MANAGING PEOPLE & TEAMS
How To Run Greater 1-on-1 Meetings
3 Things to Do Before Running a 1-on-1 Meeting
“How it’s going?”
Asking vague questions gets you vague answers, even though it may seem natural and casual. As you interact with more people in the office, you encounter people of varying personality types — sometimes, the response to the vague questions is simply “fine”.
The main purpose of a 1-on-1 meeting is more on discovery and coaching: you will find things that you do not know about the employee’s work, and you have the opportunity to deep dive into some of those problems and work on them. It is the best way to create a personal connection.
Yet, managers often mess up 1-on-1 meetings.
When you ask a vague question, you set the tone of the meeting. The employee feels disconnected immediately. Your 1-on-1 meeting is treated as a waste of time, further reinforcing the impression in their heads.
Managers often shy away from these meetings because most are unaware of how to structure them — coupled with the fact that as humans, we tend to avoid difficult conversations. According to one study, 7 out of 10 employees actively avoid such conversations.
Many managers do a lot of guesswork for 1-on-1 meetings: how do we prepare them, and what do we even say? There is no real sweet spot in the frequency: some managers hold such meetings with each employee every month, others do such meetings every week.
The importance is in creating the cadence.
Take Time Out To Prepare
Failing to prepare for a 1-on-1 meeting runs the risk of having the manager repeat themselves over and over again. Preparing more ahead of time may sound intuitive, but most managers often fail to do so.
Taking time out to review the current state of the employee’s work and previous 1-on-1s allows you to cut out useless questions.
If you can obtain information from other people and through other means, you are also able to zoom in on the more significant portions.
Managers need to waste less time discovering on the surface and go deep from the beginning — that way, they can coach and mentor more efficiently.
Go Electronic-Free
The best meetings are meetings that create a personal connection. While you may type down notes on your laptop, it gives a better impression when you put away your phone. Removing what makes people feel comfortable allows you to have difficult conversations.
Stop Talking
Anything from your body language to the way you say “I see” 80 times in 5 minutes can affect their delivery and message.
Let your employees take lead. While you may know how to finish their sentences and you already understand where they are coming from, the best way to get your employee’s full opinion is to get it unfiltered.
1-on-1 meetings are spaces for you to get feedback as well from your employees. As a leader, you need to adopt a growth mindset, which means allowing other people to notice where your blind spots are.
It is also where you can give feedback and even that requires a lot of preparation and strategy to go with. Whether you’re doing a performance review or having a difficult conversation about grief, your role is to always prepare. By actually understanding your employee like a human being more than just a worker, the ROI in individual performance and growth is going to be exponentially positive.
