Make One on Ones Your Most Important Meeting
When done right a one on one with your employees can have a huge impact on morale, productivity, and long term engagement. Despite being effective, these meetings are not always popular.
“People complain a lot about meetings. Unfortunately I haven’t discovered a more high bandwidth, high leverage way of sharing knowledge than a face-to-face meeting. What I think actually bothers people is bad meetings”– David Lynch, Engineering Manager at Intercom
The dreaded ineffective meeting, how do we eliminate it and utilize one on ones to be the most effective meetings you have each week?
Let’s dig a little deeper into the positive impact these one on one meetings can have.
When done right one on ones can do the following:
1. Build trust
When an employee has trust with their manager so many great things can happen. They will ask for help when needed, bring up concerns, and some studies show they are more productive. Trust with a manager is the beginning to building a team with psychological safety. It isn’t the only thing that gets you there, but it’s an important piece of the puzzle.
2. Support employees in their work
Finding out where employees need additional support is an excellent use of a one on one meeting. Ensuring that you provide that support or relax the goal to make the work manageable, is key to a positive and productive relationship.
3. Support employee careers and growth
Periodically a conversation about employee career growth should be included in the one on one. This can be discussing future promotion opportunities but it can also be occasions for learning.
Employees value having managers check in on them and that feeling of support can increase engagement at work. Engaged employees are more productive at work.
5. Align goals
One on ones are an important productivity tool that ensures that employees are working on the most important projects that align with company goals. In addition, managers can express continuous feedback on the quality and content of the work. This prevents an employee from completing a project only to do it over because it doesn’t align with what the manager had in mind.
Now that we understand the purpose and benefits of a one on one, let’s talk about execution. Follow these steps to make sure these meetings are effective.
1. Have a regular meeting time, and don’t cancel
One on ones would occur no less than every other week and no more than twice a week. I like the once a week cadence. In addition, never cancel a one on one, these meetings are important, so if something comes up reschedule. If you feel there is nothing to discuss, meet anyways. I’ve never had a one on one and had nothing come up. Usually people will start chatting and then you learn something important about the work that wouldn’t have come up if you didn’t meet.
2. Have a plan
Coming to a one on one prepared is the job of the manager and the employee. Set the expectation for your team as to what their role is in their one on one. Ideally the employee leads their one on one with the manager chiming in to ask clarifying questions and giving feedback. But the manager should also come with a few things to talk about. For new employees I will lead the first few one on ones and then switch to them leading it. Preparation is key.
3. Give continuous, mutual feedback
The manager should give feedback and also ask for feedback, if no feedback is given the first time, don’t stop asking. Ask again in a new way. It is difficult for most people to give their boss criticism so you may have to ask several times. And don’t react right away. Getting a negative reaction to feedback makes someone not want to give it again. Take notes and thank the person for the feedback and let them know you will get back to them with a solution if you didn’t provide one during the meeting. And most importantly follow up, in the next one on one if not sooner.
I believe all levels of employees benefit from a one on one. I have worked in restaurants where I encouraged managers to meet with each employee every two weeks by taking a 15 minute walk around the block (this was especially important to allow for privacy as it is often limited in the restaurant space). Not all one on ones will look the same. They vary greatly by role, level, and reporting structure.
Whether one on ones are new to your team or you’ve been doing them and they simply need a bit of reworking, the outcome can be increased morale, engagement, and productivity. When done right it can also uncover any issues before they get bigger. Dive into your one on ones and remember that they can evolve to fit your business and your team.
