One-on-one meetings – turn them into a productivity tool
This is one of the most important tools you have as a manager – use it to your advantage.
It’s late in the afternoon, you look at the time and think “I’ve still got so much to do!” And the next thing you do is cancel or reschedule that late afternoon meeting with one of your team members. You breathe a sigh of relief and crack on with work. The truth is – while that meeting seems like an obstacle to getting things done, one-on-one meetings are one of the most important tools you have as a manager. After all, your goal as a leader is to achieve results through others. Of course we all have to change our schedules from time to time, but avoid making it a habit to kick your one-on-one meetings like a can down the road.
Why one-on-one meetings are key to your employees’ performance and growth
The one-on-one is the best way to become aware of and discuss issues, build relationships, and ensure your employee is meeting goals and expectations. Straightforward enough – but to get better results and ensure one-on-ones don’t feel like a waste of time – here are a few reasons you shouldn’t reschedule that meeting.
- One-on-ones are a productivity tool
- The meetings are for the employee
- It is a place to ask strategic questions such as whether we are focusing on the right things
- One-on-ones are an opportunity to get feedback and give employees feedback to show them that you value their work
- They enable you to show that you care about them as people
- One-on-ones provide the opportunity to talk about future career options
How to make the most of one-on-ones
One-on-ones can be hard to navigate from time to time. We’ve established why one-on-ones are important to the employee and your ability as a manager to achieve results from your team. Now, let’s look at how to use the time efficiently. Arriving unprepared and having a casual chat won’t maximise the time. Going in too formally can make the conversation feel forced. On the other hand, don’t forget: it can be just as important to step out for a coffee with an employee every now and then. Let’s go back to the fact that the meeting is for the employee. Thus, to have a productive one-on-one it is key to ask employees for an agenda the day before the meeting. This saves you time preparing for the meeting, and let’s the employee use the time in the way that they get the most from it.
What should be on the one-on-one meeting agenda? Here are my 5 tips on what to spend the time on:
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Informal catchup:
5-10 minutes of catching up about the weekend, your pets, or the upcoming family holiday helps build trust and make your employee comfortable in a way that shows you genuinely care. It also helps the rest of the meeting flow more productively as it sets the tone for an open two-way discussion.
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Encourage employees to speak up about issues
It can be important to listen more than you speak to hear out what your employees are struggling with. Let them share whatever is on their mind, try not to jump in with solutions until you’ve understood what they wish to bring to your attention. It can be difficult for an employee to tell their manager about things that are not working. Thus, they may not get straight to the point. Repeat what you think you’ve heard, as this encourages them to be more specific and make sure you are both on the same page.
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Provide – and ask for – feedback
Ensure you share deserved recognition for work well done. However, it is as important to cover areas that you feel the employee needs to improve in. If you tend to find it hard to tell someone what they didn’t do well – remember that employees want to get the opportunity to know where they stand and how they can change to perform better. I’ve always found that employees resent managers more for not letting them know how they could have learnt and improved. Finally, great leaders are responsive to their employees – use the opportunity to ask what else the team and employee need from you as their manager in order to be more successful.
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Operational updates and career ambitions
The one-on-one is the perfect time to discuss work and projects that the employee is responsible for. There is always a risk that managers jump straight into this and miss the need to focus on the employee. While it is indeed a good time to get updates on progress of work and project deliverables, many managers – especially new ones – make the mistake of spending all or most of the one-on-one meeting discussing tasks. Don’t forget that your employees have long term goals and career aspirations. Regularly revisit what skills, knowledge and achievements your employees want to target and where they ultimately want to end up in your organisation. One way to frame this part of the conversation is to ask “where do you want to be in a year’s time?”
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Agree actions
Use the final 5-10mins of the one-on-one to agree action items so that you can follow up and hold each other accountable the next time you meet. From experience of leading teams, I found it useful to end the conversation by asking what the employee needs from me in order to follow through and action the agreed outcomes from the meeting. This either encourages them to speak up about concerns or questions, or puts the ball squarely in their court to deliver on the agreed action plan. This is also an opportunity to share your network and pair them up with people in the organisation that they can learn from and team up with to get the job done with high quality.
For the best results, set the expectation that the employee send over the meeting notes with key takeaways the same day or latest the day after the one-on-one meeting. Remember, take notes in your meeting so that you can continue the next one-on-one where you left off. And ensure that you honour any action items that came up for you to deal with from the meeting. If you want your team to deliver, you need to lead by example and role model the same behaviour as the manager.
Get in touch with Strategic Leadership Team to find out more about how we can partner with you to get the most from your employees: About