One on One Meetings Archives - Focus https://usefocus.co/category/one-on-one-meetings/ Mon, 29 Aug 2022 10:41:00 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://usefocus.co/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/cropped-fav-icon-32x32.png One on One Meetings Archives - Focus https://usefocus.co/category/one-on-one-meetings/ 32 32 Employee One On One Questions: How to Ask Them Effectively https://usefocus.co/employee-one-on-one-questions-how-to-ask-them-effectively/ Mon, 29 Aug 2022 10:41:00 +0000 https://usefocus.co/blog/?p=1011 Building great relationships with each employee is the key to running a thriving business. Regularly scheduling one-on-one meetings with employees is the best approach to establishing those relationships, enhancing employee loyalty, and boosting employee retention. These meetings establish rapport with employee members and offer them practical assistance. From the outset, one-on-one sessions may sound daunting. […]

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Building great relationships with each employee is the key to running a thriving business. Regularly scheduling one-on-one meetings with employees is the best approach to establishing those relationships, enhancing employee loyalty, and boosting employee retention.

These meetings establish rapport with employee members and offer them practical assistance. From the outset, one-on-one sessions may sound daunting. However, they provide the biggest opportunity for both parties to freely express their thoughts, concerns, and aspirations. A Gallup survey has revealed that employees that participate in one-on-one meetings regularly are 3 times more likely to be engaged compared to those who don’t. Also, these meetings are beneficial for building trust over time.

Keep reading if you’re looking for ways to improve your meetings as we’ll go over the top tips on how to ask effective employee one on one questions. 

How to Make Your First One on One Employee Meeting Successful 

The first one-on-one meeting can be scary, regardless of whether there is a new manager, a new team member, or both. But this is also a fantastic chance to get to know and introduce yourself. It’s a perfect opportunity to develop open communication and set the tone for your future meetings. 

Tips for a Great First One-on-One Meeting

To kickstart the meeting, introduce yourself by sharing a personal fact. Then try to discover more about the employee by asking about their interests or hobbies. Next, make it a two-way exchange to build rapport. Share your career growth vision and ask them to describe their career goals and aspirations.

Keep the topics simple; you’ll have plenty of time and opportunities for in-depth conversations in future meetings. Finally, set a date for your next one on one employee meeting and decide whether you’re ready to schedule a weekly, biweekly, or monthly sessions in your calendars.

Tips for a Better Conversation Flow

Once you break the ice and schedule regular meetings, it’s essential to keep the conversation flow. To ensure the employee feels like they can share anything, always place them first and focus on listening. Allow the employee to speak and prompt them to discuss problems and seek assistance if needed.

You should also avoid wasting too much time on status reports since you can get the necessary information on the project’s progress during team meetings. In one-on-one conversations, emphasize the unique employee performance and always give constructive feedback. This is the moment to express your ideas and make suggestions. 

Finally, record the meeting even if you are only taking meeting notes for your personal records. A lot might arise in a one-on-one conversation, and you don’t want to forget some important points.

Photo by Amy Hirschi on Unsplash

15 Employee One on One Questions to Ask

Starting and maintaining effective one-on-one meetings may seem difficult, but you can make them successful with a proper meeting agenda. However, the following list of questions and conversation starters can serve as a model for your sessions. With time, you may modify the questions and include a variety of topics to meet your needs and those of your business and employees.

Check-In Employee One on One Questions

1. How have you been?

Open the one on one employee meeting with something simple yet personal to determine how the worker feels about the meeting. For instance, giving a specific response would mean they are looking forward to the meeting, whereas a general reply shows they are anxious.

2. What have you accomplished since our last meeting?

Asking about their greatest successes both at the job and outside of it will highlight your genuine interest in the person. From there, express appreciation or try to make a connection on a more personal level with them.

3. Do you have any concerns about the upcoming week/month? Can I help you?

Encourage employees to talk openly about challenges. Assure them that you are there to assist them in improving their performance. Make sure you also find out what they have planned work-wise for the upcoming week or month. This will help ensure everyone works on the appropriate assignments at the proper times by aligning on key outcomes.

Career-Related Employee One on One Questions

4. What professional achievement are you anticipating this year?

Continuing the meeting with some more career talk can help you understand your employee’s career goals and aspirations and can assist you in giving them the tools they need to get there.

5. What aspect of your work inspires you most?

The employee response to this question can assist you to determine an employee’s future area of specialization. Using this insight, you can encourage their professional growth and assign them projects they’ll enjoy.

6. Do you believe your current role aligns with your long-term goals?

You can determine if that individual is suitable for the role based on the response to this question. It might also assist you in giving the employee adequate tasks or offering them a job that suits their objectives.

Employee One on One Questions Regarding Obstacles

7. What do you believe to be an obstacle to reaching your professional goals?

The next set of one on one questions should reveal both personal and professional obstacles. By revealing what prevents the employee from reaching their objectives, you have the chance to change that. 

8. Do you believe that anything or anyone at work impedes your ability to do your job?

You should uncover potential issues within the organization brought on by other staff members, tools, or even business processes as this gives the company a chance to improve its processes.

9. Do any non-work-related issues make it difficult for you to focus on your job?

The question gives a full picture of what the worker might be experiencing. Understanding personal and work-related difficulties will help you grasp what they are dealing with and provide you the chance to offer solutions.

Employee One on One Questions to Assess Satisfaction  

10. How satisfied are you with your present position, responsibilities, and job?

Happy employees contribute to higher productivity. Understanding how your employee feels about the duties and tasks assigned to them is critical. In addition to evaluating employee satisfaction, you may go deeper and let them elaborate on the topic. This may also indicate whether or not a promotion is warranted.

11. Do you believe your work is making a positive impact on the business, industry, or world?

You’ll modify the question based on your business’s size, objectives, and core beliefs. However, the employee’s answer should help you in determining the employee’s level of motivation for their job.

12. Do you consider your job and personal lives balanced? If you don’t, why is that so, and how can we make it better?

This inquiry reveals details about your regular organizational procedures and whether the workforce is adequately or excessively occupied. Additionally, it offers perceptions of a worker’s psychological profile, enabling you to apply that knowledge to improve the work-life balance.

Self-Improvement Employee One on One Questions

13. Do you think you get enough feedback? How often should feedback sessions occur, in your opinion?

The responses to this question gauge how the employees feel about providing feedback and whether they believe it is necessary. It indicates that these sessions are practical if the worker wishes to increase input frequency. If the situation is reversed, it’s a sign that some aspects of the one-on-one session weren’t up to par.

14. Do you have any criticisms and recommendations about the business and me?

You should ask your fellow employees for their thoughts and suggestions because the goal is to create a two-way feedback loop. You might learn something useful and insightful while also giving your staff members a sense of empowerment. In addition, they are sure to remember you favorably if you take one of their recommendations to heart.

15. After this meeting, what can I assist you with? Do you have any questions or concerns?

It’s crucial to leave the meeting with an open-ended question so that additional conversation can continue, even after the one on one employee meeting has concluded. It’s also a fantastic approach to decide what will be discussed at the next meeting. On the other side, it allows workers to voice their opinions freely.


Photo by Amy Hirschi on Unsplash

The Bottom Line

High-performing businesses are driven by maintaining constant contact between employees and their management. Team members must maintain alignment with the larger objectives and have a sense of purpose for their personal and professional development opportunities.

Use the strategies, one-on-one meeting best practices, and advice this comprehensive guide provides to ask effective questions and get the most out of your sessions. Whatever your position, there is always space for improvement, and one-on-one interactions provide valuable insight that’s crucial for making that a reality.

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Daily Stand-ups are a Must! Here’s Why. https://usefocus.co/daily-stand-ups-are-a-must-heres-why/ Tue, 11 Aug 2020 23:28:45 +0000 https://usefocus.co/blog/?p=547 Daily stand-ups, check-ins, and OKR are growing in popularity so you and your team should give us a try! Don't lag behind all the teams and start-ups. With Focus, you'll find ease in fostering clarity and teamwork across all types of departments and projects!

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Daily Stand-ups

So you’re managing a team and you need some help with synchronicity. Need to know what’s going on with everyone in your team? Daily Stand-ups sound like just the thing you need! Learn about daily stand-ups or daily scrum. These meetings are not just a status update, it’s an essential tool.

Read for our tips and suggestions with team development.

There are three main parts that we will cover:

  1. Defining Daily Stand-up
  2. Why you need it as a leader
  3. Implementation
  4. Why you need Focus

Defining the Daily Stand-up

Daily stand-ups, daily scrum, daily meetings or whatever name you know them as are all the same thing. They are daily check-in meetings you have with your team.

Daily Stand-ups are timely, informal, and get to the point. No need to prepare presentations or rehearse, just go down a list of critical information you need to share. Your team should provide information on their obstacles and possibly what they’re doing to mitigate these problems.

The advantage to daily scrum is that you can give your input right away. Give some criticism or share some helpful tips.

You can even shut down ideas and help narrow down what your team should be doing.

These meetings originated as a tool for development teams-Agile development teams that it. Agile teams are defined by the Harvard Business Review here: Agile at Scale. They’ve grown since then and should be utilized by all teams, non-technical or otherwise.

Why you need it (as a leader)

These daily scrum are vital for team coordination. They are an effective form of communication that help you stay on task.

When your team is in sync, you can achieve more. Get better results, faster results more efficiently.

For example, you want to have your team post on the company’s social media everyday. Creating a calendar and delegating the tasks is the first step. If someone misses a post or creates something not to your liking, a face to face meeting, even over video call is the best way to communicate your message. A quick call can aid in overcoming misunderstandings.

Daily stand-ups prevent critical issues from growing.

These frequent stand-ups don’t allow for issues to fall through the crack. Because problems can be address easily as they appear or even before they’re noticeable, they can be tackled on the spot.

Daily Stand-ups are not just individual reports.

The benefit of doing daily stand-ups is its notable difference from a normal meeting or report. If you treat these daily stand-ups like a a report meeting then you lose it’s value.

Synchronicity is Key

Here are some examples of how you can stay in sync:

  1. Write a mini agenda/list so that the team can view
  2. Don’t go off topic in daily stand-ups
  3. Stay active in group chats
  4. Use Focus (more details below)

At Focus, our main goal is to help teams achieve the most! We want to share our technology and OKR guides so that no matter how big or small your organization is, it can reach it’s full potential. We believe in daily stand-ups and that every leader should give it a try!

Implementation

So now that you’re ready to start having these daily scrum with your team, here’s what you need to know.

Rule #1 is to know your team’s schedule. Find a time that works for everyone and that means everyone. Having expected attendance and participation gathers respect. You show respect for your team and take time to check up on them, so they should share their honest thoughts and comments in return.

Rule #2 is to keep it short. This is not the time to have long, deep in-depth conversations. These daily stand-ups can delve into personal topics, but should ultimately stay light and focused. You want to understand what’s going on and any obstacles. Any “blockers” that need more than 15 minutes to explain should be saved for a later meeting, which you can plan during this daily check-in.

The length of daily stand-ups are a great advantage. Each party has to equally participate and the limited time helps everyone stay focused to not only talk about their plans but also actively listen.

On a side note, these meetings are short, so remember to be on time!

There’s no space for uncomfortably in daily stand-ups.

Rule #3 is to always address impediments. If your team never has any issues then it’s because they don’t feel comfortable diverging information. As there are always ways to improve, there will always be obstacles to your goal. Leaders should aid in teamwork, meaning your team should not be too intimidated to let you know what issues they face. Be wary of this secrecy. Even if your team is at their peak performance, have them share their impediments and how they can address them.

There’s no time for passivity.

The last major rule is to stay committed! Don’t give up on these meetings. Daily means daily. As casual as they may be, your team should treat is an a important part of their day. The more you value these stand-ups the more your team will as well. Lead by example and you’ll soon enjoy the benefits of daily stand-ups!

My personal tip is to thank people for their time! As quick as these meetings are, it’s always polite to give a “thank you” to the person for their time. It’s better not to assume what your team’s schedule might be. Last minute changes can happen to these meetings, and you might not know what plans they had to move to make it on time. Take advantage of this time to recognize your employee’s hard work and build your professional relationship! It never hurts to be polite and friendly. This relationship can translate into work and in turn improve your team’s commitment.

Daily Stand-ups go a long way.

Read our tips on one on one meetings:

9 One on One Meeting Tips

What are One on One Meetings

Why you need Focus

Why you need focus. 1. Transparency 2. Synchronicity. 3. Simplicity

At Focus, we pride ourselves on being communication-oriented and solution driven. Our use of OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) helps our team to stay on task and figure out creative solutions.

Read more about these OKRs on our blog:

What are OKRs

We use many forms of communication to let our team know our status. Focus had daily check ins where you share your actions and tasks as well as meaningful insight. Every member of the team can see what everyone else is doing. To make this process even more convenient, we have a Slackbot for these daily check ins as well. Weekly team meetings and one on one meetings are a must for our team. Our blog serves as evidence of this synchronicity!

We post about the changes Focus has gone through on our blog:

Focus Update

Daily stand-ups, check-ins, and OKR are growing in popularity so you and your team should give us a try! Don’t lag behind all the teams and start-ups. With Focus, you’ll find ease in fostering clarity and teamwork across all types of departments and projects!

Schedule a meeting with our CEO and team at Focus.

Let me know what you think about my article and share your experience with daily stand-ups below! Follow our Facebook and LinkedIn!

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9 one-on-one meeting tips https://usefocus.co/9-one-on-one-tips/ Thu, 02 Jul 2020 19:25:58 +0000 https://usefocus.co/blog/?p=427 Is it tips for your one-on-one meeting you’re looking for? You’ve come to the right place. But before we jump in, let’s set the scene. The one-on-one meeting is possibly the most lightweight management tool you can use in your fledging company. We wrote at length here about what a one on one meeting is, […]

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9-one-on-one-meeting-tips
9 one on one meeting tips

Is it tips for your one-on-one meeting you’re looking for? You’ve come to the right place. But before we jump in, let’s set the scene. The one-on-one meeting is possibly the most lightweight management tool you can use in your fledging company. We wrote at length here about what a one on one meeting is, why you should have it and some general one on one tips. In this post, we’ll go through best practices in more detail.

What is a one-on-one meeting?

Classically, the one-on-one meeting is a consistently recurring, timeboxed meeting between a manager and a direct report. However, since one-on-ones are so useful. I’ve seen companies as small as just two co-founders having them and there the relationship is more horizontal rather than vertical. So don’t get too hung up on the hierarchy of people in a one-on-one meeting. It doesn’t change their purpose and general structure.

One-on-one meetings help the flow of information from top to down and from down to up. As a manager you can share or explain the vision of the company or a shift in the market. You can talk about how the organization is growing and what challenges it faces. As an employee, you can share your aspirations and frustrations, motivations and barriers. One-onones are designed to be a space where candid conversations can happen about mostly work but also life and everything else in-between.

Therefore the one-on-one meeting provides a constant informal pulse of your organization, something that is invaluable as a manager. Imagine if you wouldn’t keep your finger on this pulse, you’d only get to know about problems when they are too late. You’d have to communicate changes in vision, strategy or the organization in a formal, top-down manner, something that has been proven to yield worse results. But you already know this and convinced you should start having one-on-ones. Or you are already doing them and just interested in some one-on-one tips. Whichever it might be, let’s get started.

One-on-one meeting tips

1. Set up a recurring meeting for the same time each week

When you become a manager of people, your day immediately gets busier. Even if it doesn’t it’ll sure look like it to anyone else. This means that people will have a hard time scheduling ad hoc meetings with you and might not even try. Set your one-on-one meetings up in advance for the same time each week. A good practice as a manger is to block off an entire day for one-on-ones. This will also help you avoid some of the other pitfalls we’ll discuss below.

2. Dedicate at least 30 minutes

As your company scales like crazy you might be tempted to think that you could optimize the time you spend on management by cutting down on people’s one-on-one time and get it over with with 10-15 minutes each. You’ve got 10 people working for you, that’s more than 2 hours potentially saved each week. No, they don’t work for you, as a manager, you’re working for them. Any meaningful conversation takes longer than 15 minutes.

A good rule of thumb is to dedicate at least 30 minutes to your one-on-one s and leave a 15 minute buffer after for any other meetings or tasks you might have coming up. If everything is smooth sailing you can use the extra 15 minutes to reflect on the one-on-one you just had or get some quick tasks off your plate or to grab a coffee and walk around a bit to relax.

3. Don’t cut the meeting short

This should go without saying since we talked about setting up a recurring meeting and dedicating a fixed time for it and the benefits of these approaches. However, I’ve seen this happen all too often so I think it’s important to mention. Do not cut a one-on-one meeting short because of something short of an outright emergency.

When you cut a one-on-one short it signals to the other person that whatever was the reason is more important to you than them. Even worse, it might signal that you’re incompetent at your job since you can’t even plan to set aside a set amount of time for something this personal and important. If all lights are green and there’s nothing to worry about, your team member might initiate to end the one-on-one early. This is fine and it’s okay to go along with it. But you shouldn’t be the one to propose this.

4. Never skip a one-on-one meeting

It seems easy to bail on a one-on-one in the face of other burning issues. After all, you talk every week, right? What can just one week delay cause? While one-on-one meetings might seem less directly mission critical when you’re in the tranches fighting fires, getting on calls with angry customers, talking to disinterested investors and trying to still make time for that one task you still need to do, don’t skip one on ones.

Just think about it, every time you skip a one-on-one meeting you send a clear message to your team member, “You don’t matter”. At least not as much as that quarterly investor update that you knew was coming up but you didn’t do it because you hate it. Every time you skip a one on one you become less in the eyes of your team. Don’t do it.

5. Start with “How are you?”

This is the perfect opener for any one-on-one. “How are you?” is a simple question where the answer is often very complicated. And that is where the one-on-one begins, with the answer. Depending on the tone and content of the answer you’ll decide where to go from there. Everything okay and you’re just checking in on each other? Is there a lingering issue that need to be solved so that value creation can continue unhindered? Is there a showstopper disaster that needs your undivided attention? It all starts with “How are you?”

This is also why you need at least 30 minutes for your discussion. Both of you needs to leave the daily grind of the business behind for a bit and reflect. A good way to start is by acknowledging how we’re feeling and then examine what are the likely causes of those feelings. If one has an idea on how to mitigate or reinforce the causes it’s great to bring it up. However, remember that you shouldn’t try to jump on everything and try to offer a seemingly quick solution. Just listen first, acknowledge how the other person is feeling and go from there. A lot of times, just sharing hardships can help or make the person realize the course of action they should take.

6. It’s not a status update

“How are you?” is also a great way to avoid another pitfall of one-on-one meetings, them turning into a status update. Because what a one-on-one is not is a way to keep on top of the to dos of the other person, to report on progress or to ask for the status of tasks. Pay attention to this as it is easy to fall back into this pattern if there is not much to talk about or if the team member doesn’t feel comfortable to talk about something. It is your job as a manager to make them feel comfortable to share. And while it might be easier for both of you to just talk about the status of ongoing things, don’t be tempted by it.

7. Don’t issue work tasks

Just like you shouldn’t turn a one-on-one meeting into a status update, you should also not use them to issue tasks related to daily operations. It is okay if based on your conversation your direct report comes up with stuff to do on their own, but you shouldn’t be the one instructing them in this meeting.

As far as one-on-one tips go, this one has an exception and it is when the task relates to an issue you’re discussing. Let’s say the person complains that the dev team is always frustrated that not all edge cases are covered on user stories and it brews resentment towards them, the PO and they are unsure how to deal with this. While you might know a great way to solve this, instead of outright instructing the person to use your method, you should gently guide them towards coming up with the solution themselves. This could mean that an action item for the next one on one meeting is to do some research on this problem and come up with a proposal. Note that this is not about what to do, but rather how things are done.

8. Follow up on your action items

As a manager it is your job to make sure your team can maximize their potential and deliver the most amount of value to users and to the business. In most of the cases you as the manager will end up with a lot of action items after a one-on-one meeting. One of the most important one-on-one tips is that you should make sure you either have completed or have something credible to show on the next one-on-one relating to your action items.

9. Keep things confidential

As far as one-on-one meeting tips go, this one is probably the most important. For successful one-on-one meetings, trust is very important. A lot of these one-on-one tips centered around building and keeping that trust. But a surefire way to damage it, maybe even permanently is to not keep something that was shared in private confidential.

So before you think about sharing some feedback with another team member for example, do ask for permission from the person who shared it. And when it comes to personal matters, it’s probably best not to even ask and just keep them between you two. Nobody wants to hear on an All Hands meeting that the company is giving everybody Headspace subscriptions because they had a panic attack at work.

Takeaways from these one-on-one meeting tips

I think you can spot a pattern here, people expect managers to be responsible, organized, accountable, trustworthy but relatable. It is not easy to pull all of this off and still keep the boundary between manager and team members. This is where I hope these 9 one-on-one tips help.

Do you have some one-on-one tips of your own? Do share them in the comments below.

Get focused

We here at Focus think that one-on-ones are an essential part of your management toolbox along with OKRs, check-ins and recognition. Check out how Focus can help you become a better manager and your team to maximize their potential.

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What is the one on one meeting? https://usefocus.co/what-is-the-one-on-one-meeting/ Thu, 25 Jun 2020 08:09:57 +0000 https://usefocus.co/blog/?p=429 So you are curious about what a one on one meeting is? Before we jump in, let’s zoom out a bit. Business is very often just pure chaos. It is doubly so for organizations that are younger, smaller, more agile or just plain scrappy. It is also this environment where founder CEOs and other self […]

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So you are curious about what a one on one meeting is? Before we jump in, let’s zoom out a bit. Business is very often just pure chaos. It is doubly so for organizations that are younger, smaller, more agile or just plain scrappy. It is also this environment where founder CEOs and other self made C-level people don’t have a tried and true toolset and decades of experience to fall back onto. While OKRs, daily check-ins and such are all great, they don’t address the fundamental management problem young organizations are facing. One on one meetings are the definitive solution. Let’s dive in.

What is a one on one meeting?

One on one meetings are the setting where two people, manager and employee can talk freely about themselves, their pains, successes, hurdles and aspirations, the company, the market and life in general. It is the focused space that transcends firefighting, snarky comments on Slack, gossip and watercooler chatter. While these are all part of a healthy business, they can drown out the somber voice and the genuine cries for help. As a manager, your main task is to enable your team to be able to do their jobs to the fullest extent they can today and to grow tomorrow.

How will you know if someone is facing personal challenges that affect their performance? If they don’t get along with someone else in the company? If they have a trivial problem like not being able to set up their VPN and get no help from anyone? Yes, the one on one meeting is the ideal setting for these.

If you are interested in reading a book about one on ones and just about how to manage people in the software industry, I highly recommend Managing Humans by Michael Lopp.

The dos and don’ts of the one on one meeting

Do

  • Set up a weekly recurring cadence
  • Have it at the same time and the same place every week
  • Make it at least 30 minutes long
  • Start with “How are you?”
  • Follow up on your action items by the next one on one meeting

Don’t

  • Do not cut the meeting short
  • Don’t make it a status update
  • By no means should you share details with others without consent
  • Avoid giving tasks in the one on one meeting
  • Don’t EVER miss a one on one meeting

Now that we looked at some general dos and don’ts of the one on one meeting, let’s look at the three broad types of them. What should you expect and prepare for when you’re going into your first on on one?

The 3 types of one on one meetings

The check-in

In a healthy organization, most one on one meeting will not be a heated conversation. Instead, it’ll be more like an update on what’s going on, how’s everybody feeling, minor pieces of improvement and feedback but nothing major. Why should you still do one on one meetings if some of them will be nothing more than confirmation that things are going smooth? Precisely for that reason.

Imagine this scenario: your team member has consistently missed the daily standups this week which is unusual for them. What is going on? Are they completely demotivated? Checked out? Looking for another job already? You might assume the worst and thus as any good manager, you’ll concentrate on trying to solve these perceived issues and prepare for the worst. This will distract you from items that might truly need your attention but without more information you can’t prioritize effectively. Sure, you could schedule an ad hoc meeting with your team member, or try to catch him while getting coffee but these can easily come across as too overbearing.

Lucky that your organization does one on one meetings so you can meet and discuss anything. You’ll ask: “How are you?” and he’ll reply that he’s fine, maybe a bit stressed. Why is he stressed? Turns out he is moving house and the movers keep rescheduling last minute day after day. Is this something you as his manager can solve? No. Is this information going to help you prioritize. Oh yes. Now you know that you’ll just need to be more patient with him and the situation will resolve itself with time. In the meantime, you can help him out by subtly managing the expectations from the rest of the team and downplaying the effect of him being late rather than leaning into it. Your team member will feel like they are heard and even cared for, all thanks to the little weekly 30 minute one on one meeting.

The rant

I wish I could say that the update is the most common one on one meeting archetype. But I won’t. Based on my experience, especially when it comes to earlier stage, smaller companies, things are rarely smooth sailing and it will show. If you don’t have one on ones, any frustration that builds in your direct reports will lead to loss of motivation, decrease in performance, toxic behavior and ultimately a burned out team member. As a manager it should be your only job to prevent this and actually reverse it. Support your team members to perform better, grow into a better version of themselves, keep motivated, curious and engaged and ultimately deliver the maximum value possible to your customers and the business in a sustainable way.

Let’s say you decided to introduce one on one meetings, now you have a valve on the pressure cooker that is your organization. The thing is, you’re in the way of the hot steam coming out and you’ll need to know how to deal with it. So when you ask “How are you?” and the reply is less than convincing or outright hostile, you know you’re dealing with a rant. It’s okay, this is useful and you can do this.

Hint 1 – Just listen

First of all, listen, don’t try to solve every problem right away. A lot of times people just want to be listened to, to share their frustration, to feel like they are not alone. By being a good listener you’re already scoring points with your direct report. These are the first steps for a trusting work relationship. Once you think they are over the initial burst, do ask follow up question if you need to. Try to understand what caused the frustration. Is it another team member? A process that doesn’t make sense? Misaligned expectations? The person’s own shortcoming? Something you might have done? Or some completely external factor you have no control over?

Once you identified the likely cause, you can start to guide your team member to come up with a solution on their own. Don’t underestimate the importance of this. If people come up with a solution themselves they are much more likely to follow through with it and after owning the process of resolving any conflict, they will also own the win. Remember, the measure of success for a manager is the success of those they manage.

Hint 2 – Action items

At the end of a rant, you should be able to either come to a resolution in the meeting itself, or come up with a list of action items either you or your direct report needs to complete. It is very important that neither of you lose track of these as it is expected that progress will be made by the next one on one unless explicitly stated. Write these down somewhere where you won’t forget about them. Or you could try using a dedicated software solution for one on ones, more on this at the end of the article.

The disaster

What is an ongoing rant that seemingly has no resolution? Yes, it is a disaster. Once a person reaches a point where they seemingly have given up, it’s hard to turn back. When someone answers the “How are you?” question with an empty stare, sharing that they are completely unmotivated or that they feel depressed you know you’ve got a disaster on your hand. Lots of times people in disaster mode won’t even wait for you to ask your standard question, they’ll blurt out what’s bugging them. It can be that they say they can’t take it anymore, it referring to something they ranted about in the past but is still a problem. It can be trying to resign or threatening to quit. Or it can be simply a cry for help, without specifics.

Look, it’s a problem that the disaster is here. There should have been plenty of rants that led up to this and you failed to help the person resolve their conflicts. So what can you do about it? First of all, you need to reassure the person that their concern is your top priority (if it wasn’t before) and that you’ll work with them to resolve it.

In some cases, especially when this is just the latest in a string of disaster type one on ones, you will have to think about how the person fits into your organization. Sometimes, the best course of action for both parties is to amicably part ways.

Software for running a one on one meeting?

While you can run an effective one on one with just a pen and a piece of paper or a notes app, we think we have a better way. Making the most of your one on one meetings requires both parties to be on top of the topics they want to discuss, any action items that need a resolution before the next meeting and to see these evolve over time. Check out Focus to see how you can supercharge your one on one meeting.

The post What is the one on one meeting? appeared first on Focus.

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