From Insights to Action: Weekly Manager Check-ins Manager Response Toolkit

Updated by Amy Thomas

Not all findings in your Weekly Manager Check-ins Report require the same response. Use this guide to determine appropriate action based on what the report reveals.

HIGH-IMPACT BLOCKERS (Immediate Action Required)

Indicators: System failures, critical dependency blockers, customer impact, deadline risk

Examples from reports
• "ATS performance issues creating cascading delays"
• "Support team managing 35% more tickets than capacity"
• "Creative bandwidth bottleneck affecting multiple projects"
Your actions
1. Today: Schedule emergency meeting with impacted teams and resource owners
2. This week: Implement immediate fix or workaround
3. Follow-up: Monitor resolution; communicate impact to broader organization if relevant
4. Prevention: Add to process improvement backlog to prevent recurrence

✅ Success metric: Issue resolved or escalation path clarified within 48 hours

CAPACITY & RESOURCE ISSUES (Strategic Review)

Indicators: Recurring workload complaints, overtime patterns, quality concerns, stretched teams

Examples from reports
• "Benefits enrollment surge with limited team resources"
• "Competing priorities affecting team focus"
• "Team member covering for recent departure"
Your actions
1. This week: Assess whether this is temporary surge or structural problem
2. Plan: Decide: hire, redistribute, automate, or reset expectations?
3. Communicate: Share the decision and rationale with team
4. Monitor: Track whether action resolves the capacity issue
5. Recognize: Acknowledge team members carrying extra load

✅ Success metric: Team energy stabilizes and workload becomes sustainable

INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE OR ENGAGEMENT CONCERNS (1:1 Focus)

Indicators: Specific person mentioned as struggling, energy dropping, blockers personal in nature

Examples from reports
• "Elena's energy dropped from 4 to 3; competing priorities causing stress"
• "David is concerned about morale after team member departure"
• "Lisa showing exceptional initiative—recommend recognition"
Your actions
1. This week: Schedule or extend 1:1 with person
2. Listen: Understand their specific situation, not just the AI summary
3. Act: Provide support, resources, recognition, or development opportunity
4. Follow-up: Check in next week to see if situation improved
5. Recognize wins: Celebrate people who are succeeding

✅ Success metric: Person feels heard and supported; situation improves in follow-up check-in

TEAM ALIGNMENT & CLARITY ISSUES (Meeting/Communication)

Indicators: Confusion about priorities, unclear goals, cross-team misalignment, competing priorities

Examples from reports
• "Team unclear about which projects are priority"
• "Goals not translating to team members' day-to-day work"
• "Misalignment on timeline for initiative"
Your actions
1. This week: Clarify priorities, goals, and timeline for your team
2. Communicate: Use team meeting or all-hands to explain decision rationale
3. Check understanding: Ask team to reflect back their understanding
4. Document: Share in writing (email, wiki, project plan)
5. Revisit: Confirm understanding in next week's check-in

✅ Success metric:Team clarity improves; competing priorities no longer mentioned in next week's report

ORGANIZATIONAL/SYSTEMIC ISSUES (Executive Conversation)

Indicators: Pattern repeated across multiple teams, strategic trade-off needed, cross-functional coordination

Examples from reports
• "Multiple teams bottlenecked waiting for shared resources"
• "Scaling challenges during growth phase affecting multiple departments"
• "Cross-functional collaboration success: establish as practice going forward"
Your actions (as an executive)
1. Bring to leadership team: Use executive discussion guide questions
2. Align on strategy: Decide whether to hire, reorganize, automate, or adjust scope
3. Communicate broadly: Share rationale with organization for context
4. Implement: Provide managers with tools/authority to execute
5. Monitor: Track whether strategic decision resolves the pattern

✅ Success metric: Issue resolved across organization; no longer appearing in reports as systemic pattern

TEAM STRENGTH & MOMENTUM (Recognition & Leverage)

Indicators: Team exceeding goals, individual showing growth, positive team dynamics, wins being achieved

Examples from reports
• "Rachel's team launched partner marketing program ahead of schedule"
• "Product team shipped mobile app update 2 weeks early with positive feedback"
• "Lisa showing exceptional initiative with customer communication solutions"
Your actions
1. Recognize publicly: Celebrate in team meeting, all-hands, or recognition program
2. Understand: Ask what enabled this success—what can be replicated?
3. Elevate: Share success with stakeholders and leadership
4. Invest: Consider additional opportunity or stretch assignment for high performers
5. Sustain: Help team maintain momentum; don't lose them to burnout

✅ Success metric: Team maintains high performance; high performers stay engaged long-term

How did we do?