Temperature Checks for Change: Staying Grounded Through Uncertainty

When change is the only constant, how do you keep yourself - and your team - grounded and connected? In this episode, we explore simple, powerful check-in practices that help leaders and teams navigate uncertainty with empathy, awareness, and trust.

Transitions and uncertainty are part of every leader’s journey. 

In this episode of Practicing Connection, Coral introduces "Temperature Checks for Change," a practical two-part check-in routine designed to help you stay present and responsive - both as a leader and as a team. 

Discover how quick self-reflection and intentional team check-ins can build trust, foster alignment, and create space for authentic connection, even when answers are unclear. 

Whether you’re leading through a big transition or just facing everyday challenges, these tools will help you and your team feel seen, supported, and ready for what’s next.

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Transcript

JESSICA BECKENDORF: [00:00:00] Hi, thanks for listening to the Practicing Connection Podcast. I'm Jessica, and my co-host Coral is here as well. We'll be talking about check-ins, check-ins for yourself and your team while navigating through transition or uncertainty. Hey, Coral, how are you?

CORAL OWEN: Hey Jessica. I'm great. Thank you. We've been enjoying a touch of summer weather here in Florida and just been getting some time at the beach and the water, as well, which also just the way that I'm wired helps me feel grounded and a little bit more present. So that's always a nice, refreshing kind of reconnect.

JESSICA BECKENDORF: Yeah, I mean that makes sense. I feel like there's lots and lots of research out there about nature and how it can make us feel that way and, frankly, that sounds wonderful. I think I'll copy you and head out to Lake Michigan the first time. It's warm enough, we are not experiencing summer weather here right now, but that's okay.

It'll be warm enough soon and while it's not the ocean, but it almost sounds the same, and there's a beach nearby where I live. So [00:01:00] I think the tourism marketers like to call the Great Lakes the “Third Coast,” which I don't think has caught on with everyone. Except for those of us who live near it.

I think they say something like, I don't remember how many, it's like over 1100 or 1200 miles of coastline.

CORAL OWEN: Whoa.

JESSICA BECKENDORF: Like the Great Lakes are huge.

CORAL OWEN: I had no idea. That's also the first time I've heard the phrase, the Third Coast, and I lived up that way for several years.

JESSICA BECKENDORF:Yeah. Might be a newer thing, I don't know. But for me, the sound of the water, the breeze, the open sky and the soft sand are what I go for when I'm looking for beach time. And I feel pretty lucky that even though I'm, you know, in the middle of the country, I do have a taste of that kind of life. Everything but the water itself, since I can't swim.

CORAL OWEN: No, you're so right. I just, Lake Michigan is so pretty. That area is just so lovely. And you know, I just, I think it's so important regardless of how you're [00:02:00] interfacing with nature, to just get that touch point to reconnect and just get grounded and just kind of, you know, give yourself some breathing space.

It's so important and, I'm glad that you've got that opportunity up that way too.

JESSICA BECKENDORF: We'd love to hear what lake is inspiring you or what ocean is inspiring you as well. Or anything that's inspiring you! So please share by clicking the send us a text message at the top of the description of this episode. When you click the link, your text messaging app will open and you'll see a seven digit number and the words “do not remove.”

Type your message after that and click send. If you are listening on a computer, you can email us at practicing connection@oneop.org. So let us know what's inspiring you right now.

- break -

Alright, let's learn more about this practice. Coral, please tell us a little bit more about the practice you're going to be sharing and why you chose it.

CORAL OWEN: Awesome. Thanks Jess. So this one today is a catchphrase that I came up with: “temperature checks for change.” You can call [00:03:00] it whatever you like though. But you know, really down to the nuts and bolts, it's designed as a simple and intentional way to check in with yourself as a leader, but also to get a read on how your team is doing.

So when we're navigating change, we don't always have all of the answers. But we can build awareness and empathy and responsiveness by pausing. To check where we're at, where our team is at as well. And you know, really at the core of these kinds of moments, they help us stay human and they also help our teams feel seen.

JESSICA BECKENDORF: And I also happen to think that catchphrase as you come up with yourself is. a good way to name all these activities, right? Because some of the activities that we practice don't have a name, so it's actually kind of fun that we get to give them one. So, walk us through the “temperature checks for change.”

CORAL OWEN: Sure thing. So this practice, it has two parts. The first one is for leaders, and the second one is for teams. And you can use them together or separately depending on the scenario and what's needed, in that case. And also this first part may sound a little familiar if you listen to last week's episode [00:04:00] on self check-in. It does build on last week's practice that you introduced Jess, the leadership alignment reflection. So part one is this self check-in and it's for you as a leader if you are leading teams. 

Take five minutes or so before, after a meeting or perhaps at the start of your day. It really can happen anywhere that you just need this little check-in nugget and you can ask yourself any of the following questions, and just reflect on how am I feeling right now, mentally, emotionally, physically, what's weighing on me. How do I want to show up today, or even in this conversation?

And then the final thing to consider in this first phase is what is one small thing that I can do to support my team or myself today? And if you want to keep this a little bit more, you know, nuts and bolts or quantitative, you can even give yourself a quick score from one to five in areas such as energy, clarity, confidence, not necessarily as a judgment, but just rather as a, you know, [00:05:00] data gathering, to give yourself some quick insight if that's helpful for you. 

So the second part is your team check-in. Of course you can do this in any instance. If you don't need to do a self check-in, you can just dive right into this space if you need to. And this is for you steering something such as a team meeting, especially if you have some things that have felt uncertain or even tense.

There's a couple formats, and a couple actually didn't make this list, but maybe we can talk about those in a later Practicast. But two easy formats for consideration. The first one is called “fist to five,” and you can ask a question such as, how supported do you feel right now?

Or even, how aligned do you feel with what we're working on? And then it's just a quick hit. You can have everyone show a number. With their hand, a fist for zero, five for completely aligned, and then, you know, 1, 2, 3, 4, all the way up the line from there. And if you'd like to do a follow up, you can invite anyone to share a quick sentence about their [00:06:00] number and, you know, unpack anything along those lines.

JESSICA BECKENDORF: If you don't mind, Coral, I'll just add a really quick thing. Groups don't have to do it this way, but some groups have said, if the decision you're making is important enough that if someone is at a fist for zero, then that's a deal breaker, and it's time to have a conversation like, how can we get that to a one or a two or a three?

And, if it's a five, then that is, you know, obviously a complete alignment. But, that also kind of gives your team a major voice in like how, and it really kind of builds that consensus and that culture of being able to come to consensus together.

CORAL OWEN: Absolutely. Thanks for that additional insight, Jess. So the second format that you could leverage perhaps is something called “one word round.” And you can ask, “What's one word that describes how you're feeling today?É And everyone, whoever would like to participate, can share that in the chat if you're in a virtual meeting or even aloud if you're together in person. [00:07:00] And you don't need to necessarily respond or fix anything right in that moment, but it just gives people a chance to be heard and really do a pulse checker, a temperature check, right, of how everybody's doing. And just that quick synopsis. 

You may find some trends or some, you know, consistencies across your team, or maybe there's a lot of variety where folks are at, but it's just that quick check-in to just see where everyone's at.

And then just to bring everything home, we certainly want to do a little bit of follow-up, and reflection after you have one or both of those practices. And so after the check-in, you want to make sure that you take a moment to reflect either with yourself or even with your team to unpack anything if the time feels right, you know, are there patterns emerging, like we just mentioned.

Does someone need a follow-up? Perhaps on a one-to-one, or could you share something, some feedback that you're hearing to show that it really does matter and that you're taking that into account while navigating these times of [00:08:00] transition or change and really coming back to the foundation of things.

These moments are so important. They do take a little bit of time and additional awareness and intentionality, but the great opportunity here is that it helps build trust within your collaborative team, and it allows everyone to feel just a little bit more grounded, even if that ground underneath our feet is shifting a little bit.

JESSICA BECKENDORF: Mm. I love that. And I'm always a huge fan of one-on-one meetings, especially when things aren't, you know, things are feeling a little bit off maybe. So thanks so much for guiding us through that.

CORAL OWEN: Absolutely. And you know, I think really the key here, it's just, as with any practice, it's not about nailing this perfectly, right Jessica, it's just about staying present with yourself, with your people, and noticing what's happening within you and around you best as you can, and taking all of that into consideration day by day.

JESSICA BECKENDORF: I feel like you just [00:09:00] described what life is about! All right. That's it for this episode. Thanks so much for joining us.

If you enjoyed this episode, click the share button in your podcast app to share it with a friend. We'll be back next week with a new episode. Until then, keep practicing.

CREDITS: The Practicing Connection podcast is a production of OneOp and is supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U. S. Department of Agriculture, and the Office of Military Family Readiness Policy, U. S. Department of Defense, under award number 2023-48770-41333.