What is the Rose, Thorn, Bud Check-in?

The Rose, Thorn & Bud Check-in is a simple but mindful way to reflect upon recent events. It is a versatile exercise that you can use at the beginning of a meeting or as a retrospective.

There are three sections to the activity, two backward-looking and one forward-looking:

Rose – What are you grateful for, or what is a positive?

Thorn – What is challenging or stressful, and you could use more support on right now?

Bud – What are you looking forward to, or what gives you hope, inspiration or motivation right now?

How to run the Rose, Thorn, Bud check-in

1. Introduce the format to the team.
2. Ask participants to write their points for each section (5-10 minutes).
3. Share and review the points together. You can do this section by section, or person by person.

Tip – Using Rose, Thorn and Bud for a retrospective

If this activity is used for a retrospective, follow the remainder of the steps:

1. Group sticky notes into common themes
2. Hold a voting round to find the priorities
3. Brainstorm and vote on potential actions