How it works

How Groundwork works.

Every check-in follows the same simple path, from a clear beginning to a clear end.

1
Start a check-in
Start one for an important piece of work where expectations, responsibilities, or delivery are easy to lose track of, or when something already underway does not feel right. You do not have to start at the very beginning. The manager sets the starting point: the objectives, what success looks like, expectations, responsibilities, constraints, and the context that matters. This becomes the baseline the rest of the Ground is measured against.
2
Invite the people involved
Invite everyone involved: managers, employees, partners, and stakeholders. Everyone checks in on their own so every person gets the same chance to contribute, regardless of confidence, personality, communication style, or seniority.
3
Why people tell Groundwork things they won't say in meetings
Nobody else sees your answers. Nobody sees who said what about anyone. Groundwork only ever shares the picture that emerges once every account has been compared, and the shared report appears once everyone has checked in. That is why people are honest, and the honesty is why the reports are worth reading.
4
Check in as the work goes on
Groundwork runs regular check-ins and prompts people automatically when it is their turn, so you are not left chasing anyone. Each one records where things stand: progress, priorities, changes, commitments, risks, concerns, and any evidence. A check-in takes about ten minutes.
5
Groundwork compares the whole picture
At every check-in, Groundwork compares what people are saying now with what was agreed at the beginning, what they said before, and the evidence they have provided. It shows the things that are hard to see through meetings and documents alone: expectations that have changed, risks starting to show, work falling behind, unclear ownership, and where a conversation is needed. For example: "Two people described different agreed deadlines. Shown at check-in 2, before the deadline passed."
6
Read the reports, and take them into your calls
Managers get reports showing progress against the objectives, what has changed, risks, where expectations differ, delivery against commitments, and the conversations worth having now. Groundwork does not replace your one-to-ones. Take the report into them, so the meeting is spent on the conversation, not the catch-up.
7
Close it
When the work reaches its end, Groundwork compares the final outcome with the starting point and produces a clear conclusion: objectives against what was delivered, how expectations changed, the key decisions, the evidence, what was learned, and the complete history of the Ground. The closed Ground stays on record for everyone who was in it, so the next conversation starts from what happened rather than from memory.

Nobody is scored, ranked or watched. Groundwork never shows anyone's raw answers and never says who said what about whom. The shared picture goes to the people it is about; on a cohort, where people work in different places and have never met, each person reads their own and the lead reads the whole.

Where things stand

Every report says how many areas the accounts agree on and how many are still open, counted from the areas that report actually names. It is not a score, and it is not a grade out of five. When the record does not yet hold enough to say anything, it says nothing rather than rounding up.

Agreed on all 5 areas
nothing left open
4 agreed, 1 still open
one thing to talk about
No read yet
the record does not say

Groundwork supports the manager, it does not replace them. It does not decide who was right or evaluate personalities and communication styles. It helps managers understand what happened, what has changed, and where a conversation is needed. Managers still make the decisions.

Start a check-in for your team
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