally turned the dial over to 2019, I got that amazing Brand New Year feeling, which inspired me to take a few moments for a little Mid-Year Management Check-In.

Drift happens. We all start every year with the clearest of intentions, but as our businesses and our lives move, we get nudged in different directions. It's normal in the day to day to want to address what comes up and to be flexible and open.

But if you're not careful, you'll wake up mid-way through the year and realize your destination isn't much closer than when you started. That's where the mid-year check comes in. I'm a huge fan of reflection, but this mid-year check-in is all about thinking forward.

Today, I set aside some time to answer these questions in my work journal. I found them so helpful and clarifying that I'm sharing them here as well:

  1. What's something I definitely wanted to accomplish in 2019 that still feels far away? (It'll help to look back on goals you'd set in January.)
  2. Which behaviors on my team (mine included) need to change in order to actively be working toward that goal? Which mindsets need to be unstuck to enable this to happen?
  3. What is the most important piece of feedback I've been reluctant to share? (Answer this for every person who directly reports to you.)
  4. What's the single most important thing I can do today to turn this situation around?
  5. How do I want to remember this year?

That last question is a really important one to end with. I find it too easy to let the earlier questions energize me momentarily, then quietly fall into the "ok, I'll do that soon" category, which I (of course) then avoid forever.

But "how do I want to remember this year?" turns a switch in my brain that pushes me into action. This is the question that prompts me to open and add to the meeting notes I keep with the team members I meet 1:1, to confidently share the most difficult feedback I've been holding back, and to get pumped (not scared) about diving into the bigger more exciting risks. It's all about turning those intentions into active commitments, and doing some self-management work on my own bad habits to make sure I'm holding myself accountable for the results I want to create.

What does your mid-year check-in with yourself look like?

I love to see and hear how other leaders handle the mid-year drift. If you have any go-to questions that activate the "back to business, let's get paaaaiiid" part of your brain, share them with me!