Best-practice managers have one thing in common. They know how to conduct effective one-to-one meetings. It’s important to have regular check-ins with your employees, so you want to maximize that time together. Communication is key to being a best-practice manager. One-to-one meetings are a simple and effective way to improve communication with your employees. Additionally, they increase engagement.
However, going through the motions of having one-to-one meetings isn’t enough. They must add value and deepen the manager-employee relationship. Our calendars are full of meetings, and one-to-ones shouldn’t be just another meeting.
This article will cover how effective one-to-one meetings can help your employees, teams, and business achieve success. There are two goals to accomplish during your one-to-one:
- Show your commitment to helping your employee grow and develop.
- To refine how you and the employee can work best together to accomplish the organizational goals.
Why One-to-One Meetings Are Critical
Managers who have one-on-one meetings with employees develop a stronger sense of what is needed to improve performance. In addition, one-to-ones give managers a sense of what is happening in the business. Employees, on the other hand, get focused attention on their goals and career development. Effective one-to-ones provide the following benefits:
- Define employee goals and identify challenges
- Identify employee and team morale
- Create opportunities to develop and train employees
- Provide and receive continuous feedback
- Develop actionable plans for improvement
- Share information about the organization while providing context, which helps the employee feel connected
- Provide coaching and mentoring to your employees
Having effective one-to-one meetings with your employees helps you understand what motivates them. In addition, they help you identify their strengths and weaknesses. More importantly, you will better understand the employee’s potential within your team and within the organization. As a result, you lead your team more effectively because you can personalize and customize your management style and make better decisions based on each unique team member.
6 Tips Best-Practice Managers Use for Effective One-to-One Meetings
Most managers conduct regular one-to-one meetings. Best-practice managers maximize that time to provide benefit to both themself and the employee. Best-practice managers use these tips to conduct effective one-to-one meetings.
1) Set a consistent meeting schedule
While this seems obvious, it is the most crucial step to having effective one-to-one meetings. Although our calendars are full of endless meetings, a one-to-one is more than just another meeting. Set a realistic schedule that you can commit to because missing these meetings tells your employee they don’t matter.
2) Let the employee set the agenda
The one-to-one is the employee’s meeting, not yours. So make sure they set the agenda. For example, I ask my employees to update the next meeting invite on Fridays to know what items they want to discuss. Having an agenda helps keep the one-to-one on track and ensures the necessary topics are covered.
3) Come prepared
Review the agenda beforehand to create the questions you need to be answered, status updates you need, and so you can readily speak to any performance wins or opportunities. Then, identify what you need to know from the meeting to prepare for your one-to-one with your manager.
4) Take notes and listen to have effective one-to-one meetings
Taking hand-written notes will help you stay focused and present during the one-to-one. Employees value managers who listen to them because it is a sign of respect. Your employee’s one-to-one meeting is an open dialogue where they can share, report, and brainstorm with you. As a result, they will feel empowered, which helps them perform their best work. Active listening should include these elements:
- Balanced open-ended and closed-ended questions
- Striving for clarification to remove ambiguity
- Demonstrating concern for what they are saying
- Listening to understand, not to respond
- Taking notes to avoid multi-tasking
Mark Cuban received this advice when he was just starting out at the age of 22. He wasn’t a good listener and instead liked to talk and interrupt. His mentor told him to take a notepad to every meeting, and once he sat down to write “listen” at the top of the page. For the last 40 years, he has practiced this tip to help him listen better. He credits his ability to listen as a key to his success.
5) Establish and monitor goals
One-to-one meetings with your employees bring visibility into how they are progressing. They identify roadblocks that are holding them back. Moreover, one-to-one meetings facilitate actions that help employees overcome or eliminate those challenges. Effective one-to-one meetings bridge the following gaps:
- Clarity on the organization’s goals and vision
- How the employees day-to-day impact the organization’s goals
- Creates actionable professional development goals for the employee
- Creates alignment between the employee’s goals and the organization’s
- Develop a plan to meet and exceed their yearly objectives
Giving your employees context on their goals empowers them to succeed, so effective one-to-one meetings are critical.
6) Keep growth opportunities top of mind
Your employees won’t stay with you if they feel stagnant in their roles. But, unfortunately, without effective one-to-one meetings, that is exactly what will happen. Most managers mistakenly think one-to-ones should focus on performance. Best-practice managers talk to their employees about the future. They leverage one-to-one meetings to work with their employees to identify opportunities to grow within the team and overall organization. Next, they work together to create a plan for success.
Organizations move at a fast pace. It is far too easy for an employee to slip through the cracks. Best-practice managers hold effective one-to-one meetings by following the above tips and giving their undivided attention to genuinely make an impact on their employees.
