Effective 1:1s meetings — The greatest communication tool for managers! 💊
Effective 1:1s meetings — The greatest communication tool for managers! 💊
As leaders, you should have one-on-one meetings with your direct reports regularly, but how to run them and get the most out of them?
Effective 1:1s are one of the greatest communication tools for managers; They are the foundation of trust, and in order for you to influence your team members and achieve standing results, you need to build that trust, right?
1:1s meetings are also a return on investment. You will build trust and motivate your team. They also will help you know your direct reports even better, which will provide you with clarity on how you can support them, and even what kind of tasks you can start delegating on each of them depending on their goals and skills.
How to make your 1:1s effective? Here 3 recommendations!
🤝 Get personal
Your employees are unique individuals. They will want to talk about different things. It could be their personal lives, goals, frustrations, or even something they face in their daily lives. Listen actively! Every word, every story they share with you is a show of trust.
🗓 Schedule your 1:1s on your calendar as a repeating event
“Busy managers cancel their 1:1s meetings because they feel it is a huge time suck.”
Schedule them on your calendar in advance, set a period, and stick to it. It’s a valuable time to your direct reports, a safe space where they can share their thoughts with you.
I know sometimes it might be unavoidable that you have to cancel, but really if you can absolutely make the meeting happen, please do.
If you need to reschedule, talk to the employee first and let him know what’s going on. This shows respect from your side.
📄 Prepare your meetings in advance
Before the meeting, make a checklist of what you’d like to discuss, and ask your direct report to do the same.
By letting them take the lead and collaborate with the agenda, you demonstrate to them that are their priorities what you want to address first. You are the GPS, but they drive.
Each conversation is unique, but if you need some help to prepare your meeting, get here 100 questions that will help you make your one-on-ones even more productive.
Want to continue learning about 1:1s?
Join Lidr Community PRO and the last learning circle of 2021 focused on 1:1s. Real-world challenges, a safety circle of peers, an expert tutor, and top guest mentors to deep dive into this topic are awaiting you.
💬 How often do you have 1-1 sessions with your team members?
Join the latest discussion within our Lidr Community, and find answers about how often managers are having 1-1 sessions with their team members! — and what results have they had so far!
📄 How to Get Your Silent 1-on-1s Back on Track
As a manager, you’ll face 1-on-1s in which someone will tell you “I have nothing to share.” Get an approach to unblock such conversations by Emmanuel Gossaert, Senior Engineering Manager at Booking.com
🔗 Read the article here • 5 min.
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