One-to-one meetings Manager’s guide
Introduction What is a one-to-one meeting? A one-to-one meeting is a dedicated, yet informal, time in your diary for a two-way, anticipated conversation with your team members about things like engagement, workload and performance. Unlike other meetings, this is the time for coaching, mentoring, providing information and giving feedback, and for allowing your team members to tell you how they think things are going.
Why are one-to-one meetings so important? One-to-one meetings are extremely beneficial to you, your team members and the organisation. According to the Blake Moulton Managerial Grid*, the most effective leaders value tasks and people equally. They commit to organisational goals and motivate their team members to do the same thing, while also investing time in looking after peoples’ interests. The best way to help your team members to reach their full potential and achieve their objectives is to get to know them through regular, structured one-to-one meetings. In addition to building better relationships, these meetings will encourage the sharing of ideas and concerns. They also provide opportunities for you to identify coaching or development needs that will help your team members to focus on their goals.
“ You spend so much time finding great people, it’s worth it to help them grow to be the best they can be.” Justin Rosenstein, Co-Founder of Asana
* Blake, R.R. and McCanse, A.A. (1991). ‘Leadership Dilemmas-Grid® Solutions,’ Houston: Gulf Publishing Company.
2
Regular one-to-ones: • Enable open, two-way communication. • Help to build trust, rapport and respect. • Provide great opportunities to praise your team members on a job well done or provide constructive feedback. • Enable career conversations. • Make performance evaluations more efficient. • Help develop and maintain high levels of motivation, morale and engagement.
What are the risks of not having one-to-ones? People are more likely to be motivated if you provide them with feedback on their performance regularly (even if it’s negative), rather than waiting for their performance evaluation, as it gives them an opportunity to improve. Without regular one-to-one meetings with your team members, things like workload and development opportunities may be overlooked. Issues such as team disputes or mistakes might also be ignored, which could lead to a collapse in trust and a deterioration in the relationships that you’ve developed. Failing to meet with people regularly, means that you will find yourself depending on passing conversations and snatched opportunities for updates, which could have a negative impact on the effectiveness of you and your team.
“ Employees who believe that management is concerned about them as a whole person - not just an employee - are more productive, more satisfied, more fulfilled.” Anne M. Mulcahy, CEO of Xerox
3
About one-to-one meetings Even though one-to-one meetings should be relatively informal, some preparation and structure is required in order for them to be effective. Here are three important things to remember:
1. Have one-to-one meetings regularly You should have at least one meeting with each of your team members per month, which should generally last around an hour. You and your team members may decide that these meetings would be useful more often, and this is fine, but you should never have any less than one per month. Try to schedule your one-to-one meetings in advance so that you and your team members commit to having them and stay consistent. If you are unable to attend a meeting, it’s far better to rearrange than to cancel or just skip it, as this can send the message that the meeting isn’t important to you. 2. Be prepared Setting an agenda is a good way of staying on track during the meeting and will enable you to use the time as productively as possible. You should also ask your team members in advance what topics they’d like to cover. If you’ve got something difficult to discuss, it might be helpful for you to make some notes beforehand so that you can remain calm, focused and objective. 3. Choose the right venue The best place for a one-to-one meeting is on ‘neutral ground’. More often than not, it’s better to book a meeting room, but occasionally you might want to the change the setting. Go for a walk or grab a coffee. This is a dedicated time when you will interact with your team members and it doesn’t always need to be done in an office environment. If you manage a remote team, having face-to-face one-to-one meetings might be difficult – so you may need to check-in over the phone or hold a virtual meeting. Remember though, that confidentiality is key to building trust within your team; therefore, if difficult feedback or personal problems need to be discussed, you should find somewhere private to do this where you won’t be disturbed.
4
About your conversations The most important thing in any one-to-one meeting that you are fully present. Don’t think of it as just another item on your to-do list. Instead, think about how you can use the time to make a real difference to the other person’s day. One-to-one meetings are about your team members – this is their time. Don’t be late, turn off your phone, close your laptop and devote your full attention. These meetings are important to you and your team members and they should feel engaged and valued.
What is said in a one-to-one meeting should stay between you and the other person, unless it is otherwise agreed. As a manager, you should focus on asking questions and listening attentively, and you should try to stay open to whichever direction the conversation goes in.
Active listening As a manager, listening is probably the most crucial skill that you can develop. Active listening is a communication technique that requires the listener to fully concentrate, understand and respond. The ability to focus fully on what another person is saying, without becoming distracted, is an art. By not listening properly to what is being said, we can’t possibly know what the other person wants or needs.
Asking great questions Starting each one-to-one meeting with an open-ended question will allow your team members to share anything that’s on their mind, and enable you to establish a rapport with them. If you follow this up with great probing questions, you will find out a lot more information. An open-ended question like “How’s everything been going?” will give you an indication of any positive or negative patterns that may be developing.
5
Getting personal Sometimes it might be appropriate to share some personal experiences or anecdotes of your own in the context of a one-to-one conversation. It might provide inspiration to the other person if you can share an example of how you overcame a certain situation. Doing this will also encourage them to open up more readily and strengthen your relationship with them.
Giving & receiving feedback One-to-one meetings provide a good opportunity to give feedback to your team members; however, you should be mindful that if you give too much feedback, they may become overwhelmed, and if you provide too little, they won’t get used to receiving it and may find it uncomfortable. As a starting point, you could try providing feedback: a) upon completion of a piece of project/piece of work; b) when there’s an issue in the team; or c) when you want to give recognition for great work. Studies show that 83% of employees see recognition for a job well done as more fulfilling than rewards and gifts. One-to-one meetings are also a good time to encourage upward feedback from your team members to help you boost your own performance. Simply asking “Do you have anything for me?” can open the door to this conversation. It’s important though that you demonstrate that you’ve listened and are willing to take their feedback on board.
6
Handling difficult conversations Difficult conversations can be a positive turning point if handled well. If someone in your team brings up a challenging topic, acknowledge and appreciate their openness. You might not have an immediate solution to the problem and that’s okay. Don’t rush to hasty recommendations or promise something you can’t deliver. Allow time and space for your team members to raise topics that are important to them, but that they may not feel comfortable bringing up in a group setting. Ask if there’s anything challenging or bothering them. When they do open up, listen first to make sure you understand their concern. Then support them to help solve the problem. You could say something like, “I know it must be challenging to bring this up. Thank you for trusting me. Let’s work to find a way to solve this.” In your ‘Coaching conversations – Manager’s guide’, we talk about coaching as a technique. A coaching approach will enable your team members to improve their own thinking and facilitate a solution. As a manager, your role is to let your team members know that they’ve been heard and then guide them to think through the issue and develop their problem-solving skills. You might also want to refer to our eLearning course – ‘Effective communication’ to find out more about handling difficult conversations.
7
Being open-minded One-to-one meetings can cover pretty much anything, but here are a few suggested topics to get you started: 1. General check in One-to-one meetings are a great way of gauging how things are going and how engaged and motivated your team members are in general. Find out what they are enjoying about working for the organisation, what they least prefer doing, and what inspires them at work. You could also discuss what changes could be made to optimise their day. Find out what time of day they feel most productive and ask what activities they feel are their biggest time wasters. It’s a good opportunity to discuss any roadblocks and what you might be able to do to help them. 2. Previous actions Talk about what’s happened with any previously agreed actions. Generally you are looking for a high level status update; however, this may be a good time to talk about any challenges or new priorities that may effect their progress. 3. Tasks and outputs This is your chance to talk about everyday pieces of work that are necessary to the achievement of your department plan or the general requirements of your team members’ roles. You can discuss whether or not the work is on track, and if not, how you can support them. Talk about the challenges or bottlenecks that they are facing as well as their successes. 4. Objectives and targets Take the time to discuss specifics in relation to any significant objectives & targets that your team members are working towards and provide them with any feedback that you have received. Ensure that you are aware of any issues or changes that will impact deadline dates. Use the time to help your team members to identify their strengths and how these can benefit them as individuals, the team or the organisation.
8
5. Personal development It’s important that your team members take responsibility for their own development. Your role is to help them do this. Using a coaching approach for these conversations can be useful when helping them to identify the skills that they need to develop and to focus on, any required adjustments or improvements to their behaviours. Asking good open-ended questions and probing questions will help them to think more broadly about the opportunities that may already exist for them, or that they can create with some support from you or others. 6. Career planning Take the opportunity to chat to your team members about their career aspirations. This is a chance to explore where they might want to head, and how they might get there. It’s important to explain that this conversation is exploratory and is designed to help them get the best out of themselves. It is not a promise to promote them.
To find out more about this, please refer to the ‘Career conversations – Manager’s guide’ within this booklet.
“ Understand that success is not an accident, but a planned event.” Abhishek Ratna
9
Closing a one-to-one meeting To close a one-to-one meeting, it is important to summarise the conversations that you’ve had and update the relevant screens in Cascade. If any actions have been agreed, it should be made clear who is responsible for doing what and by when. It’s important that your team members leave their one-to-one meetings feeling valued and engaged with the process. Try to close the meetings with positivity, perhaps ending with a note of appreciation and gratitude.
“ The discipline of writing something down is the first step toward making it happen.” Lee Lacocca
10
Summary One-to-one meetings are a great tool for team development. Not only do they allow you to check how motivated and engaged your team members are, they also provide an opportunity to get to know the people you’re working with better and strengthen your relationships with them. There are also many benefits to giving honest feedback in one-to-one meetings, both for you and your team members. These include, eliminating any unnecessary tension, improving productivity, and boosting performance. Principles to remember: Do • Schedule regular meetings and be prepared for them • Notify your team members in advance if you plan to discuss their personal development or career plans – these conversations require reflection and thought • Listen attentively, provide feedback and support Don’t • Cancel, be late, or get distracted by others things • Stick to an agenda too rigidly – be open-minded about where the conversation might lead • Forget to say “thank you” - it’s important to make your team members feel valued
11
12