Effective 1:1s

There many ways of having one-on-one meetings (1:1s) with the people on your teams. But here is my starter for 10s.

Have them

Obvious but not always followed.

Have regular 1:1s.

Not having regular 1:1s is a cardinal sin. 1:1s are quiet, focused collaboration time for employees and mangers to connect. It’s also the most important chance for you to hear from your employee, and it’s their time, not yours. As a manager you must create the space for this.

Be on time.

The 1:1 is really not your time it’s theirs. Being late is disrespectful. Constantly prioritizing “something else” – email, other meetings, etc. suggests that this particular 1:1 meeting is not as important to you. Remember, as a manager, in many ways, you represent the company to the employee. Think about the message that you and the company are sending to someone that their time is not that important to you.

How do you think this will affect their engagement?

Change the setting here and there.

Occasionally, go for a walk and have your 1:1. Occasionally, go get coffee. Go sit in the courtyard. Get lunch or breakfast or dinner. Most often, it’s probably easiest and most efficient to grab or schedule a room and get right into it. Every once in awhile, though, offer to change the setting. Think of it as a chance to interact with your team member.

It’s OK to cancel.

If there’s nothing to discuss, it’s ok to cancel. People, too often, view 1:1s as mandatory, but it’s refreshing when you both acknowledge that things are ok for now, or the time may be better spent other ways… and you can do this as long as you both agree not to take a request to cancel personally.

Listening

Very important that your employee owns the agenda. You might set some guidelines for things that you request to be in the agenda.

An example of something that you might request is a regular update on their OKRs and performace metrics.

Have a Doc

Use Google Doc, OneNote or other shared doc, for a few reasons:

A shared doc is easily accessible pretty much everywhere – across devices, even without a network connection if you choose the “Available offline” option.
A shared doc is a great way to capture action items, what’s said, what’s decided, what’s due, etc.
A shared doc enables manager preparation – just because your employee is driving the agenda, doesn’t mean you need to be surprised! You could agree that the agenda is developed an hour or two in advance and take time to see what’s coming and prep.
It allows you to keep a running archive of 1:1 content that could come in handy down the line for any number of reasons.
Three high leverage agenda items for your 1:1s
While the specific agenda items for a 1:1 should be set by your employee, it’s still ok to help structure the agenda to make the time as productive as possible.

Results

Talk about goals “Progress toward goals” as a standing agenda item in a 1:1. Your team member has quarterly goals – ie KPIs or OKRs – that are closely tied to the goals of the team and the company, and it’s very productive to understand the results that your team member is achieving. In the spirit, though, of allowing the employee to own the agenda, give him or her the autonomy to tee up the discussion and prioritize the specific items to cover. That week might be all good news, or maybe that week there’s a blocker that he she needs help with. Perhaps the employee just wants some advice on a problem they are working through. Be there to support them in the achievement of their goals and enable them to determine how you do that.

Career Development

We have developed a very robust Career Conversation methodology here (more on it in later posts). Once a Career Action Plan is developed, allow space in the 1:1 to talk about and follow up on action items.

Top 3 Reasons Employees Quit,

Managers do not regularly meet with their direct reports to discuss Career Development, Learning, and Promotion Opportunities.” Regular investment in growth and development helps everyone – helps your employee grow towards their dreams, helps the team and company improve, and it helps your relationship with your employee.

Feedback: Get It, Don’t Give it

The 1:1 is not the place for the manager to give feedback to the employee. That’s not a typo.

Instead think about the 1:1 as a chance to get feedback from your employees. If you want to build a culture of feedback, the best place to start is here. Follow our steps to get people to open up and prove you can take and that you value tough feedback: ask your go-to question, stay silent until your employee has the chance to answer, listen with the intent to understand not to cross-examine, and then reward the candor.

Here are some example questions:

What’s on your mind this week?
How happy were you this past week?
How productive were you this past week?
What feedback do you have for me?

Remember your 1:1s with your employees are crucial so have them, using the time to listen and learn what is important to your employee, and giving your employee ownership of the agenda (with some guidance on key topics to cover).