As leaders we all know that it’s important to have one-on-one meetings with our team members—but it’s often difficult to keep to a regular schedule. In her May 23 “Your Best Next Move” video, Bobbie LaPorte shares some simple tips to help you stick to a plan, conduct successful 1:1 meetings, and make the most out of these valuable conversations.
Transcript of Your Best Nest Move: Time for a Mindset Shift in How You Think About 1:1s
Hi everyone, Bobbie LaPorte here again with my weekly leadership tip for your Best Next Move, where I help you see continuing curveballs as an opportunity. This year, I will help you actively use your personal agency to accelerate what you want to accomplish in 2022.
If there is a practice that always seems to be challenging for most leaders, it is holding 1:1 meetings with your staff members.
Even as I mention it, I am guessing your reaction falls into one of two buckets: you really enjoy your 1:1 sessions and look forward to them: OR you never seem to have time and often end up cancelling them.
No question, having consistently productive 1:1s can be tough. And I am not judging you either way you look at them. But they are important.
Let’s review why.
First of all, everyone wants to feel connected, a sense of belonging: to their work, their team, their manager. It’s basic human nature. And in our current workplace environment, this is true now more than ever.
Second, feedback is the cornerstone of a good employee-manager relationship. It builds trust.
Studies showed that more than 50% of workers said their relationship with their manager had deteriorated during the pandemic. Trust had eroded.
Regular 1:1 contact can go a long way to rebuilding and repairing damaged relationships.
Lastly, we all know the need to focus on employee retention in this crazy hiring market. Again, studies show that providing regular feedback can increase employee engagement by 15%.
It could be time for a mindset shift in how you think about 1:1s. Because every time you cancel or postpone (or show up frazzled, distracted or need to cut the meeting short), you are devaluing the time spent with your team member – and you’re sending the message that their time isn’t worth as much as yours.
So, here’s my tip:
- Make the commitment to hold regular 1:1s with your team members. They don’t have to be weekly; many leaders I work with have moved to bi-weekly meetings. Let your team know your plan and stick to it.
- Save the status updates for email. Use this time to ask your team member how things are going; are they having any challenges you can help with? Is there anything they would like to work on that they are not? And how are they/their family doing personally?
Bottom line here: your goal is to have consistent, non-distracted, generative conversations.
That’s my tip for this week. If you’d like to learn more about conducting successful 1:1 meetings, check out the Resources page of my website for my “Top 10 Tips for Better 1:1 Meetings.”
And for more help on using your personal agency to make uncertainty a part of your success strategy for 2022 – check out my new book – “When the Curveballs Keep Coming: A Leadership Playbook for an Uncertain World” and my new online course – “Leading Through Uncertainty”.
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