Fill out a Check-in

Check-ins make it easy for you to regularly set goals, track progress, highlight wins & challenges, and engage with others in your organization. Filling our Check-ins gives you a voice to share that brilliant idea that’s been floating around in your head for 3 months, or to finally get some attention on that project you’re stuck on and dying to complete. Use the Check-in as your work journal to reflect on progress, roadblocks, and get the support you need from your manager. 

Assuming you haven't changed any of your notification settings, you should receive an email prompting you to complete your Check-in. Follow the steps below to begin the Check-in process.

In this article, you will learn...

• How to fill out and submit a Check-in
• Overviews of each Check-in section
• Tools to use as you fill out your Check-in
• Best practices for filling out your Check-in

Guide 📖: 15 Tips for Writing Check-ins
Video 🎥: Submit a Check-in (5 min)

Fill out and submit a Check-in

1. Click on Check-ins in 15Five's main, left-hand navigation.

2. You are now on your current Check-in. If you need to fill out a past-due Check-in, you can navigate it it using the 'My recent Check-ins' section on the left-hand side of the screen.

3. Fill out your Check-in. Sections that may be included on a Check-in are: Pulse ("How did you feel at work this week?"), Objective updates, Priorities, Questions, Your Feedback, and High Fives. You can read more about each of these sections in the next section of this article.

4. Submit your Check-in. When you’re finished with your responses, click Submit at the bottom of your Check-in. Now your Check-in is off to your manager for review!

Made a mistake? Read more about how to edit your Check-in.

Check-in section overviews

This section of the article walks through the different sections that may appear on your Check-ins. If you don't see one of these sections on your Check-in, please reach out to an account admin. 

Pulse

Each Check-in's pulse question asks, "How did you feel at work this week?" on a 1-5 scale. You can add an optional, contextual answer to your pulse question explaining your 1-5 score. Want to make this contextual answer private between you and your direct manager? Click the lock icon to the right of your optional answer to make the answer private to you and your direct manager only— even if other people can view your Check-in, they won't see this answer. 

Why is it important to name your feelings? Check out the science!

Objectives

The Objectives section is where you can make updates to any objectives and key results that you own. The only action that's required in this section is to set your objective to On track, Behind, or At risk

Additional options in the Objectives section

• Click on the name of the objective to open it on the Objectives Dashboard.
• Expand key results and child objectives on an objective you own by clicking the down arrow next to Key results and aligned objectives.
• Click "..." in the right-hand side of the objective box to close, view, or delete the objective.
• Comment on an objective by clicking the 'text box' icon in the right-hand side of the objective box. Any comments you leave will also be visible in the activity feed on the objective's overview page.

Priorities

The Priorities section of your Check-in allows you to create, track, and mark priorities as complete. Two sections appear here:

• Mark priorities from your past Check-in as complete
• What do you intend to accomplish between now and your next Check-in?

In the "Mark priorities from your past Check-in as complete" section, you will see priorities that you set on your previous Check-in. If new priorities pop up during your current Check-in period, you can add them to this section by clicking Add a new priority.

In the "What do you intend to accomplish between now and your next Check-in?" section, you should choose what your priorities will be for your next Check-in period. Instead of using this section as a to-do list, we suggest that you "do less and obsess" by setting 3-5 high-level priorities that you'll complete before your next Check-in is due.

Additional options in the Priorities section

• Link a priority to an objective you own by hovering over the priority and clicking the 'link' icon. All objectives you own will appear in a dropdown menu. Linked priorities will appear on the Objective page in the 'Priorities' section, which is located above the activity feed. Only people that have visibility into your Check-in can see your linked priorities on the Objective page.
• Unlink an objective from a priority by clicking on the trash icon to the right of the linked objective.
• Mark a priority as 'completed' by clicking the checkmark circle to the left of the priority.
• Leave a priority as 'incomplete' by doing nothing. When you submit your Check-in, the priority will show as incomplete.
• Edit a priority by clicking into the priority's text field and making desired edits.
• Delete a priority by clicking into the priority's text field and removing all text.
• Carry an incomplete priority over to your next Check-in by clicking the 'cycle' icon to its right.
• Comment on a priority by clicking the 'textbox' icon to its right.

Questions

The Questions section of your Check-in includes all company-wide, group-specific, or individual questions that have been added for you for the current Check-in period.

Your Feedback

The Your Feedbacks section gives you the opportunity to share anything that wasn't specifically asked about in other sections of your Check-in by asking, "Anything else to add?". This section is optional, meaning you don't have to share anything here to submit your Check-in.

Give a High Five

The option to give a High Five is included in the last section of your Check-in. High Fives given in this section will be sent to the recipient(s) once your Check-in is submitted.

Want to make sure your High Five resonates? Check out the High Five Best Practices to learn how to give an effective High Five.

Check-in tools

This section walks through valuable tools you can use as you fill out or review your Check-in. Tools included in this section are...

• @mention a teammate in your Check-in
• Add a Check-in item to your 1-on-1 agenda with your direct manager
• Add a Check-in item to your 'Wins & challenges'
• Add an image to your Check-in
• Add a gif to your Check-in
• Attach a file to a Check-in answer
• Use markdown in your Check-in

@mention a teammate in your Check-in

Want to give praise for teamwork, bring the relevant person into a conversation in order to resolve issues quickly, or just keep someone in the loop on a project you've been working on? With @mentions you can! You can include as many team members, even groups, as you want—all by mentioning them in a comment.

For more information about @mentions, see this article.

1. Go to any comment or answer section of your Check-in.
2. Type in the @ symbol and start typing the first letter or two of the team member or group you want to mention.
   

Add a Check-in item to your 1-on-1 with your direct manager

After submitting your Check-in, you have the ability to add items from your Check-in to your 1-on-1 agenda with your direct manager. The items will appear as talking points on your 1-on-1 agenda. This process makes adding information to the 1-on-1 agenda easier and allows you to work on Check-ins and your 1-on-1 simultaneously. At this time, adding items to a 1-on-1 agenda only works for direct report/manager relationships.

Prior to submitting a Check-in, you can only add answers given to Check-in Questions to the current 1-on-1 agenda with your manager. After submitting your Check-in, you can add items from Pulse, Objectives, Priorities, and Questions, as well as High Fives given between yourself and anyone in your hierarchy, to your 1-on-1 agenda.

To add an answer to your 1-on-1 agenda with your direct manager before submission, hover over the item and click on the 'double chat bubble' icon. Hovering over this icon will display the text, "Add this answer to your 1-on-1 agenda with [your direct manager's name]." The answer itself will appear as a talking point on your 1-on-1 agenda.

To add an item to your 1-on-1 agenda with your direct manager after submission, click '...' to the right of the item and select 'Add to 1-on-1 agenda' from the dropdown menu. If desired, click Rename this talking point to rename your answer with a short title, then click Save. If you don't wish to rename the talking point, that is okay too! The renamed title or the answer itself will appear as a talking point on your 1-on-1 agenda.

Add Check-in items to your Wins & Challenges

It can be easy to forget wins and challenges that come up on Check-ins. To help you remember, add any answer as a win or challenge and it will show up on your profile page for you to refer back to. Adding items to wins & challenges allows you to keep a list of your biggest wins and toughest challenges in a private section of your profile— making reflection easier down the road. You can also access view items added to wins & challenges when writing a self review in a Best-Self Review® cycle.

To add an item to your wins and challenges after submission, click '...' to the right of the item and select 'Add to wins & challenges' from the dropdown menu.

You can access your wins and challenges directly in the 'Wins & Challenges' tab of your profile page. Use this space to collect performance wins, as well as any challenges, to help you reflect on your job description, objectives, and learning and development goals.

Add an image to your Check-in

To embed a picture in a Check-in answer, copy and paste the code below, replacing the URL with a link to your image:

![](http://yourlinktoapicture.com)

If you downloaded the picture to your desktop, grab the URL by right clicking into image and then clicking 'Get info' or the equivalent.

The image will appear in code-form until you submit your Check-in.

Add an animated gif to your Check-in

To use an animated gif in a High Five or a Check-in answer, copy and paste the code below, replacing the URL with a direct link to the gif:
![](http://gifWebsite.com/yourGif.gif)

The gif will appear in code-form until you submit your Check-in.

Attach a file to a Check-in answer

To attach a file to one of your Check-in answers, simply click on the paperclip icon in the answer text box and select the desired file from your computer.

Use markdown in your Check-in

15Five supports markdown across most features, including Check-ins. Check out our "Use markdown throughout 15Five" Help Center article for more information.

Best practices for filling out your Check-in

• Note events as they occur: It's hard to stare at a blank Check-in and fill in everything you have done over the past week or month. By the time your due day comes around, you might have forgotten what you've done, or be too exhausted to elaborate. 15Five saves your draft Check-in as you go, so that you can easily note events as they occur and come back to finish it up before submitting.
• Mention big issues: Don't let issues fester— use your Check-in to discuss them with your manager early and offer solutions! If you have an idea that could help increase efficiency, or a suggestion for a process change, now is the time to bring it up. Leadership can't help you if they don't know a problem exists. The "Anything else to add?" question on your Check-in is a great place to share this feedback.
• Collaborate with your team: @mentions are a great way to bring your coworkers into the conversation. If a question pops up while you're filling up your Check-in that you think a colleague might know the answer to, or if you worked on a project with a team member and you want to acknowledge their help, @mention them and they'll receive a notification.
• Suggest new questions: Not feeling engaged? Want to change things up a bit? Share your thoughts on how to make the Check-in process more engaging for you and your team! You can do this by creating a list of suggested questions and sharing them with your manager. You never know- they might take inspiration from your feedback, and one or two of your questions might show up on your next Check-in.
• Give someone a High Five: Our High Fives feature is a recognition tool built in to 15Five that allows you to show appreciation to your coworkers. Science shows that recognition increases the likelihood for collaboration and support between employees— so don't let awesome deeds go unseen!