You are time poor, your direct reports are time poor, your manager is time poor.
This should be no excuse to delay or skip your weekly or bi-monthly 1:1.
Having a structure in place to ensure your 1:1s are meaningful, yet brief, allows for everyone involved to get what they need.
Why Are 1:1s Important?
1:1s are a great opportunity to help your department move forward, and better relate to your team. Servant leadership builds trust between you and your direct reports to ensure everyone feels heard and is getting the most out of their position. Engaged employees will be more productive and overall happier with their day-to-day responsibilities.
So What Should We Talk About?
1:1s don’t need to have a one-size-fits-all approach, the goal of these meetings are different at every level and every personality type. Some of the key discussion points may include:
- Work in Progress
What work is the DR currently working through and are they blocked in any way the manager can help. It is important to not micromanage, but rather facilitate issues as they may appear. If any quarterly OKRs or KPIs are in place, now might be a time to review progress. - Career Goals
As much as a 1:1 is valuable to see where things are now, its also a great opportunity to see where the DR aspires to be in the future. This may be in their current role or something else entirely, and as a manager you can be a sounding board to have them be heard, while providing your own experience and insights to help them achieve their goals. - Open Feedback
“How do you feel about this past week?”
“Here are some of my observations from the past week”
“Is there anything more that you need from me?”
Open and respectful feedback is paramount to a strong relationship. This goes both ways, to your DR and from your DR to you. Asking for feedback on your own performance is a great way to finish up your 1:1 to help foster this practice.
The Overall Structure
There are no hard and fast rules to how these meetings should occur, their frequency, or their location. You can chat once a month in your office to once a week in a coffee shop, the options are endless. If you and your direct report feel the meeting that week won’t be valuable, skip it and chat the next.
Below is my beginning template to running 1:1s, and is adapted to the individual based on their aspirations and how they like to operate over time. It’s a living document opent to be changed and have items added at any point during the week to be discussed at the regular time. Please make a copy and give it a go with your reports, see how they feel about the process. If it doesn’t work, figure out what works for your and your team then change it and moved forward.