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How Managers Can Get Better Results by Asking Better Questions -ok

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How Managers Can Get Better Results by Asking Better Questions -ok

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Asking better questions is important to get better information that you need for better results. The article notes that it can be easier to ask questions about previous jobs and employers for new hires as compared to asking them about their current managers. Make sure that you also set the tone right with your intro. Always create a non-threatening and non-obtrusive atmosphere when you do one-on-one meetings. This article lists a few questions that managers can pick and choose in order to get better information from employees.

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A manager's ability to bring out the best in their direct reports is hugely affected by whether they engage them in conversations about what they, the manager, can do to help their direct report perform at their best. The usefulness of these conversations depends, in large part, upon the quality of questions the manager asks, because:

When you ask people better questions, you get better answers, and therefore, the information you need to get better results from them.

In this article, you will find a list of questions that will lead to productive conversations yielding valuable engagement and productivity-enhancing information from each employee.

You will only use a few questions in any one conversation, given the depth of information each one can potentially provide.

Questions 1-7 are a great way to start the process off, especially with new hires. Because the questions are about past managers and past employers, they require less candor and courage than answering questions about their current employer and current manager, i.e. you. Because of that, you can get incredibly useful information on how to bring out the best in them in a non-threatening, non-intrusive way.

A script for these conversations

If you've never had a "How can I bring out the best in you" conversation, it might catch your employees off-guard when you suddenly start.

Here's a simple script for starting these conversations:

Sarah, one of the things getting more and more recognition in the management and leadership fields, is how important it is to understand what makes each of your team members tick so you know how to bring out the best in each person.

For instance, things like how one team member prefers getting feedback might be very different than how another team member does, or what motivates one person is not necessarily what is motivating to another.

I want to do a better job of understanding what works best for you and each of the others on our team, sort of like having an owner's manual to what works best for Sarah and one for each of the others on the team.

So, with that in mind, I'll be setting up meetings with each of you, and asking for your insights and feedback related to how you work best and how I can be the best manager for you.

This won't be a one-and-done conversation because I've got a lot of questions I want to ask. It will be an ongoing conversation.

I'll give you the questions I'll be asking ahead of time, so you can give them some thought and won't have to come up with feedback right on the spot.

Do you have any questions about this?

Tips for getting more useful responses

To facilitate their recalling of what works for them, and what doesn't, you can give them one or more examples of what you're talking about. So for instance, if you are asking them about what types of appreciation work for them and what don't, you could give a few examples of approaches that work for some people but not others.

The quality of the information you get from your questions depends upon the specificity and concreteness of the information. Thus, if someone just says "My favorite manager from the past was really good at making you feel like you mattered" that doesn't give you any information about HOW the manager accomplished this. If you ask, "How did they do that?" and the person says, "Oh, I don't know. He would ask us our opinions about how things should be done," that gives you information you can work with.

If you go one step further and ask for examples of him doing that, and what he said, and how he said it, you then have information that allows you to more accurately duplicate what works for this person.

Whenever someone gives you abstract answers, like "He really showed he cared about me," or feedback like "I wish you would listen better," ask them for specific examples. You want to make sure the way you ask for specifics is not interpreted as request for them to justify their comment. Make clear you ask for specifics because you want to make sure you understand what they mean.

So, for instance, you might say, "I really appreciate your giving me this feedback. I want to make sure I understand what it is I do that comes across as me not listening. Can you describe what you see and hear me doing - and not doing? Even better, can you describe a situation or two that stands out in your mind where I didn't come across as listening?"

By framing your request in that way, rather than just, "What's an example of that," you make your request for more detail friendly and inviting rather than a demand for them to back up their claim.

One more reminder about the questions

As you go through this list, think of it as a buffet of questions. With a buffet, you don't eat every item before you. You pick and choose. It's the same with these questions. They are not meant to be asked in a single conversation.

Focus on the questions that fit your relationship with that employee, and where they are in terms of performance and professional development. As mentioned earlier, questions 1-7 are a safe, low threat way to begin the process.

The questions

1. When you think about managers you've had in the past, what have they done that has been the most helpful to you, both in terms of job satisfaction and in your ability to perform at your best?

2. When you think about managers you've had in the past, what did they do that was least helpful?

3. What did they do that was most frustrating?

4. Did they do things that killed your enthusiasm - or made you care a little less about going the extra mile - and if so, what did they do?

1. When you think about past employers, what did they do that was most helpful, both in terms of bringing out the best in you and in how happy you were working there?

2. When you think about past employers, what did they do that was least helpful, that bothered you the most?

3. When you left previous jobs, what made you think about looking elsewhere for work?

1. Follow-up question: Was there a "final straw" event, and if so, what happened and why was that the final straw?

2. Follow-up question: What were some of the "little things" that happened that started to add up until you had enough?

4. What do I do that is most helpful to you, both in terms of job satisfaction and helping you be your best?

5. What do I do that is least helpful or most frustrating?

6. What could I do more of?

7. What's something I haven't been doing that would be helpful for me to start doing with you?

8. Can you give examples of how managers have given you feedback that wasn't helpful? (Note: for examples that aren't self-evident, ask why it wasn't helpful)

9. Can you give me examples of how managers - or other people - have given you feedback in a way that was helpful?

10. Each of us has our own preferences about how we like to receive appreciation; some approaches work for us and others don't. Can you think of times you received appreciation when it was especially meaningful to you? What did the person do to make it meaningful?

1. Follow-up question: Can you think of times where someone expressed appreciation, but it didn't feel meaningful or sincere, or maybe it felt awkward? Can you describe what made those situations not work for you?

2. Follow-up question: So, it sounds like (summarize the themes you heard about what works and what doesn't for this person), is that accurate? How would you modify what I said to make it 100% right on?

11. What about recognition? Each of us has our own preferences about how we like to receive recognition. What works for one person doesn't necessarily work for another person. Can you describe situations where you received recognition where it was particularly meaningful and those where it wasn't, or it was uncomfortable?

1. Follow-up question if they don't describe why the situations had the effect they did: What about that approach made it meaningful? Or, what about that approach made it feel awkward?

2. Follow-up question if they struggle coming up with examples: OK. How about in general terms, how do you like to receive recognition? What works for you and what doesn't?

12. Are there things our company does that interfere with you doing your job, or doing your job to the best of your ability?

13. In the area of knowledge and skill development, are there particular areas you are most interested in cultivating?

14. What do you see as your biggest strengths?

15. Do you feel like you are getting enough opportunities to use your strengths, and if not, how might we work together to provide more?

16. What about your job and working here is most meaningful to you, in the sense of "I'm making a difference in the world. What I do matters"?

17. How connected do you feel to our mission and vision?

18. Are there things that we could do to create a stronger connection?

19. Do you feel like you are getting the training, coaching, technology, information, and other resources necessary to do your job well?

1. Follow-up question (for each area): Is there one thing we are doing that is most helpful?

2. Follow-up question (for each area): How can we do better in this area?

20. What are you career goals - whether short or long term, or both?

21. Are there ways we can play a more helpful role in helping you grow professionally and achieve those goals?

22. If you were to hand someone a short "Owner's Manual to Bringing Out the Best in Me," what would be the top takeaways you would want them to remember, both the Dos and the Don'ts?

What would you add?

What other questions would you recommend adding to this list?

Are there other guiding principles or verbiage you would add to this article, to make it even more useful to managers who hope to bring out the best in their employees?

Please include them in the comments section.

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How Managers Can Get Better Results by Asking Better Questions

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A manager's ability to bring out the best in their direct reports is hugely affected by whether they engage them in conversations about what they, the manager, can do to help their direct report perform at their best. The usefulness

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Here’s Your Guide to Holding Effective One-on-Ones -ok

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Here’s Your Guide to Holding Effective One-on-Ones -ok

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One-on-one meetings are under-appreciated. However, they are effective in getting to know subordinates, nurturing a relationship with them, and giving them feedback.

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One of the most under-appreciated tools of any manager's toolkit is the one-on-one meeting. It's a regular time for you to connect with each person reporting to you, get a sense of what they're working on, where their priorities are, any obstacles that are in their way, share information they need to know, and (most importantly!) develop a relationship with them grounded in trust.

This meeting is the most important meeting you have with each person who reports to you and, in a very real way, dictates one of the most critical parts of the employee experience: How they feel about you, their boss.

In most cases, the boss is our conduit for the organization at large. Have a great boss, you'll think the organization cares about you. Have a not-so-great one, and you'll be writing a potential negative Glassdoor review in your head on a pretty consistent basis.

Your one-on-one meetings are a profound opportunity to send a clear message to the people reporting up to you. If everything we do at work sends a message to others, think about the messages you're sending to you team members in regard to the one-on-one:

If you just show up and wing it week after week, with nothing to tell them or report back, what message does that send? It means you don't think putting effort or energy into them is important.

If you regularly cancel your one-on-ones when things get busy, that means you won't make time for them.

If you spend the entire meeting talking about what you're doing, or interrupting them when they try to speak up, that means you don't care about what they have to say or contribute.

If you mostly criticize their ideas and efforts, without giving much positive feedback for the things that are going well, that means that nothing they ever do will be good enough.

These may seem to be framed in an extreme way but that, friends, is just how the human brain works. And if those are the perceptions that your team members are walking away with, you're going to have problems related to morale, productivity, and quality of work on your hands.

On the other hand, what if you show up every week prepared with an agenda, spend time giving them your full attention without interruption, openly and transparently share information you know across the organization, answer their questions without judgement, consider their ideas, and give them tons of positive recognition for the good work they're doing? That's going to paint a very different picture in their minds about how much the organization cares about them. Their effort will follow suit.

So, don't dismiss the one-on-one meetings. You've got to get these right. And it doesn't take a ton of effort to do so - just a plan and a commitment to doing things consistently.

Make them weekly

The question I get asked most often is about frequency. Should they be once a week? Every two weeks? Once a month? What's best practice?

For my money, a weekly one-on-one meeting is always your best bet. There are a few reasons for this:

It keeps everyone informed. Office gossip starts when communication is not clear, consistent, and transparent. Having individual time every week ensures the consistency piece.

It enhances accountability. If your team members know that you're going to ask them about their progress each week, they're more likely to make progress rather than waiting until a day or two before to start the next step of a project.

A lot can change in a week! Having the time regularly blocked on your calendar makes sure you have it set aside for when you need to connect.

We live in an instant gratification society, where any piece of information we want is available to us at a moment's notice just by pulling out our cell phone. That makes more frequent communication even more important.

Finally, every employee should have the peace of mind to know that their boss makes individual face-time a priority. If their boss doesn't care about them, then why should they give you their best every day?

So there's lots of great reasons to keep it once a week. But here's the most common objection I hear:
I don't have the time for weekly one-on-one meetings with all of my employees.
And my response is simple: We find time for things we care about and deem important. So find the time. If you can't give everyone reporting to you 30 minutes each week, then one of these statements is true:

You're managing too many people;

You're not delegating enough of your own work down to free up your time;

You just don't care.

The most important job you have as a manager is to take care of the people reporting to you so that they can perform to the best of their abilities. Your one-on-one meeting is critical to that. This is not a time for excuses. This is a time to figure it out.

On board? Great. Here's how you run a really amazing one-on-one meeting.

Utilize a consistent agenda

Consistency is your best friend when it comes to the one-on-one meeting. It lets your team know exactly what to expect each time so that they can prepare accordingly. It also sets you up to prep efficiently, not only prior to the chat but throughout the week. As items come up that you know members of your team need to know, just make a quick note to add it to the agenda.

Here's the framework I like to use:

1. The first part of the meeting is all about your employee. What are they proud of accomplishing in the last week? What are they working on? What do they want to discuss? What's holding them back from being successful?

2. The second part of the meeting is about you. What are you working on that they should know about? What conversations have you been a part of that will impact their work? What new items do you need from them? What items are you delegating down to them? If they need to develop new skillsets to take on those assignments, this is also a perfect time to coach them in that direction. You can prep your agenda ahead of the meeting by putting together a quick list of the topics you want to make sure you hit on.

Assuming a 30 minute meeting, this allocates about 15 minutes to them and 15 minutes to you, but don't be a stickler on a perfect even distribution of time. If they're on a role and are engaged and excited in their end of the conversation, let them have a bit more time. Those are feelings you want to encourage - it will help them leave the meeting motivated to hit the ground running as soon as they get back to their desk.

All about them

Here's the thing: As the person in the power position, the very best thing you can do to support your team is put your ego to the side. Everyone has an ego - there's nothing good or bad about it. But you must think back to your goal here: Create an experience where they are intrinsically motivated to do their best work while still being held accountable to the goals they need to accomplish. That means this meeting has to be about their needs on a deeply psychological level. But you don't need to be a psychologist to get it right - it's just about making them feel good when they walk out of the conversation.

The most important thing you can do in your one-on-one meetings is to listen.

In coaching clients in organization, not a week goes by when I don't hear some version of the following words: You are the only person that listens to me.

That means that they don't feel like the one person whom their success relies on - their boss - really listens to a word they say. This could be an inaccurate perception, or it could be that you were legitimately distracted. Either way, it doesn't help you get their best performance and make them feel good about the relationship you have. This happens for a lot of reasons. You're busy and focused on your priorities. You have your computer open during meetings and are answering email. You dismiss their ideas too quickly, making them feel as though they weren't properly considered in the first place.

There's a time and a place for everything, but these one-on-one meetings are the time and place for you to put everything aside and give them your full attention.

Do not have your computer open. Even if you are just using it to take notes, it's very easy for them to interpret it as you answering email and not really focusing on what they have to say.

Face them with open body language. Don't lean back with your arms crossed - that just makes you seem closed off.

Repeat it back. Use active listening techniques to articulate back what they're communicating to do. "What I heard you say is that you can't complete this step of the project without support from Johnny Jones in marketing. Did I get that right? Is there anything else you need?" Doing so doesn't just nip any chances of miscommunication in the bud - it also really emphasizes that you heard what they said.

Ask amazing questions. Sometimes, your team members need your help in fully pulling apart different strategies or solutions. Instead of saying, "This is how I would do it," ask them questions to guide them in the direction you want to go. That will leave them more engaged, instead of in the dreaded position of order-taker.

Make it forward looking

When your employees see that you're listening to them, you'll develop the trust required to have them come to you when problems arise or when they need help. That's a good thing! You want them to feel comfortable coming to you with problems.

When it happens however, you might be inclined to dissect why the problem occurred or give your team member the impression they are in trouble or will get dinged for it on their performance review. Rein it in and focus your attention on how to move forward: "This didn't go how we wanted it to. What are you going to do about it? How can I help you? What do you need?" If your team members feel they are going to get in trouble, they won't tell you when things are going wrong. However, if they feel like you're motivated to support their success that will give both of you the opportunity to come together and brainstorm on the best next steps.

Take notes

Finally, throughout the meeting, you want to make sure you're taking notes. Since I just told you to turn off your computer, we're going to do this the old-fashioned way: by writing it down. Taking hand-written notes during a meeting lets your employees see that you are engaged in what's going on in front of you, and shows them that both you and they are being held accountable. Use a notepad, a journal, whatever works best for you.

If you're looking for a quick, easy template, download this one I developed specifically to keep track of what's going on in your one-on-ones.

When the meeting is over, just pop your notes in a specific folder that you've set aside for your employee and they'll be there next week when you prep your agenda. Look back and make note of what items you need to follow-up on or get a status update.

Be present and remember your goal

At the end of the day, these simple tactics allow you to be fully present in the meeting, and focused on your primary goal of supporting your employee's performance. You may have a lot going on, but run these meetings well and it will be some of the most productive 30 minutes you spend each week. The other things you have going on will be waiting for you when it's over, and you'll have an engaged team member ready to help you achieve them.
This was originally published on Zen Workplace.

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Here's Your Guide to Holding Effective One-on-Ones

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One of the most under-appreciated tools of any manager's toolkit is the one-on-one meeting. It's a regular time for you to connect with each person reporting to you, get a sense of what they're working on, where their priorities are,

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Impraise Blog - Employee performance management, reviews and 360 feedback

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So you've heard about others doing one-on-ones. Some do a one-hour session every other week with each team member. Counting preparation time, one-on-ones would take up a significant part of your busy schedule. You ponder: Would all the hours be well spent and justified?

It is true that one-on-ones can be time-consuming. Yet the hour you spend on a session will benefit you and the team a great deal if done right. That is 60 minutes of honest feedback, which is often difficult to seek otherwise. You can also take the chance to offer timely guidance to your team.

If you aren't having one-on-ones with your team, you are missing out. Timely feedback is valuable, and opportunities to motivate and support your people are priceless. So, what do you reckon?

If you would like to give one-on-ones a try today, here is a guide for you. Use it to run effective sessions so you can help your team grow.

Before the meeting

It is important to prepare for one-on-ones. Here are the three factors to consider: the mindset, the schedule and the agenda.

Mindset

Think of a 1-on-1 as a free-form meeting: no fixed agenda and no minute taking. It is not a form of performance review and you should not use the feedback you get here for that purpose. Let a 1-on-1 conversation flow naturally around whichever matters to a team member. You can discuss many things from her short-term goals to her learning plan. If she somehow feels isolated in the team, make sure that she can also talk about it with you.

The employee should be the main focus of 1-on-1 conversations. Ben Horowitz recommends that a manager should only talk for 10% of the time. The rest should be saved for her team member.

Recurring Schedule

When you set up one-on-ones with an employee for the first time, make sure that you explain the concept. Give her a short description, and some suggestions for the first session. Don't forget to mention that the sessions will be recurring. Here is an example:

"I plan to start doing one-on-ones in our team. Just informal conversations to get more feedback from you. We can talk about anything. What is bothering you? Your progress? Or whichever else that you find important. I suggest we start next Thursday, the 20th at 11am. Then we can talk about making it a regular thing. Let me know if you have any questions."

It is advisable that you schedule enough time for these conversations. A session lasting from 30 to 60 minutes is reasonable. Andy Grove, former CEO and Co-Founder of Intel, actually advised to do one-on-ones for at least one hour.

"I feel that a one-on-one should last an hour at minimum. Anything less, in my experience, tends to make the subordinate confine himself to simple things that can be handled quickly."

It is important to keep the sessions on repeat. If your team has five members or fewer, you should do one-on-ones on a weekly base. Otherwise, you can arrange one meeting a fortnight.

These meetings will take up quite a bit of your time, 4 hours a week if you manage a team of four. But don't wait a month till you start the next session. A lot of things can go right or wrong in four working weeks. If you want to make an impact then, it would be too late.

Besides, recurring 1-on-1 sessions help make feedback sharing a routine and a habit. It encourages a culture of continuous feedback.

Last but not least, regular personal conversations help build strong relationships based on understanding and respect. When you listen often to personal issues of an employee, she will like you and trust you more. It is more likely that she will be open for feedback from you. Next time, she will come to you earlier with her problems. It is also likely that she is more motivated to work hard and prove herself.

Agenda is Optional

A general agenda might help get the conversation going in the first few meetings. You can prepare a list of five topics that you are most interested to know. Your employee's happiness at work and her opinions of your management style can make two topics.

Google's former CEO Eric Schmidt used to start his one-on-ones by comparing his lists with the ones prepared by his employees. They then prioritised the items found on both lists because they were likely to be the most pressing issues.

A prepared agenda gives a structure to a conversation. It ensures that every pressing issues will be discussed. Managers should, however, keep in mind to use the list for reference only. You should let the conversation flow as it is to get the best out of one-on-ones.

In the meeting

As the manager, you should take the lead to set up an informal tone for the meetings. Focus on asking questions and listening attentively to understand the feedback. Don't forget to wrap up each meeting and prepare for the next.

Keep It Informal

Keep your 1-on-1 informal and private. It is best to find a relaxing place where you can hold a private conversation. Some ideas are to go for a walk, to have a coffee in the neighbourhood cafe, or to talk over lunch.

Ask Questions

It is a good habit to prepare some questions you want to ask. When conversations come to a certain topic, such as work habits or personal learning, you can use the questions to get the more feedback from your team.

A well-asked question is a powerful tool because there are so many things one does not think of sharing until being ask.

As mentioned earlier, one-on-ones can be about almost anything. However, there are some common topics that managers like to cover. Here is a list.
1. Work habits
You want to understand how each of your team members operates. Once you learn their productive modes, you can support them to work more efficiently. Here are some questions regarding work habits:
2. Team collaboration and relations
You can increase team productivity by improving the interpersonal relationship amongst team members. Ask the right questions to uncover the hidden challenges and opportunities.

Who inspire you in the team? Whose opinions do you respect? What have they done?

Is there anybody in the team that you find it difficult to work with? Can you tell me why?

What do you think about the amount of feedback in our team? When do others give feedback to you? Would you like to hear more feedback from other team member and me?

What do you think would help us work together better? Any suggestions for improvement in the way we work together?

3. Team's happiness
Personal happiness has an undeniable impact on productivity and engagement. When is a better time to dig into a happiness issue than a 1-on-1 conversation? Grab the opportunity so you can help your team be happier at work. Here are some questions you can use:

Are you happy working here? Are you happy with your recent work? Why or why not?

What keeps you engaged with your daily work? What can I do to help make daily tasks more engaging?

What kind of projects do you enjoy working on? What motivates you to work on a project? Can you name three things we can do to help so you can enjoy your job more?

What is the best accomplishment you had since you are here? Do you feel appreciated for it?

What are the things that worry you? Anything on your mind? Have you ever felt undervalued here? Why?

4. Short-term goals
Your team's feedback on their short-term goals will keep you aligned with their progress as well as their frustrations on the projects. It is healthy to address frustrations timely. Ask some questions, like:
5. Long-term goals
Long-term goals are important to a person's sense of fulfillment and happiness. Your team members like to see that they are making progress toward their big life goals. You want to learn about their goals, and whether their current job fits into those goals. Here are some questions you can use:
6. Personal development
You want to find out if your team members take learning and development the same way as you do. Some of the following questions can help you learn more about their motivation.

Do you feel like you are learning at work? What are the new things you learned lately? What are the areas you want to learn about?

Whom in the team do you want to learn from? Whom do you get valuable feedback from?

Do you think that you receive enough feedback? Is feedback helpful for your personal development? What can I do to help you get the feedback you want?

Would you like more coaching? What aspect of your job do you like more help and coaching on?

7. Manager improvement
It is crucial for you to know how your team thinks about you and your management style. It is challenging to get honest feedback specifically about you from a direct report. Set the right tone and choose your questions wisely. Here are some examples:

What can I do as a manager to make your work easier?

What do you like about my management style? What do you dislike?

What is the percentage of my involvement in your daily tasks? Would you prefer more or less?

How can I support you better?

What is something I could have done better? What are the situations that I could have helped more but didn't?

Listen Actively
You should listen to your employee's insight carefully. It is important to remember that you don't just listen to be polite. You want to really understand what is being shared. Active listening involves:

Clarifying questions and reaffirmation bring you closer to what is being expressed. By showing your recognition and respect toward one's feeling, you are to build a stronger relationship with your team.
Wrap Up & Suggest Next Moves
At the end of the meeting, you should wrap up the talking points. It is also essential to suggest an action plan till the next meeting.

After the meeting

Make notes about the discussion points and the action plan. If you have done this already during the meeting, log it on your note system. You want to make sure you can easily review the items and act on what is needed. Make sure you do the legwork before the next meeting.

Also, remember to make it happen for the next meeting! Like we said earlier, it is very important to keep one-on-ones going.

Conclusion

One-on-ones are a great tool for managers and employees. The weekly sessions are for you to check in with the team's morale. They are also about getting to know the people you are working with better. You can also save one-on-ones for higher-level things like career development and continuous learning. Employee's feedback is extremely important for managers. Effective one-on-ones are one of the best ways to get great feedback (as well as give it).

At the same time, feedback shouldn't be given exclusively during one-on-ones. Whether it's following up after your last conversation, or providing coaching on a new project, you want to let your employees know that they can always come to you for advice, even outside of one-on-ones. Using a feedback tool, like Impraise, will ensure you never miss out on the opportunity to give great actionable advice.

You may also be interested in our free step-by-step manager's guide on how to use feedback to motivate, engage and develop your team.

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How to run effective one-on-one meetings

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So you've heard about others doing one-on-ones. Some do a one-hour session every other week with each team member. Counting preparation time, one-on-ones would take up a significant part of your busy schedule. You ponder: Would all the hours be well spent and justified? It is true that one-on-ones can be time-consuming.

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One-on-One Meeting Questions

1. "Tell me about last week."

2. "What do you think the problem is?"

3. "What about this week? What are your plans and priorities?"

4. "What's one thing that worked and one thing that didn't, last week?"

5. "Do you have any feedback for me?"

A few years ago, I wrote the book 1-on-1 Management: What Every Great Manager Knows That You Don't. Admittedly, the title sounds pretentious. After all, who am I to suggest you don't know something?

However, most people do know the difference between an effective and an ineffective manager. What separates the two?

In my experience, one thing great managers understand that their ineffective counterparts do not is the value of one-on-one meetings. In fact, you might be surprised to know that the vast majority of managers do not meet individually with employees on a regular basis.

But there is some distinction between an effective one-on-one meeting and two people who happen to have a meeting of some kind. Simply passing in the hallway and talking together doesn't qualify as a one-on-one. A meeting to discuss a current project might involve just two people, but that doesn't qualify either.

The one-on-one meeting has a very distinct purpose and structure, and it is designed specifically to benefit the employee, not the manager. Yes, the manager does benefit as well, but the intent of the meeting is to help the salesperson reach his or her potential through coaching and accountability. That's the critical difference.

Here are three magic questions I've structured my one-on-ones around for years that keep the focus squarely on the rep.

One-on-One Questions

1. "Tell me about last week."

The primary objective of one-on-one meetings will vary depending on the salesperson's specific situation and level of experience, but the mechanics of the meeting are fairly consistent. In fact, my one-on-one meetings for 30 years have started with one very simple phrase:
"Tell me about last week."
I know it sounds ridiculously simplistic on the surface, but trust me, there is a lot behind the curtain. You see, the real objective of a one-on-one meeting is to encourage dialogue.

Like any effective sales call, a sales manager should ask good questions and listen carefully. Unfortunately, in my opinion, too many one-on-one meetings become one-on-one beatings, where a manager focuses solely on numbers, constantly corrects behavior, dictates activity, and solves every problem.

But being a sales manager isn't just about sales forecasts and KPIs. In fact, the critical aspect of sales management is actually the coaching and leadership involved. The one-on-one meeting provides a prime opportunity to instill confidence, demonstrate support, provide encouragement, and tune in to motivation. Done well, the dialogue created in consistent one-on-one meetings allows the effective manager to transform potential into top performance.

And it is this one simple question that gets the ball rolling. By letting the rep start the meeting with their view of the past week, the manager avoids the temptation to criticize and dictate. Just sit back and listen. Very carefully.

In my experience, when the salesperson does most of the talking, the manager will develop tremendous insight into that rep and their attitudes. You will understand why her performance is the way it is. You will know what is creating challenges for her. You will see how she reacts to adversity and failure.

During the meeting, I listen for specific areas that may need to be addressed. For example:

Does she create an effective plan each week; one that is consistent with her overall sales plan?

Is she executing her plan?

Does she have a strong understanding of our sales process?

Is her sales pipeline full of qualified opportunities?

However, I resist the need to correct and criticize every problem I see. Don't jump into major correction during the first two or three one-on-one meetings because you'll want the pattern to surface and become apparent through observation.

2. "What do you think the problem is?"

When it is necessary to address a particular issue, I take a very specific approach. I first tell the salesperson what I am seeing and then ask her for potential solutions:
"Jane, the past couple of weeks, I have noticed you're struggling to follow through on some of your key priorities. What do you think the problem is?"
It's way more work, and is probably less satisfying than jumping in and solving the problem personally, but salespeople approached in this matter begin to understand that they are expected to think, plan, and solve problems. Also, there is an enormous amount of information to be gathered from how the salesperson answers this simple question. Do they make excuses and blame others? Or do they openly talk about issues and ask for help? Then together you can identify root causes and create plans for behavioral change.

When things are going poorly, I may observe poor planning, poor execution, a failure to meet expectations, attitude problems, and so forth. And the one-on-one meeting provides the perfect opportunity to address these issues. I certainly don't want to wait for the end of the quarter or, worse, the annual review!

In those situations when I most definitely want to offer specific advice, I actually ask permission: "I have a couple of ideas that I think might help. Would you like me to share them with you?" You will be surprised at the difference it makes to ask rather than simply dictate next steps.

3. "What about this week? What are your plans and priorities?"

The review of last week's activity is the perfect set-up for the second phase of the meeting. In each one-on-one, after the rep and I have reviewed the past week's performance, I then ask the following question:
"What about this week? What are your plans and priorities?"
As they tell me about their plan, I jot down a few notes, which I can then refer to in next week's one-on-one meeting. This means that the following week, when they describe their activity, I can compare it to their stated goals and answer some important questions. Did they accomplish what they set out to do? Did they follow through on key objectives? Did they actually work their plan, or did they just tell me what they thought I wanted to hear? Most importantly, I get to evaluate their ability to plan and prioritize, which are critical skills for any salesperson and especially important if they aspire to sales management.

4. "What's one thing that worked and one thing that didn't, last week?"

It's important to get specific about their wins as well as their challenges. This question gets to the heart of both. Alternatively, you can ask your employees to list one thing they'd like to start doing, one thing they'd like to stop doing, and one thing they'd like to keep doing.

For sales, this might look like:

One thing to start doing: "I'd like to start being more proactive about entering prospect data into our CRM. I'm going to do this by blocking off 10 minutes after every meeting to enter data immediately."

One thing I'd like to stop doing: "I've been emailing prospects when I really should be calling them. This week, I'm going to call each of my prospects at least one time before sending a follow-up email."

One thing I'd like to keep doing: "My meeting prep has been paying dividends lately. I'd like to keep my prep work rolling so I'm ready for the different needs each prospect brings to the table."

This keeps your meetings actionable, your reps honest, and their path forward positive.

5. "Do you have any feedback for me?"

It's just as important to ask them for feedback on your performance during your time together. I recommend using the SBI model of feedback. It looks a little something like this:

In a feedback setting, your rep might use the SBI model this way:

Situation: "Last week, we had a meeting with Marketing to discuss the state of our pipeline."

Behavior: "Mark kept interrupting me, and you stepped in and made sure I was able to finish my thought."

Impact: "I felt heard and valued, and it was great to know you had my back."

This ensures, whether the feedback is constructive or positive, it's always specific, which gives you actionable steps to repeat or work on.

The one-on-one meeting has a singular purpose -- to develop the salesperson's potential through the improvement of critical skills. By prompting the rep to lead the conversation, you keep the focus on them. And if you're executing the meetings well, one-on-ones will help you develop your relationship with the salesperson.

If you have questions on how to improve your sales one-on-one meetings, check out my website.

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5 One-on-One Meeting Questions You Should Be Asking

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"Tell me about last week." "What do you think the problem is?" "What about this week? What are your plans and priorities?" "What's one thing that worked and one thing that didn't, last week?" "Do you have any feedback for me?" A few years ago, I wrote the book 1-on-1 Management: What Every Great Manager Knows That You Don't.

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Let's just say it: one-on-ones are nerve-wracking.

As an employee, when someone drops a one-on-one meeting on your calendar, it can mess up your whole day.

As a manager (new or otherwise), you can struggle trying to come up with the most perfect and productive way to use your time: you need to get to know the status of what your employee is working on, how they feel, any bumps in the road coming up-it's a lot of information to cover!

I want to take a little bit of the stress out of the equation for you and help you rock conducting one-on-one meetings with employees.

Prepare for a one-on-one meeting with an agenda

Have a list of your one-on-one meeting questions ahead of time. In fact, maybe even have a set of categories that you cover every single time. A good example of this could be:

What things are working and not working?

How is your workload going?

What are your personal development goals and how are they going?

Bring a case or a ticket to talk about.

Of course, you can talk about things outside of these categories, but having something regular and planned on your one-on-one meeting agenda helps to keep you away from that dreaded first five minutes of awkward silence. It also helps to build regularity and lets both you and your employees prepare for the meeting and have meaningful conversation.

Leave time for personal conversation

For me, one of the main things that I try to focus on during one-on-one meetings with staff is getting to know them personally.

Hopefully you already have some context into what they are doing professionally, so try to leave some time to create personal connections. This can happen at the beginning of the meeting, or at the end, but no matter when it happens, remember to share a little bit about yourself as well.

Create a relationship with your employee that humanizes you right off the bat, and they will feel less nervous in meetings to come.

Set expectations

One to one meetings are not meant to be stressful. Almost everyone has had the experience where a C-level reaches out and says "hey, let's have a 1:1" without any other context. You sit there and think to yourself "am I going to be fired? Did I do something wrong?" and you fret away until you actually get to the meeting just for it to be a (usually) trivial and simple thing.
DON'T DO THIS TO YOUR EMPLOYEES.
Set expectations for what the one-on-one meeting is going to be about, or at least give them some context.

For example, instead of just saying "Hey, do you have a second to meet later? I put something on your calendar for 4." You could say "Hey, I'd love to chat about that blog post you wrote. I have some suggestions for how you could do it better in the future. Do you have a second to meet later?"

Put your people at ease, otherwise they won't come to your meetings with their game faces on.

Be respectful

Your employees' time is just as valuable as yours is. Don't use time in a meeting just because you have it. Having a one to one meeting with a manager is meant to be a time for your employees to feel like you are hearing them and their concerns, but that doesn't mean that you need to drag out the meeting beyond the time it needs to take.

If you notice that you are filling time with conversation just to take the full amount of the meeting, stop. After the meeting, evaluate what you could have done differently, or if there is something you need to add to make it a more full meeting in the future, but do not add additional fluff just for fluff's sake.

Also, don't spend 30 minutes of time talking about your amazing weekend getaway, just to leave your employee wishing that you'd spent more time discussing OKRs.

Pick a good cadence

Similar to the above, there is nothing worse than having a meeting every single week and not feeling like you need it. Effective one-on-one meetings cover a large amount of information, and always feel needed.

If you find yourself not getting any real updates with your meetings, play around with the cadence. For example, I will have meetings with some employees for an hour every two weeks, or every week for 30 minutes. Try to find what works for you and stick with it. No one likes a bloated calendar full of unnecessary and meaningless meetings.

The space matters

Pay attention to what environment you meet your employees in. Whether you are remote or in-person, the environment in which you meet your employees is important.

If you are a remote-friendly company, find a great online service that will allow you to have face-to-face videos whenever you need. Make sure that it is reliable for you: imagine if you were in a meeting with one of your team members in person and ran out fifteen minutes into the meeting with no explanation? That's what it's like when you get disconnected from a video chat while remote.

One-on-ones done remotely are just as awesome as one-on-ones done in person, but you need to be considerate of the same things: is the room and environment where you are conducting the one-on-one steady? You wouldn't have a one-on-one in a place where you were going to be interrupted, so you should do the same when conducting them remotely. Make sure you have good headphones, a steady internet connection, and a private room so you can devote your attention to your employee.

Ask about their career

Where does your team member want to go in their career? So many people view support as a stepping stone to other options; by talking about their career regularly, you can help show them that they can keep working in support if they want to.

A good way to do this right from the beginning of your relationship is to have them come up with development goals and list them as items to discuss in each one-on-one. Even if you don't discuss them every single time, having them listed where ever you keep the agenda for your one-on-one means that you (and your team member) will always be thinking about what they can do to advance further in their career.

A final say on acing one-on-one meetings

One-on-ones do not need to be tricky. Follow the guidelines above and you are already off to a great start with one-on-one employee meetings.

Remember: the goal with one-on-ones is to better understand your employees needs and career growth as well as build a relationship with them. Use your time wisely and expediently, and you'll be rocking it out in no time.

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Rock Your next One-On-One Meeting: For Employees and Managers

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One-on-one meetings don't have to be nerve racking or painful. With the right structure, a manager can help an employee develop and achieve their goals. Prepare for a one-on-one meeting with an agenda. Leave time for personal conversation. Set expectations. (%date%)

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You've heard time and time again about the importance of one on one meetings in the workplace. If you haven't, take it from Forbes: "One on ones are one of the most important productivity tools you have as a manager." They're absolutely crucial to building a relationship between a manager and employees.

But as a manager, your resources are stretched thin. You've got to balance your own workload, on top of carefully monitoring your direct reports' performance and development. I'm sure you often find yourself wondering how to have the most productive and effective conversations.

Good thing we're here to help. Check out these six essential one on one meeting tips to maximize your meetings.

#1) Hold one on one meetings frequently.

This doesn't mean blocking off hours and hours on the calendar. This means meeting frequently enough so performance, goals, challenges, and barriers can be discussed in real-time, while they're top-of-mind.

#2) Set a meeting cadence.

This tip is simple: put a reoccurring meeting on the calendar. Whether that be monthly or quarterly, the consistency will help you and your employee prioritize the one on one, making sure it doesn't slip through the cracks among all your other responsibilities.

#3) Share topics ahead of time.

Thinking through the topics to be discussed at your next one on one shows that you've put time and effort into the meeting and that you consider it a priority. It also allows your employees to prepare, think through their answers, and inspire more topics of their own to be discussed.

#4) Do your research on your employee.

Do you really know what your employees have been up to? How is their progress on goals? Have they received any positive or negative feedback on recent projects? Are their peers recognizing them for their great work? Checking in on these smaller milestones can help you paint a better picture of how your employees are really doing.

#5) Make sure it's a conversation.

Effective one on one meetings should be a two-way conversation. Both participants should be actively engaged, sharing their thoughts and opinions to make sure the conversation is constructive.

#6) Discuss next steps.

Don't let the time you've put into your one on one go to waste: make sure ideas become realities by discussing next steps to hold both parties accountable. Record these next steps using one on one tech so they're not forgotten by your next one on one meeting.

It's time to take these six essential one on one meetings tips and implement them in your organization. Whether you're a seasoned manager, or embarking on the new adventures of a leadership role, you're bound to have more effective one on one meetings with these tips in mind.

Need questions to ask in your next one on one meeting? Download a whole bunch (350 to be exact) today!

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6 Essential One on One Meeting Tips for Managers

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You've heard time and time again about the importance of one on one meetings in the workplace. If you haven't, take it from Forbes: "One on ones are one of the most important productivity tools you have as a manager." They're absolutely crucial to building a relationship between a manager and employees.

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Managers, Here's How to Run a One-on-One

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A 1:1 meeting is an ongoing feedback strategy to keep both the manager and the employee updated on the employee's progress, an opportunity to develop employees' skills, and gives the employee a chance to discuss workplace challenges with their manager.

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One on one meetings are a crucial tool for managers to keep their teams happy and motivated, yet many struggle with them.

Other times, you have to dig deeper and look at the overall structure of your meetings to understand why they're not going as well as you may like. If you want to maximize your time investment in each team member, then you should add one on one meeting agendas to your process.

Even if your one on ones are already pretty good, adding an agenda can really enhance the meeting so you make the most of the 30-60 minutes you have for each of your team members. Here's why:

Times change and so do people. There's always new challenges, issues, problems, and opportunities that come up that you have to help your team with. It's why you have your one on ones in the first place: to stay on top of these issues that don't neatly fit into their daily tasks. As Andy Grove, former CEO of Intel wrote on one on one meetings:

While many of you may know this, it's still really easy to let some important topics slip in your one on ones.

Maybe something happened to them last Monday and so it's no longer on top of their mind in your one on one this week. Maybe you had something you wanted to talk about, but you would have waited to discuss it if you had known what was pressing for them.

If you have your team member work on an agenda of what they want to talk about leading up to each one on one, you can ensure you don't miss any critical issues that you should make sure fit into your one on one with them.

2) Maintain trust and keep them efficient

Meetings and management go hand in hand, so it's really easy to get buried alive in them. As you run from meeting to meeting, you could easily sit down in your one on ones and have no idea what you discussed last time.

At the least, this sets you back in the meeting as you'll spend the first 5 to 10 minutes jogging your memory. At worst, your team member will resent it and be less likely to open up to you, feeling like you won't remember what's important to them anyways.

By having an agenda for each of your one on one meetings, you can ensure that you sit down knowing what you'll be covering. If you add to that glancing over what you talked about last time, you'll make the most of your meetings by hitting the ground running when you start them.

3) Build momentum and continuity across one on ones

One of the challenges with one on ones is that they happen infrequently; if you're meeting with people to talk for 30-60 minutes every few weeks, it's pretty easy for each one to be an isolated conversation.

However, if you want to build valuable momentum from meeting to meeting, as mentioned before, reviewing your notes and having an agenda each time can be a big boost. You'll also ensure you cover the variety of good topics for 1 on 1s like their career goals, feedback, praise, and shopping ideas.

One on ones become much more powerful when there's continuity from one meeting to the next. Whether you ran out of time on a subject and need to push it to next meeting, or have something you don't want to forget to check in on, an agenda ensures neither of you will forget.

It also avoids wasting a one on one on small talk, when you could have covered something more important that keeps them happy and motivated.
Want an easy way to keep all your 1 on 1s well prepared and effective? Then sign up for a free trial of Lighthouse and keep all your 1 on 1s organized and set a great agenda with your team.
How to make a great one on one meeting agenda

So now that you can see why agendas are important, let's take a look at how to create a great one on one meeting agenda:

1) Put them in charge of the agenda

This is their meeting so it only makes sense to ask them to take the lead on creating the agenda. You don't need anything fancy, just ask them to send you a simple outline of whatever is on their mind that they want to discuss.

Encourage them to "add it to the agenda" if they come to you mid-week with something they would like to discuss and you can't handle it in the moment.

Then, as your one on one approaches, ask for it in advance of the meeting so you have a chance to review it, ask for any clarifications, and be in the right mindset in the meeting. Most managers will ask for it either the day before, or the morning of the one on one at the latest.
{Ed. note: If your team member is brand new to one on ones, this post can help them understand what to expect and what are good things to bring up with you in the meeting, and if you use Lighthouse, they'll teach them and automatically send you the agenda. Don't use Lighthouse yet? Sign up now for a free trial and start having great 1 on 1s.}
2) Add your own questions and topics

While one on ones are their meeting, it doesn't mean you don't have any work to do. You still need to do your part to prepare and especially bring good questions.

While your team will build the habit of bringing pressing issues to you by adding them to their agenda, you'll still have to develop the skill of probing deeper and asking good questions to leave no elephants in the room. Ben Horowitz captured this well when he wrote:

Do you have an agenda for your one on ones? What advice would you give managers starting out with them?
Want an easy way to keep all your 1 on 1s well prepared and effective? Then sign up for a free trial of Lighthouse and keep all your 1 on 1s organized and set a great agenda with your team.

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Why You Need a One on One Meeting Agenda & How to make them great

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One on one meetings are a crucial tool for managers to keep their teams happy and motivated, yet many struggle with them. Other times, you have to dig deeper and look at the overall structure of your meetings to understand why they're not going as well as you may like.

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Would you like to be involved in something exciting? How about something big, special or important? Most people would. And for those who wouldn't, many would still like to be an integral part of their workgroup. In this article we'll look at one of the secret weapons leaders can use to build a powerhouse team. A tool that continually instils a sense of importance and focus.

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How to conduct one on one meetings with team members

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Would you like to be involved in something exciting? How about something big, special or important? Most people would. And for those who wouldn't, many would still like to be an integral part of their workgroup. In this article we'll look at one of the secret weapons leaders can use to build a powerhouse team.

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You've noticed a tinge of tension in the air. Your team isn't playing well together, not as well as usual. Levity is missing. Deadlines are being met, but just barely. One of your group left on paternity leave several weeks ago. A top talent employee from another department has finally been identified and recruited to fill the gap. They start tomorrow. You're a tad worried about how they'll fit into an environment that's not up to standard, productively or socially. You've heard about one-on-one meetings with employees. HR touts them as the panacea for corporate ills. Time to test their claims.

The next day when you meet with the sixth and newest member of your team, you have a great employee onboarding session; your first official one-on-one, if you will. "What do you hope to get out of this placement?" you ask. "Is there anything specific you'd like to learn?...You have a Business Degree, and your Masters in International Development, and now, you're here working on policy for the agri-business...where do you want to go with this background?"

You think out-loud about how their Business Degree must mean they have a comfort level with numbers and ask how they are with stats. They express a hint of hesitancy. You counter by suggesting they give it a try-they're the best qualified of the bunch you encourage-and assure them if after a while it's not working out, you'll rejig things. Their enthusiasm is palpable. You mention you're always there for them. Invite them to reach out anytime with ideas, concerns, questions-anything. You both exchange a few personal stories, you about your family reunion weekend, them about their ultimate frisbee tournament. You agree to meet on Mondays at 9:00 a.m. for a weekly 30-minute check-in and ask what kinds of topics they'd like to see on the agenda.

By the end of an hour together both of you are smiling, relaxed and pumped for the day ahead. One down, five more to go.

Over the next week, you hold one-on-one meetings with your other employees. You learn one of the team members is into early stages of Alzheimer elder care for their widowed father. Medical appointments and general time commitments are overwhelming and there are no siblings living nearby to help. You agree on a flexible and remote-working arrangement with weekly check-ins or more if needed. Provided they meet their goals timely and efficiently it doesn't matter to you when or where the work is done. The four others express in their own words and ways the stress of trying to manage their own workloads on top of the responsibilities they've inherited from the co-worker on leave. One is reticent to give up these new assignments because of the challenges and opportunities associated with learning something new. The others are more than happy to turn things over to the newest team member so they can resume a better work/life balance. Two, share in confidence their concern for their colleague's elder care burden and how they've been doing what they can to lighten the load.

By opening the doors to these kinds of conversations in a manner that shows you're listening and genuinely care, you're also opening the door to trusting rapport.

To get started, consider a walk-about to chat with your team members individually. Tell them you'd like to set up regularly scheduled check-in meetings with time for you to talk about what you need to discuss-organizational updates for instance-and for the employee to do the same. Give some ideas of the kinds of things you might cover, like promotion paths, professional development opportunities, tackling challenging interpersonal relations, ideas and innovation, organizational goals, and how the team and individual fit. Mention how both of you will need to prepare for agenda topics in advance for a meaningful exchange. Rather than dictate a time that fits into your schedule, select a meeting time mutually. Recognize frequency will vary depending on the individual and their function. For some it might be weekly, for others bi-weekly or monthly. Whatever you both decide-commit and stick to it.

Approach this as a time for feedback: positive, supportive, forward-thinking, aspirational.

Ask for employee feedback about the organization, policies and procedures. Can things be done differently? Where and how?

Be open to being managed upward. Your employees probably have insights that can help you in your own professional development. (Does your management style work for them? Are you giving enough feedback and is it what they need?)

View these sessions as a time to share organizational news, a time to review goals individually and within context of your department and the larger organization, a time to look at where employees want to go and how to get there.

Find ways to support or offer training in areas where employees need improvement or want to develop new skills for professional development and growth.

Acknowledge and sing the praises of jobs well done.

Remember and remind yourself and your employees these one-on-ones are two-way conversations; private chats about what's going on professionally and personally.

Choose a location for these confidential conversations. Their office or yours? In a coffee shop around the corner or a quiet corner table in the cafeteria? By phone for those working remotely?

Sometimes meetings may take a handful of minutes rather than the full 30 minutes or hour you've set aside. The employee has nothing pressing from their end and neither do you. No problem. Just remember to check-in as agreed.

Some say setting a formal agenda keeps one-on-one meetings with employees on track and sessions productive. Others prefer a less formal approach and invite employees to lead off the conversation. Choose and use the technique that's best for you and the person with whom you're meeting. Having an agenda, though, might be the best technique the first few times to set direction and tone until you've both established a cadence of your own.

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Successful One-on-One Meetings with Employees | TalentMap

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You've noticed a tinge of tension in the air. Your team isn't playing well together, not as well as usual. Levity is missing. Deadlines are being met, but just barely. One of your group left on paternity leave several weeks ago. A top talent employee from another department has finally been identified and recruited to fill the gap.

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The one-on-one meeting is one of the most important tools you have as a manager.

It's the best way to discuss issues, develop relationships, and make sure an employee's goals are being met.

It sounds simple enough, but in order for them to be effective, there's more to it than just sitting down and chatting.

In this article you'll learn...

How to prepare for a one-on-one meeting

A one-on-one agenda to manage your time

A complete list of questions to ask employees

They are a time to ask strategic questions such as, "are we focused on the right things"?

They are a way to show employees that you value them and care about them as people.

Simple tips for giving tough feedback

What are One-On-One Meetings And What Are Their Purpose?

According to Harvard Business Review, one-on-ones are a productivity tool that serves two essential purposes:

From our experience of using one-on-ones at Officevibe, they are a time to catch and stop problems in their track, realign on goals, build trust and ensure that employees are heard and feel valued. They are about taking a breather after a month-long bout of hard work and reflecting, together. They are a human-fueled activity that reminds companies to put employees at the center ❤️.

How to Prepare for One-On-One Meetings

Question Examples

In our last one-on-one you mentioned you were frustrated by X and wanted to try Y as a solution. How has that been going?

What development areas do you want to work on in the coming weeks?

What additional resources can I provide for you between now and the next time we meet?

Showing up to a meeting with last minute ideas is not efficient, and it will make your employees feel as though they're an afterthought.

Start From Where You Left Off

A great place to start is to review the last one-on-one you had with them (if this is not your first) and make sure to do a follow-up.

Prepare Your Feedback In Advance

It's the perfect time for you to give your employee some feedback. Recognition for their hard work is a great way for you to make your employee feel valued, and thus make them more productive. Take a moment and start recollecting general observations about their contribution to the team/workplace. Constructive feedback is just as good, just be careful about how you deliver it.

Question Examples

I've noticed that our last several one-on-ones have stayed pretty surfaced. What are your honest impressions of this meeting? What could we be doing differently or better?

What would you like to see change in these discussions? How could we make them more useful for you?

I'm trying to make my one-on-ones better and would appreciate your honest feedback on this one - what did you like about it, and what could be improved?

One-on-ones are not meant to be exclusively for professional topics, so show some interest in them by asking some general questions about their lives, beliefs, and aspirations.

If Your One-On-Ones Are Stuck In A Rut

Sometimes these meetings can be a little bit hard to navigate. The conversation can feel forced or lacking in depth. How can you fix it? A good place to start by mixing things up a bit. Try holding the meeting at the cool new coffee shop that opened down the street or just simply go for a walk. The important thing is to change things up.

Retrospective thoughts on the past month

What they would like to work on moving forward

What they need from you if they encountered any roadblocks.

1. Informal Catch Up

Start your meeting with about 10 minutes of informal catch-up. The point of this part is to make your employee feel as comfortable as possible. It's a nice, light way to start off the meeting, and shows employees that you genuinely care about them as people.

You can follow up on something that was brought up in a previous one-on-one (Hint: bring a pen and paper and start taking notes!) or just ask how life is going outside of work.

2. Listening To Employees' Concerns

It is important to listen during this time more than you speak. Block about 20 minutes for this part, but if this goes longer, don't cut the employee off.

It's during this block of time that you can encourage employees to share whatever is on their minds.

Tip: Try pausing for 3-4 seconds before responding to what they just said. This might encourage them to dive deeper into what they were just saying.

PBS NewsHour anchor Jim Lehrer describes it perfectly:

"If you resist the temptation to respond too quickly to the answer, you'll discover something almost magical. The other person will either expand on what he's already said, or he'll go in a different direction. Either way, he's expanding his response, and you get a clear view into his head and heart."

3. Sharing Your Notes And Comments

It's important to come prepared with notes on where your employees deserve recognition and what you would like them to improve so that you don't forget anything you wanted to say. Coming unprepared can be invalidating for employees, demonstrating that they weren't worth the time.

Ask For Feedback During The Meeting

As a great leader, it is your innate desire to constantly grow and learn. Use this opportunity to have an open and honest discussion about how you could be a better leader for them.

Feel free to prompt them to get the discussion going with yes/no questions about leadership behaviors you have. For example: "When I offered you criticism, did you feel that it was constructive enough?"

Question Examples

I'd like to improve as a manager and I could really use your help. Next week, would you be willing to share some feedback on one to two things you think I could do better as your manager?

What can I do to help you enjoy your work more or remove roadblocks to progress?

Which areas would you like more or less direction from me on your work?

4. Action Planning

Take 10 minutes at the end of the meeting to come up with an action plan based on what was discussed so that you can follow up properly for the following month.

Setting 1-3 clear goals will really help employees focus over the course of the next month.

Jason Evanish, who has written a lot on one-on-ones explains it perfectly:

None of the things you talk about in one-on-ones matter if you don't follow through and take action on them. These two questions will ensure you always follow through with the important things you discuss in your one on ones:

What can I hold you accountable for next time we talk?

What do you need from me in order to achieve your goal?

Ask Employees For An Agenda 24 Hours Before

This will definitely accelerate the process as it will help the employee collect their thoughts prior to the meeting while also helping you guide the session.

1. Remember, It's The Employee's Meeting

One of the most important tips is that it's the employee's meeting, not yours. While this might seem subtle, it's important to change your frame of mind to focus on the employee.

The key to a good one-on-one meeting is the understanding that it is the employee's meeting rather than the manager's meeting. This is the free-form meeting for all the pressing issues, brilliant ideas and chronic frustrations that do not fit neatly into status reports, email and other less personal and intimate mechanisms. Ben Horowitz

2. Keep Track By Taking Notes

While it's important to actively listen to your employees while they speak, it is also essential to document the key points of the meeting so that you can follow up properly in the next one-on-one.

To avoid physical blockers, which can create a sense of mistrust between you and your employee, use a pen and paper to jot down your notes instead of using a laptop. Pings and alerts are sure to pop up and distract you. In fact, avoid all devices in the meeting so you can focus respectfully.

Their agenda can include;

One-On-One Meeting Agenda

From a high-level, here is a suggestion for how you can structure your one-on-one, but keep in mind that you don't need to confine yourself to this timeframe. It is more important for the conversation to flow naturally.

Tips For Great One-On-One Meetings

1. Focus on behaviour, not personality: It's harder and more discouraging to have to change who you are than an action that you do.

2. Be specific: Zoom in on a certain problematic area instead of creating negativity around their general work. If they were disorganized, give the specific instance, don't label them in general.

3. Avoid negative terms: Ultimately, you want a positive outcome. Avoid words like "but" because it primes defensive behaviour and removes weight from the positive feedback before the "but".

These types of meetings can be tough, especially for new managers if they conducting them for the first time. Here are a few tips to make sure you have an effective one-on-one everytime.

Having Difficult Conversations

Giving negative feedback can be as stressful for managers to share as it is for employees to receive - we get it. Anticipating hurting someone's feelings, having a defensive reaction, or being unliked afterward. These are valid fears.

Most employees want the feedback so that they can improve, but there are certainly some dos and don'ts when it comes to communicating.

Here are 3 simple tips for delivering negative feedback:

Want to be a better communicator all around? Download these 7 amazing communication techniques for leaders.

Do You Conduct One-On-Ones?

Any tips to share with us? Let us know in the comments below!

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Agenda & Template For Successful One-On-One Meetings | Officevibe

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Leverage one-on-one meetings like the all-star leader that you are. Learn how to prepare for a one-on-one meeting, how to set up an agenda to manage your time, get multiple examples of questions to use along with a free template. It's time to optimize your meetings and avoid common pitfalls.

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Love them or hate them, the one on one meeting (if managed correctly), is a great employee management tool that is often overlooked. Here, we impart some practical tips and advice that can seriously have an impact on the one on one meeting's success.
"It's a fundamental rule of management that to lead others, you need to practice frequent and open communication." -Kristi Hedges - Contributor, Forbes
I can't tell you how many times I have heard staff and managers share their negative experiences of one on one meetings; some don't understand the point in why they are implemented and others see it as an opportunity to be reprimanded and therefore come away with knocked confidence, fearful of the next one.

Because of this, it's more often than not that the one on one meetings get cancelled, rescheduled or forgotten about altogether.

But let me tell you, with the right guidance, knowledge and understanding of how the one on one meetings can actually be a positive and rewarding experience, all of that can change.

So to ensure that these meetings are beneficial to both you and your direct reports, here are some tips that we have put together to help you get the most out of them:

Without understanding the positive effects of having the one to one meetings on a regular basis, nobody will invest their time into them.

To go into full detail of the benefits would require another article entirely, but this list should give you an idea:

Strengthens relationships within the team and builds loyalty

Proactive approach to discovering issues that may have been hard to find

Address performance issues before they grow into larger problems

Improves employee engagement, morale and satisfaction

Creates a communicative, trusting culture within the organization

In turn will help in reducing turnover, thus saving costs

Enables employees to have a voice within the organization

Rewarding to have one on one time with management to discuss topics freely

Don't plan to have weekly meetings on a day or time that isn't fully suitable to both parties.

If either person has other deadlines around the same time, you won't be fully focused on the meeting and therefore it will be a wasted effort.

It is however, a good idea to try and schedule a meeting towards the beginning of the week, early in the morning so that you can recap on events of the week before and plan for the week ahead, but this needs to remain consistent.

With use of HR software, one on ones can be made simple by scheduling real-time meetings using a shared calendar and objectives set during the meeting can be made available to view at any time.

Managers account for 70% of the variance in employee engagement scores across business units

It's acceptable that other work may come up that causes you to cancel or reschedule, but they should really be the exception.

Create an atmosphere that allows both you and the employee to speak freely about concerns, accomplishments and ideas.

This will lead to an organization with a more engaged, positive workforce.

Block regular time in your schedules

Communicating clear objectives will help employees have a full understanding of the goals of the company and individually, giving everyone the chance to contribute to the success of the business and be more productive.

Schedule one on one meetings for a time that's not so busy in both parties working day.

Turn off work phones, don't have a computer in front of you where e-mails are likely to pop up and conduct the meeting in a place where other staff aren't likely to disturb.

There is only one time that is important - NOW!

Both people need to be ' present '. This meeting should be time focused on the needs of the individual employee.

At the end of the one on one meeting, everyone should clearly understand what tasks they are accountable for so there is no confusion later on.

To be sure that everyone does understand, it's good practice to recap the points made during the meeting and put something in writing, email or on HR software that is accessible to everyone involved.

Without a structure in place, the meeting is likely to fail; winging it just won't cut it in this type of situation.

Create a structure that works for you and your staff as individuals.

Once you have the right structure in place, it is good to keep the same structure for all future meetings so everyone has an idea of how the meeting will run each time and can prepare accordingly.

Like the old adage says, 'By failing to prepare you are preparing to fail.'

Both parties could prepare by bringing updates or evidence of progress on current objectives and be ready with questions that have arisen since the last meeting.

Knowing the structure of the meeting means you can have everything in order prior to the meeting and gradually, week by week, the meeting will soon run smoothly and efficiently.

It also comes across as more professional and shows you are really invested into the one on one meetings.

Most will see one on ones as a negative experience because of poor management issues.

If managers are hurried in other areas, they may decide to use the opportunity of a one on one to highlight performance problems that they have not had time to address, which is why these meetings get such a bad rep and employee morale is often crushed afterwards.

Create a recognition culture

Now is a great time to discuss areas of performance or work that have gone well and praise your staff, so start and end the meeting on a positive note, even connecting on a personal level by showing genuine interest in activities conducted outside of the workplace.

Of course if there are recent areas of concern to discuss, make sure your staff are well aware of what topics the meeting will cover, so there are no nasty surprises.

If you show no interest in the objectives being set, it is unlikely that much effort will be invested into them which is why it's important to monitor how employees are coming along with a target set.

Also be sure to check if they have all of the resources available to accomplish the goals and that the deadline will still be achieved by the set date.

HR systems can be a blessing for tasks like this when work gets busy, enabling both you and the employee to easily communicate and view what work is in progress.

If you want to find out if the way you are conducting the one on one meeting is seen as effective by your staff or the structure is to each individuals taste, it's good idea to ask for feedback and use open ended questioning techniques.

However, this won't happen overnight as it will take time to create a feedback culture within your organization, but stick with it, the results will come over time.

Collecting feedback will help with continuous progression and improvement, even when things are going well.

Coaching is the new managing

It is stated that employees whose managers hold regular meeting with them are almost 3 x as likely to be engaged.

So with the endless benefits associated with effectively run, regular one on one meetings it is worth taking on board all of the above tips to bring out the best in your employees, eliminate unnecessary tension and improve workflow within your team.

As an employee, the one on one meetings are a very useful platform to share open and honest feedback, helping you progress further within your role.

To summarize, the top 10 tips towards successful one on one meetings are:

1. Know the benefits of the one on one meeting

2. Have a schedule you can both stick to

3. Engage in open conversation

4. Meet in an environment that is free from distractions

5. Manage accountabilities

6. Structure the meeting

7. Prepare in advance

8. Share success and problems

9. Monitor progress and goals

10. Ask for feedback

Robyn.

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It's Time for a One-on-One Meeting CakeHR Blog

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Without understanding the positive effects of having the one on one meetings on a regular basis, nobody will invest their time into them

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If you're a manager, you probably already know that you are supposed to hold one-on-one meetings with each of your employees. That much is obvious. But what on earth are you supposed to do in these meetings? How do you make sure that they are productive and worthwhile, rather than counting for just one more checkmark on your management list?

Here are seven ways to make the most of your one-on-one meetings with employees.

1. Goal Progress

Every time you meet with your employees, you'll take a look at these goals and see how they are progressing toward achieving them. Your employees will always know what is expected of them and you'll always know where they stand relative to needed progress.

2. Change Goals

This may seem like the opposite of the above point, but the goals that were set in December don't always make sense in July. Companies reorganize, clients leave your organization, and new clients join. Employees quit, and replacements are hired. Projects are killed, and new projects are added. In other words, don't hesitate to make changes to the original plans.

When you sit down with the employees and look at the goals and one goal makes no sense, throw it out. No guilt. Get rid of it and add a new one, if appropriate. Now, if a goal no longer makes sense because your employee achieved the objective, then congratulate her and take it off the list.

3. Ask about Needed Support

A one on one meeting is the ideal time to ask the employee where she needs help. A complicated project may need more manpower. She may be working with a coworker who is a bully and a jerk. She's just found out that she's pregnant and will need time off for doctor's appointments. But, tread carefully-don't ask about needs if you're going to ignore them once they're identified.

Don't take a request for help as a sign that your employee is incapable of performing her job. Everyone needs help, and it's better that you create an open, supportive environment rather than wait until there is a disaster that you have to spend your weekend fixing.

4. Career Planning

While your focus is on getting the job done today, your employees are concerned about their future. While this isn't a focus of every one on one meeting, career planning is a valuable part of regular meetings. This is for your benefit as well as your employee's benefit.

You want to know where she wants to go, and you'll want to help her along that path. Why? Because the best thing you can do for your company is help retain the best employees. That includes career growth-very few people want to stay in the same job forever.

5. Praising

Everyone wants to hear when they're successful. While the best time to praise an employee is in the moment, ("Hey, great presentation!" or "I just saw you handle that obnoxious customer perfectly. Awesome job!") managers aren't everywhere all at once.

Make sure that you praise your employees for their accomplishments. Keep your eyes and ears open for reports of good work. If another person says, "Hey, Jane did an awesome job yesterday," write it down and bring it up with her at your one on one. (This is also great documentation to have for your performance based salary adjustments.)

6. Correcting

Along with praising, corrections need to happen. Like praise, most of this feedback is more effective when given in the moment-if appropriate. Unless a situation is urgent and dangerous, you need to offer corrections privately. (It's okay to yell at an employee to get the fire extinguisher to put out a cash register fire, but it's not okay to yell at the employee in front of customers and other employees because her cash drawer was short.)

One-on-one meetings are the time to sit down and offer corrections and advice.

The corrections you offer can range from picky requirements ("we have a company standard of using Times New Roman for reports, please change your reports"), to personality traits that are causing problems ( "I've noticed that you criticize your coworkers. If you have concerns about a coworker, please bring them to me, and I will handle them. Your job is to do X, Y, and Z. Do not concern yourself with Jane's work.)

Criticisms should always help rather than providing punishment-at least at the beginning. No manager should expect perfection. However, there are some actions that may need "punishment." If an employee is chronically late, you may need to create a performance improvement plan. If an employee is bullying other employees, you may need to place a write up in her personnel file and accompany this disciplinary action with intensive counseling.

Regular one-on-ones allow you to keep up with these situations so nothing gets out of hand. For example, you'll never have a workplace bully take over because you'll have corrected the problems at their first sign, and if corrections don't work, you're documenting a strong case for employment termination.

7. New Assignments

While you don't have wait for a one-on-one meeting to assign an employee new task or goal, it's often the best place to discuss a new project. It gives you the time to present the entire project and for your employee to ask questions so that when she leaves your office, she's ready to go.

She can also bring up concerns and ideas that may make the project run more smoothly. She also needs to understand the amount of authority and autonomy she can exercise in her decision making. Finally, the employee needs to create with you a critical path that specifies the times when you will need feedback about her progress during your one on one meetings.

How Often Should You Hold a One-on-One Meeting?

No single answer covers all contingencies. It depends on how many employees you have, what type of work you do, how much support your employees need, and your schedule. Sometimes, 15 minutes of one-on-one time, once a month, is sufficient to keep on top of everything.

Sometimes you may need an hour per week to accomplish the seven goals outlined above. If you're new to the one-on-one meetings, start out with every other week for a half hour and adjust up or down as needed. You don't need to schedule the same amount of time for every employee, although you'll want to make sure that you're not favoring one employee over another.

When you get in the habit of regular appointments with your direct reports, you'll find that your department runs more smoothly. Your employees will know what they need to do and you'll know what you need to do to help them.

And, if you're not already holding them-schedule a one-on-one appointment with your boss periodically. You'll benefit from this face time with your boss, just like your employees benefit from the time they spend one-on-one with you.

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How to Make the Most Of Your One-on-One Meetings

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If you're a manager, you probably already know that you are supposed to hold one-on-one meetings with each of your employees. That much is obvious. But what on earth are you supposed to do in these meetings? How do you make sure that they are productive and worthwhile, rather than counting for just one more checkmark on your management list?

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Managers have many tools for helping their team members succeed, like regular one-on-one meetings. However, this humble meeting might seem daunting for a new manager. Confusion around what types of questions to ask is understandable.

Managers might wonder: How often should we meet? What should I ask them? Can I ask them about their personal life? Do I set the agenda each time or let my direct report take the lead?

In this article, we'll share how to structure your one-on-one meetings and then dive into different types of questions you can ask in your next one-on-one.

Structuring your one-on-one meeting

One thing we see is that managers tend to have either too little structure or too much. Managers might also revisit the same topics each time, most often jumping straight to operational or task-focused questions.

Effective one-on-ones circulate through a variety of topics over time, depending on what's going on in your organization and for the individual. Aside from operational task-focused questions, other things you'll want to cover on a regular basis are alignment, wellbeing, growth/progress, career aspirations, relationships, and of course, creating space for your direct report to steer the conversation.

As for cadence, it depends on the individual and their work environment. Ideally don't go longer than two weeks without checking in, even if it means a coffee catch-up coupled with a more in-depth monthly discussion.

Below are 24 great questions any manager can use for better one-on-one meetings divided into categories.

General check-in questions

Start each one-on-one meeting with a personal check-in. Knowing the mental state of your team is valuable context for how to proceed in the rest of the meeting. These questions are important to ask every time, so you can understand how people are doing as far as work-life balance, wellbeing, and personal life. If something has come up for the individual, allow space to discuss it further. This is where flexibility is key - if you are too focused on getting through a rigid agenda then you might miss cues when your direct reports need support or guidance.
1. How is everything going today? Tell me about this last week? 2. What's on your mind this week? 3. Last time we spoke you said X was a challenge for you, how is that going? 4. What are your plans and priorities this week?
Alignment questions

This is where you want to discuss company confidence, and how connected or aligned an individual feels to the organization. These are particularly important following an engagement survey, or any big change in your organization.
5. Do you have any questions about the recent change involving X? (e.g. announcement from CEO, merger, teams).6. How confident do you feel with where the company is going? 7. How aligned do you feel with where the company is going?
Progress questions

It's important to understand how people feel they are progressing and where they are experiencing growth. This can relate to what they're learning on the job and whether they are feeling a sense of achievement or momentum.
8. What has energized you in your role [over a period of time]?9. What has challenged you [over a period of time]?10. What has gone well/not so well for you [over a period of time]?11. What's one thing (or a few) you learned this week? 12. Do you feel confident in how you/your team are progressing? 13. How are you/your team progressing towards established goals?
Relationship-based questions

Interpersonal interactions are often a missed topic when it comes to one-on-ones, but they can have a huge impact on someone's experience at work. Managers have a great opportunity to coach their team members when it comes to relationships at work. You can also take this opportunity to ask for feedback on you as a manager and how your relationship is tracking.
14. How is everything going with people you work with/on your team? 15. Any interactions you'd like to discuss? 16. What feedback do you have for me?
Career aspiration questions

Often career conversations are reserved for once a year when a review of some sort is done, or completely ignored if a manager doesn't feel confident in leading the conversation. Career aspirations and goals are important to discuss much more frequently - you can even check-in weekly (i.e. what progress have you made on your career goals this week?).
17. When you think about yourself in two years time, what comes to mind? 18. What are two or three new skills you'd like to learn on the job? 19. How are you progressing towards your bigger career and life goals? 20. Is there someone at the company (or outside) that you'd like to learn from? 21. What progress have you made on your career goals this week?
Questions to close your one-on-one

Ending your one-on-one meeting on an actionable question keeps the loop of feedback open.
22. What are you committing to between now and the next time we meet? 23. What can I help you with between now and the next time we meet? 24. Is there anything we didn't cover that you'd like to discuss next time?
Don't forget to also offer informal, in-the-moment effective feedback whenever you have a chance. As you interact with your direct reports, take time to acknowledge how they are doing rather than feeling the need to wait for a 1:1. This way, they can always be confident in their performance and feel comfortable seeking feedback.
Want to learn more about what makes managers great? Download our ebook, 11 essential traits of great managers.

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Managers have many tools for helping their team members succeed, like regular one-on-one meetings. However, this humble meeting might seem daunting for a new manager. Confusion around what types of questions to ask is understandable. Managers might wonder: How often should we meet? What should I ask them?

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One on one meetings are a cornerstone to any effective manager <-> team member relationship from small startups to giant companies. What you talk about, and the one on one meeting questions you ask, make all the difference in the performance of your team.

It's why Andy Grove, legendary founder of Intel and author of High Output Management, said this about one on ones:

Over the last few years I've spoken to hundreds of managers, and making the most of these meetings is one of the biggest differences between good, effective leaders, and bad, frustrating managers. It's why the company I helped found, Lighthouse, is built to help you make the most of them.

So what should you talk about?

There are a variety of topics you can cover in your one on one meetings. Most are things you would rarely, if ever, get a chance to talk about otherwise, but can have a huge impact on your team's morale and engagement.

Even better, because you're having them in a private setting with a decent amount of time ( hopefully 60 minutes, but at least 30), you can dig into their responses and really explore their answers, ideas, frustrations, and feedback by asking good followup questions.
[Ed note: This post originally appeared as an answer on Quora. If you find this post and others on the Lighthouse blog helpful, please go here and upvote Jason Evanish's answer.]
For each of these key topics to cover in your one on one meetings, there are different questions that are best to ask to foster a great conversation. Those categories include:

1) Building Rapport & Trust

2) Talking about Career Development

3) Giving and Receiving Feedback

4) Talking About Ways to Improve Your Team or Your Company

5) Checking in on their General Happiness

Finally, there are also a couple questions you should ask every time to make sure these are good, productive conversations going forward. Without these, you can lose momentum and your team may disengage from sharing or talking much in your one on one meetings.

Let's begin.

1) One on one meeting questions for Building Rapport & Trust

The foundation of any good manager and team member relationship is rapport. If your team doesn't feel like you care about them as an individual, they're unlikely to be motivated to work hard for you.

This chart from Gallup powerfully summarizes that fact:

As you can see, if your team doesn't feel like you care about them and trust they can come to you, there's almost zero chance they'll be engaged at work.

Put more simply, Camille Fournier, former CTO of Rent the Runway and author of The Manager's Path, has learned:

So how do you create that trust?

Creating trust and building rapport is easier than you may think. As Fournier suggests, all you need to do is take an interest in them as people.

By learning what's important to them, remembering what those things are when it counts, and working with them through personal challenges that occasionally affect work (divorce, children, sickness, family issues, injuries, etc) you build more and more trust, rapport, and loyalty.

The Emotional Savings Account

My father, who has an average tenure of 17 years with his accounting staff (industry average is ~3.5 years), calls this rapport you build an "Emotional Savings Account."

When you do things to strengthen trust, or show you understand them, you're paying into the account. Then, when something difficult happens like a tough decision that affects them, no pay raises for a year, etc you withdraw from the account.

When the account is drained, you lose your good people, or they disengage.

Through the years, like any business, my father's company has had its share of ups and downs. He's retained good people because he does things to show he values his staff individually from day 1 all the way to their rocking chair retirement gift and dinner ( coincidentally, his leading cause of voluntary turnover).
What's the balance in your Emotional Savings Account with your team?
Okay, so what do I ask to build rapport and trust?

The short answer is to be human! Find out what's important to them and what their interests are. Start by getting to know them and then revisit asking about the things they care about in future one on one meetings.
Here's a few one on one meeting questions to ask to get you started:

1) How are you? How is life outside of work?

2) How do you feel your work/life balance is right now?

3) What is your resentment? (A great lesson from Marissa Mayer)

4) What's one thing we could change about work for you that would improve your personal life?

5) If around a holiday: Do you celebrate [Holiday]? How was it?

6) How are your parents/grandparents? Where do they live? Do you visit them?

7) If they have children: How is [name of child] doing? (Ask something related to their age like starting school, playing sports, or other interests.)

8) What do you like to do in your free time? What are your hobbies?

9) What did you do for fun in the past that you haven't had as much time for lately?

10) What drives you? What motivates you to come to work each day?

Want more ideas? Not sure how to handle someone who is a different generation, ethnicity, background, culture, or life stage? There's over 81 ideas for building rapport right here.

2) One on one meeting questions for Talking about Career Development

What do you think is the #1 perk people want at work according to multiple studies by respected sources like Gallup, Deloitte, and Google?

It's not free lunch, health insurance, a 401k, or ping pong tables.
It's career growth.
Below is just one example of the myriad of data showing how much people want to grow:

And when they inevitably look for another job, according to a study by PwC, growth is what people look for in their next job, too:

So your 1 on 1s are a great time to talk about their growth, because let's be honest, with everything going on, adding another meeting ad hoc to "talk about your career" falls into the "best intentions, but never happens" bucket.

Instead, every 3-4 one on one meetings, talk about their career development.

Start by establishing their goals.

At first, you need to establish what their goals and interests for growth are. These questions are a great place to start:

When you ask these questions, some people on your team will know immediately what they want.

Maybe they want to start a company some day. Maybe they have a goal to be a CMO or CTO. Or, they could be narrowly focused on the next promotion in front of them like becoming a manager, senior associate, or Software Engineer III.

For those that don't know, you'll need to work more with them at this stage.

Questions 16-25 are all about uncovering them by first looking at what excites them about their work and what they're best at. People who get to work on their strengths are more engaged at work according to Gallup, so you can help your team and actually help them long term as well by uncovering these.

Then, make progress together.

Talking about their goals is a good start, but it's not enough on it's own. People need to feel progress on them.

You have to turn talk into action.

Taking action takes advantage of the Progress Principle that PhD's Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer discovered is the key to sustained workplace happiness:
Here's some questions to ask to make sure you're making progress on their growth & development:

27) Do you feel like you're making progress on your big goals here? Why or why not?

28) What's one thing we could do today to help you with your long term goals?

29) Do you feel we're helping you advance your career at a pace you would like? Why or why not?

30) What are your big dreams in life? Are you making progress on them?

31) Could you see yourself making progress on more of your goals here? What would need to change to do so?

32) What skills would you like to work on most right now?

33) Are there any events or training you'd like to attend to help you grow your skills?

34) Who in the company would you like to learn from? What do you want to learn?

Sometimes you won't be able to make a lot of progress. Talking about why and setting the stage for what you can do in the future is a great way to keep them engaged anyways.

Want more help having career conversations with your team? Here's a few places to start:

3) One on one meeting questions for Giving and Receiving Feedback

Given the privacy of a one on one, and the trust you're building with them in these meetings, it is an excellent time to discuss feedback.

This is true for both coaching them on an area they could improve, and getting feedback from them. Either way, you'll have the opportunity to be candid with each other privately.

With privacy, and the healthy time set aside in a one on one, you can dig into a piece of feedback so you're on the same page. This avoids the defensiveness and resistance that can come from public feedback.

Feedback helps everyone get better.

If you want to help them improve, the best place to start is with feedback for them. Here's some questions to start that discussion:

35) How do you prefer to receive feedback?

36) Do you feel you're getting enough feedback? Why/why not?

37) What's a recent situation you wish you handled differently? What would you change?

38) What's an area of your work you want to improve?

39) What aspect of your job you would like more help or coaching?

40) How many hours a day do you feel you're productive? How could we help you be more productive?

As a manager, it's important to give your team feedback and coaching, and not just at review time. Research shows most people would like feedback more often:

Asking questions like the ones above help you understand where they may be most receptive and interested in your feedback and coaching. Take advantage of this; they'll be particularly motivated to accept and work on feedback in those areas.

Of course, if they have other places you feel they need to improve you should share that with them as well.

The Pro Move: Tie feedback to their goals.

If you want to be a real pro, then that's where you should look to see how you can tie the feedback for them either partially to an area of interest they have ( like attention to detail as part of them stating they wanted to improve presentation skills) or their career goals ( "I need you to improve in this area for me to be ready to advocate for you to get that promotion.")

If you're looking to get beyond the stereotypical sh*t sandwich for feedback (Light praise - real feedback - light praise), then look to some of the tactics here to help you give better feedback.

Remember to get feedback, too!

Feedback is a two way street. If you want to improve as a manager ( and who doesn't have more to learn and work on?), then listening to your team's feedback for you is big, too.

Again, the right one on one meeting questions can open up valuable insights for you to learn from:

When you get this feedback from your team member, be as open as you can. Ask clarifying questions about recent examples, or the reasoning why they chose that. Don't be defensive.

If you're open to feedback and show you take it to heart, or explain why things are a certain way, you build more trust with your team. That then creates a virtuous cycle where they're more likely to share more feedback, and come to you when you need them to.

Having trouble getting feedback from your team? You can get some ideas for getting more feedback here.

4) One on one meeting questions for Improving Your Team or Your Company

The beauty of one on ones are their flexibility. You suddenly have this block of time on your calendar to talk about anything with your team member.

One of the surprisingly valuable ways is to talk about how to improve your team or the company; your team members often have priceless insights that can save you money and time, or improve things in ways you'd never realize on your own.

Remember: everyone in your company has a different vantage point. They're often much closer to problems and opportunities with customers and other employees than you.

Here's some good questions to tap into exactly those kinds of insights:

About Your Company or Department:

About Your Team:

The benefit of these questions are two fold:

1) Get burning issues off their chest

If there's something that's really bothering them, then this is a great way to make them feel heard on something important to them. They may have a specific answer to one of these questions, or suddenly realizing this is a safe subject, bring up something else on their own.

The key here is you want to avoid having anyone on your team feeling what psychologists call "learned helplessness," which is what happens when things that bother them feel beyond their control for too long. Disengagement and turnover follow at that point.

Fortunately, simply the act of talking about them and finding even the smallest thing you can do to address it can go a very long way to making them feel better. This is another way to apply the Progress Principle we discussed earlier.

2) Get your people thinking like owners

The best companies have all their employees thinking about improving the company. It's a major key to Toyota's Total Production System, where even the lowest-ranking factory line worker is listened to for feedback and ideas.

If you ask a question like the ones above and they don't have a ready answer, keep asking some of them occasionally.

Over time, especially if they see you listening and acting on the feedback and ideas of others, they'll start looking for opportunities to contribute ideas, too.

5) One on one meeting questions for Checking in on their General Happiness

If your team member is unhappy for a long period of time, it's going to affect their work, especially if work is the cause. As we mentioned above regarding Building Rapport, great managers care about their people.

As Jason Lemkin writes, you have to ask to know for sure.

It's easy to think you know, but you won't know for sure unless you tackle it head on. This is especially important if your team member is introverted. They're less likely to give clear indicators or directly bring up issues that are bothering them.

Again, this is where privacy matters. By using these one on one meeting questions, you avoid putting anyone publicly on the spot. You also make it safe for them to be honest about how they feel in a way they'd never be in a group setting.

These one on one meeting questions can help make sure you don't miss a case of them being unhappy in a way that affects their work.

These are about action, not therapy.

Remember to make this a productive conversation. You are absolutely *not* their therapist.

Your goal is to uncover issues, and work together to address them, or suggest where they can (like a real therapist, if needed).

Knowledge is power. Once you know about a situation or issue affecting your team member, you can address it. They might just have a good reason why they need to leave early some night, or come in late in the morning. Even small accommodations to help them will earn their respect, and pay into your emotional savings account with them.

Worried about low morale on your team? Here's some ideas of things you may be doing to contribute to it and how to fix it.

The Last Step: The one on one meeting questions you need to ask *every time*

Who knew there was THIS MUCH you could talk about in a one on one!?!?

All of these one on one meeting questions will help you build stronger relationships with your team members. However, a conversation should only be the start.

What's essential is you then take action.

Action is what leads to change and improvement. It's what starts the flywheel going to make these the mega-valuable meeting they are.
This is why the 2 questions to ask in every one on one meeting are:

1) What can you do to take action or make progress on what we talked about today?

2) What can I do to take action or make progress on what we talked about today?

By asking these questions, you're working *together* to make things better. It creates a psychological contract between the two of you to both keep your promises.

Then, when you get to your next one on one, you're both likely to see things are just a little better. It reminds your team member that you really listen, and when they have the courage to bring up issues, it leads to things happening.

That's how you build trust.

If you don't set actionable next steps, you lose everything.

Your team will not trust you to continue bringing up issues if nothing happens or changes. Instead, they'll slowly disengage from your one on one meetings with them and give you one word and non-answers in them.

And you'll suffer, too. If you ask them to do something, but don't make it explicit, they may forget or misinterpret what you said. Then you'll be frustrated, too, especially if you're trying to improve their performance.

You can avoid all that by being explicit. At the end of the meeting, put it down in writing and you'll avoid all of that. You'll also tap into the Progress Principle we mentioned earlier. (Want help doing this? Then get a free trial of Lighthouse here , as it helps you remember to do this and automates your actionable followup).

What you talk about makes all the difference in your one on ones.

For most newer managers and their teams, these 5 categories of one on one meeting questions are a revelation; suddenly one on ones have a real purpose and value not found any other way.

As one team member whose manager used Lighthouse (which has over 100 one on one meeting questions available right with your notes) remarked:

"At my last company, we had one on ones too, but they were constantly re-scheduled and my manager was always rushed. It's only doing them here that I actually understand the value of them."
Want to have great discussions in your 1 on 1s? You can start a free trial of Lighthouse to do so right now here.

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One on One Meeting Questions Great Managers Ask Their Teams

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One on one meetings are a cornerstone to any effective manager team member relationship from small startups to giant companies. What you talk about, and the one on one meeting questions you ask, make all the difference in the performance of your team.

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Build trust with one-on-one meetings

By Bonnie Slater in on November 19, 2017

Do you feel like you're not fully engaged with your team? Are you only having catch-ups when there's a problem or when their performance review comes up? Looking at regular, one-on-one meetings could be something to consider; they are a great way to create an inclusive culture and build trust. At Boost, each of us has a fortnightly meeting with one of our Agile coaches. As a coach myself, I can highly recommend it. Supporting and developing the people that make up your organisation or team is so rewarding.

Disclaimer time: Just so we are clear; this is based on my experiences as an Agile Coach at Boost. This is how I approach one-on-ones, but how you run yours may be different and that's absolutely fine. The simple act of engaging with your team through regular one-on-ones is a step in the right direction. You do not need to be a coach to start this process; you simply need a team of individuals that you want to be more engaged with.

Why do it?

In previous places I've worked, annual performance reviews were the norm but this did not provide a collaborative environment. Instead, it created a culture of blame, fear and anxiety as we each worked towards the dreaded interview. Here at Boost, as coaches, we do fortnightly, 30-minute one-on-one coaching sessions with our teams. It's a great way to bond, build trust, learn, listen and explore possibilities. It's something I really enjoy and it allows everyone the chance to talk about anything that might be affecting them.

Keep it safe

Making a safe environment where people can speak openly is important and is something I work hard to create. If these meetings come across as too clinical or formal, one-on-ones are unlikely to be help. They should be an opportunity to get to know the person and find out if there's anything worrying them. It's great to be able to foresee potential issues before they become problems. It takes time, trust and mutual respect, but the benefits of a good one-on-one meeting are priceless.

It takes time to establish trust, but don't let this put you off. The journey of building trust and mutual respect is a journey well worth taking. It does involve actively listening to the person and having a genuine interest in what they have to say. In her book, Rising Strong, Brené Brown says, "Curiosity is a shit-starter. But that's okay. Sometimes you have to rumble with the story to find the truth."

I work hard not to dominate the discussion and instead try to leave plenty of room for them to talk or even for the dreaded silence. Silence can be uncomfortable so it takes time to master this skill; not filling in silences with talk allows quiet reflection and can be very effective.

Sometimes, getting out of the office is another simple way to get people to talk openly. The very act of leaving the organisation-bubble makes for a more pleasant opportunity to get these conversations going. Go grab a coffee or sit in the park. You might even try walking meetings to keep things dynamic!

Powerful questions

When I first start a one-on-one with a new person, I tend to do a lot of the talking. However, I offer a disclaimer, "I won't talk this much normally because these sessions are about you, not me." I do like to talk people through the meetings if it's our first one to find out what their expectations might be and what they would like to get out of them.

I like to introduce the technique of Powerful Questions in these first meetings. Powerful questions are open-ended questions that require significant thought before they can be truly answered. When I ask a powerful question, I can dig deeper and get into more thought-provoking discussions. I try and bring a couple of these questions, pre-prepared, into my one-on-ones. I don't always need to use them but they are a good way to focus on the individual's personal or professional journey. Approaching these meetings in a pragmatic way helps ensure that we can get some value out of each session, and it helps me to have pre-prepared questions to throw into the mix if needed. My aim is that each person walks away feeling that they have been heard and challenged in a safe environment.

Build trust

A one-on-one is a great way to establish those strong trusting relationships but it is far more than this. There is no right way to run these meetings, as long as safety, mutual respect and moving forward are achieved. These meetings provide a way to truly engage with the individual, provide feedback in a safe and constructive way, receive feedback, work through any issues or concerns and generally get a strong sense of how that person is doing on a regular basis.

One of the most important things to be aware of, therefore, is that these meetings are not about you identifying and solving their problems; I focus more on working through any issues, concerns or goals together so they can find the way forward. Arming them with the confidence to work through their own issues and building the resilience to cope with them better has a much more far-reaching benefit than solving the problems for them. In the process, a stronger organisation and team results as well.

Feedback

To kick off a one-on-one, I like to share some positive feedback or a positive observation of that person. It's a great way to stimulate conversation and create safety. Hopefully, it isn't too hard to come up with something positive for each session, but if you're struggling, it may help to develop the habit of actively seeking out positive feedback and speaking with others may help with this. If you are finding it impossible to come up with something positive, perhaps there is a bigger issue to dig into!

Once we bask in the positivity of this feedback, it's time to move on to any more active feedback. This needs to be worded in a way that is non-threatening and opens up, rather than closes down, discussion. Everyone wants to do their best and to offer feedback on how a person can achieve this is welcomed if phrased in a constructive and respectful way. This again will often lead to a productive conversation. For me, the goal is always to set the stage for useful discussion. Sometimes this discussion flows freely but sometimes it needs a bit more direction and that is where I find that powerful questions come into play.

Make it productive

I like to encourage a strong sense of self-motivated professional development (a personal passion of mine). This means that finding out what is important to them, what their 'blue sky' goal might be, for example, is a good starting point. It helps you find ways to discuss and support their development. You may need to take small steps at the start to build trust further, but this is an investment in the person and their future. I cannot emphasize this enough: having a genuine interest in them is vital to the success of one-on-one meetings. If you are simply going through the motions, you will not see positive results.

A key question that I like to ask regularly, in some way or other, is "How can I coach you better?" or "Is there something I can do to make our one-on-one's more constructive?". I know, this session is not about me, but I want to make sure that each one-on-one is offering value and is motivating. I accept all feedback as constructive in this situation and make sure that anything that's offered is worked through and put into action. Again, this can become a catalyst for further discussion on exactly what the person needs and why. However, there is no point asking this if you have no intention of making the changes if required or becoming defensive. Remember, building and maintaining trust is at the core of these meetings.

I make sure I time-box one-on-ones are as much as possible to ensure we don't move too far away from the focused discussions. However, if the conversation is uncovering some useful information, I'm not going to shut those discussions down after 30 minutes; we just have to use common sense.

Following through

To conclude my one-on-ones, I tend to ask "Is there anything else you'd like to talk about?". I like to invite the person to bring up anything they might be feeling tentative about or have questions about; this is the opportunity for them to voice anything else they may have on their mind. Sometimes, it just takes a small prod to remind that person that there is something they want to talk through. My rule is, 'ask anything'. If I don't know the answer, I will find out or put them on to the person who can best help. But, I do make sure that I follow this up; it may be the difference between a trust breakthrough and letting someone down. Following through on promises is a way to maintain trust and make one-on-ones as productive as possible.

Lastly, I like to reiterate that they do not have to wait until our next scheduled meeting if they want to talk about anything. I am their coach and they are my priority and I want them to feel safe in talking about anything they need to at any time. Also, if the meeting needs to be cancelled, immediately reschedule it. It's really important that the person knows that they are indeed your priority.

Summary

You can create a more inclusive, productive, safe and engaged organisation in many different ways; regular one-on-ones are just one way we like to do that. I have learnt a lot through just doing it. I would recommend and encourage anyone seeking greater engagement or connection with their team to consider trying this process. The sooner you start, the sooner you will start to build trust and respect amongst your team.

A few tips when running regular one-on-ones

Keep them fresh (change things up).

Take notes and review them regularly so you can revisit things that are important.

Be patient and supportive.

Take a genuine interest.

Silence is nothing to be afraid of, it uncovers truth.

Your role is not to solve problems but to build confidence and resilience.

Set challenges and goals together.

Actively listen.

Ask open-ended or powerful questions.

I hope this has offered you an insight into why to run one-on-ones and a few ideas on how to do them. There is lots of great information out there and finding what works best for you and your team is what's really important. Good luck out there!

Learn more
How to make the most out of every manager's secret weapon 7 proven ways to genuinely connect with your employees Build trust across a team with a Team Charter

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Build trust through regular one-on-one meetings with your team

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By Bonnie Slater in on November 19, 2017 Do you feel like you're not fully engaged with your team? Are you only having catch-ups when there's a problem or when their performance review comes up? Looking at regular, one-on-one meetings could be something to consider; they are a great way to create an inclusive culture and build trust.

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What's true for trees is also true for starting one on ones. If you aren't having one on ones with your team, you're missing out on an incredible motivating, problem solving, pressure relieving opportunity to help and grow your team. But even if you're totally bought into starting them, it can be intimidating to actually get started.

Like the first time for many things, when you start, it's easy to feel unsure what to do. When you start, there can be many questions like:

What do I talk about?

What do I say to my team?

How often should I have them?

What if my team doesn't want to talk to me?

When should I schedule them?

...and many more.

I want you all to start off on the right foot, so this post is here to help you with all those questions and more. Follow these tips and you'll start your one on ones like a seasoned pro.

Helping managers make the most of one on ones has been a centerpiece of the work we've done on Lighthouse and so we've helped dozens of managers start one on ones. Here's what we've found is most helpful to help you start one on ones with your teams:

1) What to expect

A one on one is unlike any other meeting you have. This meeting is all about the team member; their needs, frustrations, feedback, ideas, and career growth are the topics of discussion.

They should not be about status updates on projects and tasks. There are plenty of other places to talk about those things.
Push through awkward.
The first couple of one on ones with a team member will be a bit awkward. This is normal. Push through it, and you'll find you both will start looking forward to them.

Think about how uncomfortable a first date, when you're new to a group, or tried doing just about anything for the first time. Come in knowing you and your team member may both feel this way.

The best way to beat awkward is to bring a few easy questions to warm things up. These can be rapport questions to get to know them better personally (family, hobbies, hometown, etc) or they can be any of a variety of great one on one questions to get their feedback and ideas.
Tell your team.
Let your team know you want to have one on ones to help them. If they've never had them before, they may not know what to expect, so it helps to give them a little background before the first one. If you're looking for a specific template, try something like this:

I'm going to start doing one on ones with you and other members of the team. This is to get more feedback from you as well as give you a place we can talk about anything that's bothering you, your career development, and more. To start, we'll have the first one on Tuesday, January 20th at 2pm. We can then talk about a time that we can stick to regularly afterwards. If you want to learn more about what to expect, this post can help you: https://getlighthouse.com/blog/one-on-ones-employee-know/If you have any questions, please let me know.

If you set their expectations from the beginning that the meeting is all about them, and give them some forewarning, you can be sure to start on the right foot.

2) Scheduling your one on ones

A crucial part of one on ones working well is that you have a reliable schedule for them occurring. When you and your team member can count on the meeting happening, you can both bring things to the meeting to discuss and not let anything slip that should be talked about.
Schedule weekly or bi-weekly, for 60 minutes.
The best cadence for these discussions is every week (for small teams, 5 or less people), and every other week (for larger teams, or people you known very well). This frequency gives you enough time to make progress on what you discuss, while also not going too long between check ins.

Book these meetings recurring on your calendar so you both have it and don't accidentally schedule over them. Make sure it's a time you can stick to; there's nothing worse than constant rescheduling, or worst of all, canceling your one on ones.

Consider what's a good workflow for you and your team. Some people like having a "people day" where they'll have a bunch of their one on ones and take care of anything that comes up in the meetings all at once. Others prefer a set time each day, where they'll have 1-2 of them each morning. Either way, building a routine you can stick to is crucial to the health of the one on one and the relationship with your team member.
An hour?!? Yes.
As Andy Grove, former CEO and cofounder of Intel wrote, "I feel that a one-on-one should last an hour at minimum. Anything less, in my experience, tends to make the subordinate confine himself to simple things that can be handled quickly."

You need to give these meetings a fair amount of time to make sure you really dig into issues that are bothering them, fully explore ideas with them, and have a good opportunity to coach them when needed.

You can always end a few minutes early of the hour, but that's very different than coming late to a 30 minute meeting that now is just a quick 15 minute where you can't really dive into anything as you rush to the next meeting on your calendar. Given the huge ROI these meetings have for morale and coaching your team, you don't want to shortchange them.

3) In the meeting

One on ones should be less formal meetings than many of your others. Consider taking a walk, going for coffee or lunch, or going to a more casual, but private, part of your office for the discussion. This will help you both relax.

Especially for your first few meetings, it can be really helpful to bring a few questions to ask. Over time, your team member is likely to bring things to discuss as well, but you can't rely on that alone. There are many things that they may not think to share and you should work to dig out. This list of one on one questions can help.
Take notes!
Even though the meeting is informal, it's important you take notes. I can't say it better than Andy Grove, so here's what he said about why you should take notes:

"Equally important is what "writing it down" symbolizes...the act implies a commitment, like a handshake, that something will be done...having taken notes, [the manager] can then follow up at the next one-on-one."

By writing it down, you show what they've said matters, and you help yourself remember it, so you build trust with them that when they share something with you, it's not forgotten and action is taken. This is the foundation of a healthy one on one relationship with your team member.
Want a hand in making the most of your 1 on 1s you're starting? Then sign up for a free trial of Lighthouse here, and get help with prep before, helpful questions to ask during, and easy followup afterwards.
4) Wrapping up & Following through

One on ones will usually end on a high note. Even if you cover some difficult topics, the goal of the meeting is to help resolve them, and make things better for your team member. The best way to do that is to end each meeting by coming up with action items for both of you to be accountable to.

An app like Lighthouse can help you keep track of your one on one notes and automatically send out action items to you and your team.

By setting some actionable things you can both do based on your discussion, you're helping your team experience the progress principle; by making small, incremental progress, your team will be more motivated and engaged at work. You'll also build their confidence and trust in you that when they come to you with a problem you will not only listen, but help them do something about it.

5) Close the loop next time

What you talk about in one on ones can vary from meeting to meeting, but it's important to build momentum for each person on your team. This comes from closing the loop from your last one on one with them.

The first step to close the loop is to review your notes from last time; if you don't remember what you talked about, they'll resent it and feel you don't really value the meeting. You can also accidentally stick your foot in your mouth by giving conflicting advice to what you said before.

To really close the loop though, you want to also circle back to those action items from last one on one with them; this ensures that progress really happens by holding you both accountable. It also builds confidence, as you both feel the progress being made on issues that matter to them. You can then either spend more time on the issue in the next one on one, or confidently move on to the next issue knowing action will be taken on anything they bring up.
Keep going!
There's always more to cover in one on ones. By bringing a little preparation, following through on what you discuss, and mixing up what you talk about, you can turn these into invaluable meetings for you and your team.

Further reading:

There's a lot more to learn about one on ones, but this post is a primer to get you started. If you're looking to learn more, leave a question in the comments on what you'd like to know and check out these other helpful posts:
Want a hand in making the most of your 1 on 1s you're starting? Then sign up for a free trial of Lighthouse here, and get help with prep before, helpful questions to ask during, and easy followup afterwards.

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What's true for trees is also true for starting one on ones. If you aren't having one on ones with your team, you're missing out on an incredible motivating, problem solving, pressure relieving opportunity to help and grow your team. But even if you're totally bought into starting them, it can be intimidating to actually get started.

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Ever feel like your one-on-ones's with your manager aren't that helpful? The reason might be that you're making some - or all! - of these mistakes.
1. Using the time exclusively for updates rather than for having a real dialogue. Too often, people use their one-on-ones to run down laundry lists of updates on projects. But when that information could easily be captured in a quick bulleted list that you email ahead of time, you're squandering time with your manager that could be more productively spent on actual interaction: talking through challenges that you're facing, getting advice, formulating strategy, and getting feedback. And speaking of feedback...

2. Not asking for feedback. One-on-one's are a perfect place for you and your manager to talk about what's going well and what could be going better. And sure, your manager should proactively give you feedback on her own without you needing to ask for it, but the reality is that plenty of managers won't give feedback until or unless something is dire - which puts you at a disadvantage, because you'll perform better if you're getting feedback along the way, rather than waiting until something goes wrong. So don't be shy about saying to your manager, "How did you think that meeting went?" or "How are you feeling about how I'm handling X?" or "I'd love your thoughts on how I could approach Y more effectively."

3. Not debriefing recent work. In addition to getting feedback on your performance, it's helpful to talk through projects after they're over. What lessons can be drawn? Are there things you should note could be approached better next time? The next time a major project ends, try asking your boss to spend 10 or 20 minutes doing a post-mortem on it with you, to draw lessons that will help you do even better in the future. (This kind of reflection has been shown to dramatically strengthen people's performance.)

4. Not driving the agenda. If you're just showing up to check-in meetings with your boss waiting to hear what she'd like to discuss, you're missing out an opportunity to get more out of the time. Before each meeting, spend ten minutes thinking about what would be most helpful for you to discuss. Is there a project you want her feedback on? Do you need to communicate that there's some time-sensitivity on that draft that's been sitting in her in-box for two weeks, and that you can't move forward until she signs off on it? Are you struggling with getting something from a partner organization that she might have more pull with? By thinking through what you need from her, you can come prepared to get more out of the meeting time.

5. Not scheduling them at all. If you and your manager don't do regular one-on-ones, you might be missing out on an opportunity to get better results in your work, as well as strengthen the relationship. If weekly seems like it's too frequent, consider doing them every other week - but do make a point of making time for them. They'll almost certainly help you and your boss be better aligned, which translates into what type of results you get and how your performance is assessed.
You May Also Like: How to Make Weekly 1-On-1's More Useful for Your Team

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5 Mistakes to Avoid in Your One-On-Ones With Your Manager

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Ever feel like your one-on-ones's with your manager aren't that helpful? The reason might be that you're making some - or all! - of these mistakes. 1. Using the time exclusively for updates rather than for having a real dialogue. Too often, people use their one-on-ones to run down laundry lists of updates on projects.

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One-on-one meetings are, in my opinion, the best tool a manager has to engage employees.

Naturally, they're becoming more popular as the concept of frequent feedback becomes more important.

Managers are using the one-on-one as a way to build a relationship with their direct reports, find out about issues early on, and create a consistent dialogue.

But they're not perfect.

Like all good things, they come with their flaws and they're not a silver bullet.

Let's go through a few of the most common problems with one-on-ones and what you can do to fix them.

But first...

Problems With One-On-Ones

Here are a few common problems that most managers can experience with one-on-ones and some tips for what you can do to fix them.

1. They Take Up A Lot Of Your Time

As a manager, you already have more than enough on your plate.

Between doing your own work and managing your team, who would think that there would be room for hour-long chats with each one of your direct reports.

If you're managing two or three employees, it's not that big of a deal, but if you have a team of 15 people, it can become overwhelming to plan and track these meetings.

Plus, some one-on-ones go way longer than the scheduled hour (I've done this to my manager many times), but it's hard to cut them short because they're so valuable.

You can learn so much about the challenges and the roadblocks of every employee, that you need to be doing them consistently, but you have to both accept the fact that it will take time, and plan for it accordingly.

How To Fix This: I think your best bet would be to get them all done together instead of spreading them at different points throughout the month.

Pick one or two days, and just do all of your one-on-ones back-to-back. Try your best to stay focused on the agenda and keep them within the allotted time.

2. They Can Eventually Feel Forced

After a few months of successful one-on-ones, your employees might legitimately not have anything to say in their meetings.

You could turn the meeting into a performance update, but that's not what a one-on-one is supposed to be.

It might get to the point where the meeting feels forced.

This is especially true if there's nothing bothering an employee. If they genuinely have nothing to talk about, then there's no real need to force a conversation.

Having said that, they're still good to have and good to keep consistent.

How To Fix This: It's important for you as a leader to come prepared to the meeting with some notes. Even though it's the employee's meeting and not yours, it's a good idea to have some talking points ready to avoid that forced feeling.

Another good idea is to follow up from last month's meeting to talk about their progress on what they wanted to achieve. This is why it's so important to be constantly taking notes.

Otherwise, you can use the time to get their input on other higher-level stuff that's going on in the company. Everyone loves to have their opinion considered, so you can use that time to gather their thoughts on new initiatives.

3. They Can Be Too Unstructured

While one-on-ones are meant to be informal and used as a way to build a relationship with your employees, it's important that they have some structure.

For example, you should be taking notes, you should be following an agenda, and you should be holding each other accountable for change.

It's impossible for a manager to remember what was said and if you want to hold people accountable, you need to both be on the same page.

The content can be informal, and the chat should be nice and friendly, but you need to develop a routine to make sure they're effective.

How To Fix This: Develop a three-step routine to make sure you keep the required structure for your one-on-one.

1. Take notes throughout the entire meeting, and at the end of the meeting, take 5 minutes go over the notes with your employee

2. According to Jason Evanish, you should ask two questions at the end of your meeting:

What can I hold you accountable for next time we talk?

What can I be accountable to you for the next time we talk?

3. Send an email right after your meeting with your summary of the meeting to your employee to keep everyone on the same page.

4. They Can Be Easy To Skip

An informal chat with one member of your team is the easiest thing to think about cancelling.

But it's an incredible opportunity to learn from your employees and make them feel listened to. You don't want to cancel or skip the meeting, no matter how busy you are.

When things are busy for your company, it can be even more tempting to cancel that meeting.

But it's during those busy times that you need one-on-ones more than ever.

Those busy times can be stressful for employees, so you need to know what's on their mind to make sure they stay happy.

Plus, it sends the wrong message to your employees. It shows them that you don't care enough about them, plus some employees wait until their one-on-one to bring something up that's on their mind. If you cancel the meeting, that can be incredibly frustrating to employees.

How To Fix This: The most important tip is to remember what your priorities really are. Of course, it's easy to think that skipping the meeting isn't a big deal, but you need to keep your team happy.

As tempting as it might be to skip the meeting, don't do it.

Bonus: 10 Questions You Can Use For Your One-On-One

One piece of feedback I hear frequently is that many managers don't know what questions to ask their employees during the meeting.

Here are 10 questions that you can use for your next meeting.

1. What else can I be doing to help you grow in your career?

2. How would you say we're doing at working together as team?

3. What is the biggest challenge you're currently facing?

4. How is your workload right now?

5. How has your work-life balance been lately?

6. What new skills would you like to be learning?

7. What's something I should stop doing?

8. What's our team not doing that we should be doing?

9. What are three things that you're proud of accomplishing in the last month?

10. How's everything going outside of work?

Any Tips For Better One-On-Ones?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

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4 Problems With One-On-Ones (And How To Fix Them)

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One-on-one meetings are, in my opinion, the best tool a manager has to engage employees. Naturally, they're becoming more popular as the concept of frequent feedback becomes more important. Managers are using the one-on-one as a way to build a relationship with their direct reports, find out about issues early on, and create a consistent dialogue.

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Impraise Blog - Employee performance management, reviews and 360 feedback

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So you've heard about others doing one-on-ones. Some do a one-hour session every other week with each team member. Counting preparation time, one-on-ones would take up a significant part of your busy schedule. You ponder: Would all the hours be well spent and justified?

It is true that one-on-ones can be time-consuming. Yet the hour you spend on a session will benefit you and the team a great deal if done right. That is 60 minutes of honest feedback, which is often difficult to seek otherwise. You can also take the chance to offer timely guidance to your team.

If you aren't having one-on-ones with your team, you are missing out. Timely feedback is valuable, and opportunities to motivate and support your people are priceless. So, what do you reckon?

If you would like to give one-on-ones a try today, here is a guide for you. Use it to run effective sessions so you can help your team grow.

Before the meeting

It is important to prepare for one-on-ones. Here are the three factors to consider: the mindset, the schedule and the agenda.

Mindset

Think of a 1-on-1 as a free-form meeting: no fixed agenda and no minute taking. It is not a form of performance review and you should not use the feedback you get here for that purpose. Let a 1-on-1 conversation flow naturally around whichever matters to a team member. You can discuss many things from her short-term goals to her learning plan. If she somehow feels isolated in the team, make sure that she can also talk about it with you.

The employee should be the main focus of 1-on-1 conversations. Ben Horowitz recommends that a manager should only talk for 10% of the time. The rest should be saved for her team member.

Recurring Schedule

When you set up one-on-ones with an employee for the first time, make sure that you explain the concept. Give her a short description, and some suggestions for the first session. Don't forget to mention that the sessions will be recurring. Here is an example:

"I plan to start doing one-on-ones in our team. Just informal conversations to get more feedback from you. We can talk about anything. What is bothering you? Your progress? Or whichever else that you find important. I suggest we start next Thursday, the 20th at 11am. Then we can talk about making it a regular thing. Let me know if you have any questions."

It is advisable that you schedule enough time for these conversations. A session lasting from 30 to 60 minutes is reasonable. Andy Grove, former CEO and Co-Founder of Intel, actually advised to do one-on-ones for at least one hour.

"I feel that a one-on-one should last an hour at minimum. Anything less, in my experience, tends to make the subordinate confine himself to simple things that can be handled quickly."

It is important to keep the sessions on repeat. If your team has five members or fewer, you should do one-on-ones on a weekly base. Otherwise, you can arrange one meeting a fortnight.

These meetings will take up quite a bit of your time, 4 hours a week if you manage a team of four. But don't wait a month till you start the next session. A lot of things can go right or wrong in four working weeks. If you want to make an impact then, it would be too late.

Besides, recurring 1-on-1 sessions help make feedback sharing a routine and a habit. It encourages a culture of continuous feedback.

Last but not least, regular personal conversations help build strong relationships based on understanding and respect. When you listen often to personal issues of an employee, she will like you and trust you more. It is more likely that she will be open for feedback from you. Next time, she will come to you earlier with her problems. It is also likely that she is more motivated to work hard and prove herself.

Agenda is Optional

A general agenda might help get the conversation going in the first few meetings. You can prepare a list of five topics that you are most interested to know. Your employee's happiness at work and her opinions of your management style can make two topics.

Google's former CEO Eric Schmidt used to start his one-on-ones by comparing his lists with the ones prepared by his employees. They then prioritised the items found on both lists because they were likely to be the most pressing issues.

A prepared agenda gives a structure to a conversation. It ensures that every pressing issues will be discussed. Managers should, however, keep in mind to use the list for reference only. You should let the conversation flow as it is to get the best out of one-on-ones.

In the meeting

As the manager, you should take the lead to set up an informal tone for the meetings. Focus on asking questions and listening attentively to understand the feedback. Don't forget to wrap up each meeting and prepare for the next.

Keep It Informal

Keep your 1-on-1 informal and private. It is best to find a relaxing place where you can hold a private conversation. Some ideas are to go for a walk, to have a coffee in the neighbourhood cafe, or to talk over lunch.

Ask Questions

It is a good habit to prepare some questions you want to ask. When conversations come to a certain topic, such as work habits or personal learning, you can use the questions to get the more feedback from your team.

A well-asked question is a powerful tool because there are so many things one does not think of sharing until being ask.

As mentioned earlier, one-on-ones can be about almost anything. However, there are some common topics that managers like to cover. Here is a list.
1. Work habits
You want to understand how each of your team members operates. Once you learn their productive modes, you can support them to work more efficiently. Here are some questions regarding work habits:
2. Team collaboration and relations
You can increase team productivity by improving the interpersonal relationship amongst team members. Ask the right questions to uncover the hidden challenges and opportunities.

Who inspire you in the team? Whose opinions do you respect? What have they done?

Is there anybody in the team that you find it difficult to work with? Can you tell me why?

What do you think about the amount of feedback in our team? When do others give feedback to you? Would you like to hear more feedback from other team member and me?

What do you think would help us work together better? Any suggestions for improvement in the way we work together?

3. Team's happiness
Personal happiness has an undeniable impact on productivity and engagement. When is a better time to dig into a happiness issue than a 1-on-1 conversation? Grab the opportunity so you can help your team be happier at work. Here are some questions you can use:

Are you happy working here? Are you happy with your recent work? Why or why not?

What keeps you engaged with your daily work? What can I do to help make daily tasks more engaging?

What kind of projects do you enjoy working on? What motivates you to work on a project? Can you name three things we can do to help so you can enjoy your job more?

What is the best accomplishment you had since you are here? Do you feel appreciated for it?

What are the things that worry you? Anything on your mind? Have you ever felt undervalued here? Why?

4. Short-term goals
Your team's feedback on their short-term goals will keep you aligned with their progress as well as their frustrations on the projects. It is healthy to address frustrations timely. Ask some questions, like:
5. Long-term goals
Long-term goals are important to a person's sense of fulfillment and happiness. Your team members like to see that they are making progress toward their big life goals. You want to learn about their goals, and whether their current job fits into those goals. Here are some questions you can use:
6. Personal development
You want to find out if your team members take learning and development the same way as you do. Some of the following questions can help you learn more about their motivation.

Do you feel like you are learning at work? What are the new things you learned lately? What are the areas you want to learn about?

Whom in the team do you want to learn from? Whom do you get valuable feedback from?

Do you think that you receive enough feedback? Is feedback helpful for your personal development? What can I do to help you get the feedback you want?

Would you like more coaching? What aspect of your job do you like more help and coaching on?

7. Manager improvement
It is crucial for you to know how your team thinks about you and your management style. It is challenging to get honest feedback specifically about you from a direct report. Set the right tone and choose your questions wisely. Here are some examples:

What can I do as a manager to make your work easier?

What do you like about my management style? What do you dislike?

What is the percentage of my involvement in your daily tasks? Would you prefer more or less?

How can I support you better?

What is something I could have done better? What are the situations that I could have helped more but didn't?

Listen Actively
You should listen to your employee's insight carefully. It is important to remember that you don't just listen to be polite. You want to really understand what is being shared. Active listening involves:

Clarifying questions and reaffirmation bring you closer to what is being expressed. By showing your recognition and respect toward one's feeling, you are to build a stronger relationship with your team.
Wrap Up & Suggest Next Moves
At the end of the meeting, you should wrap up the talking points. It is also essential to suggest an action plan till the next meeting.

After the meeting

Make notes about the discussion points and the action plan. If you have done this already during the meeting, log it on your note system. You want to make sure you can easily review the items and act on what is needed. Make sure you do the legwork before the next meeting.

Also, remember to make it happen for the next meeting! Like we said earlier, it is very important to keep one-on-ones going.

Conclusion

One-on-ones are a great tool for managers and employees. The weekly sessions are for you to check in with the team's morale. They are also about getting to know the people you are working with better. You can also save one-on-ones for higher-level things like career development and continuous learning. Employee's feedback is extremely important for managers. Effective one-on-ones are one of the best ways to get great feedback (as well as give it).

At the same time, feedback shouldn't be given exclusively during one-on-ones. Whether it's following up after your last conversation, or providing coaching on a new project, you want to let your employees know that they can always come to you for advice, even outside of one-on-ones. Using a feedback tool, like Impraise, will ensure you never miss out on the opportunity to give great actionable advice.

You may also be interested in our free step-by-step manager's guide on how to use feedback to motivate, engage and develop your team.

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How to run effective one-on-one meetings

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So you've heard about others doing one-on-ones. Some do a one-hour session every other week with each team member. Counting preparation time, one-on-ones would take up a significant part of your busy schedule. You ponder: Would all the hours be well spent and justified? It is true that one-on-ones can be time-consuming.

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One-on-One Meeting Questions

1. "Tell me about last week."

2. "What do you think the problem is?"

3. "What about this week? What are your plans and priorities?"

4. "What's one thing that worked and one thing that didn't, last week?"

5. "Do you have any feedback for me?"

A few years ago, I wrote the book 1-on-1 Management: What Every Great Manager Knows That You Don't. Admittedly, the title sounds pretentious. After all, who am I to suggest you don't know something?

However, most people do know the difference between an effective and an ineffective manager. What separates the two?

In my experience, one thing great managers understand that their ineffective counterparts do not is the value of one-on-one meetings. In fact, you might be surprised to know that the vast majority of managers do not meet individually with employees on a regular basis.

But there is some distinction between an effective one-on-one meeting and two people who happen to have a meeting of some kind. Simply passing in the hallway and talking together doesn't qualify as a one-on-one. A meeting to discuss a current project might involve just two people, but that doesn't qualify either.

The one-on-one meeting has a very distinct purpose and structure, and it is designed specifically to benefit the employee, not the manager. Yes, the manager does benefit as well, but the intent of the meeting is to help the salesperson reach his or her potential through coaching and accountability. That's the critical difference.

Here are three magic questions I've structured my one-on-ones around for years that keep the focus squarely on the rep.

One-on-One Questions

1. "Tell me about last week."

The primary objective of one-on-one meetings will vary depending on the salesperson's specific situation and level of experience, but the mechanics of the meeting are fairly consistent. In fact, my one-on-one meetings for 30 years have started with one very simple phrase:
"Tell me about last week."
I know it sounds ridiculously simplistic on the surface, but trust me, there is a lot behind the curtain. You see, the real objective of a one-on-one meeting is to encourage dialogue.

Like any effective sales call, a sales manager should ask good questions and listen carefully. Unfortunately, in my opinion, too many one-on-one meetings become one-on-one beatings, where a manager focuses solely on numbers, constantly corrects behavior, dictates activity, and solves every problem.

But being a sales manager isn't just about sales forecasts and KPIs. In fact, the critical aspect of sales management is actually the coaching and leadership involved. The one-on-one meeting provides a prime opportunity to instill confidence, demonstrate support, provide encouragement, and tune in to motivation. Done well, the dialogue created in consistent one-on-one meetings allows the effective manager to transform potential into top performance.

And it is this one simple question that gets the ball rolling. By letting the rep start the meeting with their view of the past week, the manager avoids the temptation to criticize and dictate. Just sit back and listen. Very carefully.

In my experience, when the salesperson does most of the talking, the manager will develop tremendous insight into that rep and their attitudes. You will understand why her performance is the way it is. You will know what is creating challenges for her. You will see how she reacts to adversity and failure.

During the meeting, I listen for specific areas that may need to be addressed. For example:

Does she create an effective plan each week; one that is consistent with her overall sales plan?

Is she executing her plan?

Does she have a strong understanding of our sales process?

Is her sales pipeline full of qualified opportunities?

However, I resist the need to correct and criticize every problem I see. Don't jump into major correction during the first two or three one-on-one meetings because you'll want the pattern to surface and become apparent through observation.

2. "What do you think the problem is?"

When it is necessary to address a particular issue, I take a very specific approach. I first tell the salesperson what I am seeing and then ask her for potential solutions:
"Jane, the past couple of weeks, I have noticed you're struggling to follow through on some of your key priorities. What do you think the problem is?"
It's way more work, and is probably less satisfying than jumping in and solving the problem personally, but salespeople approached in this matter begin to understand that they are expected to think, plan, and solve problems. Also, there is an enormous amount of information to be gathered from how the salesperson answers this simple question. Do they make excuses and blame others? Or do they openly talk about issues and ask for help? Then together you can identify root causes and create plans for behavioral change.

When things are going poorly, I may observe poor planning, poor execution, a failure to meet expectations, attitude problems, and so forth. And the one-on-one meeting provides the perfect opportunity to address these issues. I certainly don't want to wait for the end of the quarter or, worse, the annual review!

In those situations when I most definitely want to offer specific advice, I actually ask permission: "I have a couple of ideas that I think might help. Would you like me to share them with you?" You will be surprised at the difference it makes to ask rather than simply dictate next steps.

3. "What about this week? What are your plans and priorities?"

The review of last week's activity is the perfect set-up for the second phase of the meeting. In each one-on-one, after the rep and I have reviewed the past week's performance, I then ask the following question:
"What about this week? What are your plans and priorities?"
As they tell me about their plan, I jot down a few notes, which I can then refer to in next week's one-on-one meeting. This means that the following week, when they describe their activity, I can compare it to their stated goals and answer some important questions. Did they accomplish what they set out to do? Did they follow through on key objectives? Did they actually work their plan, or did they just tell me what they thought I wanted to hear? Most importantly, I get to evaluate their ability to plan and prioritize, which are critical skills for any salesperson and especially important if they aspire to sales management.

4. "What's one thing that worked and one thing that didn't, last week?"

It's important to get specific about their wins as well as their challenges. This question gets to the heart of both. Alternatively, you can ask your employees to list one thing they'd like to start doing, one thing they'd like to stop doing, and one thing they'd like to keep doing.

For sales, this might look like:

One thing to start doing: "I'd like to start being more proactive about entering prospect data into our CRM. I'm going to do this by blocking off 10 minutes after every meeting to enter data immediately."

One thing I'd like to stop doing: "I've been emailing prospects when I really should be calling them. This week, I'm going to call each of my prospects at least one time before sending a follow-up email."

One thing I'd like to keep doing: "My meeting prep has been paying dividends lately. I'd like to keep my prep work rolling so I'm ready for the different needs each prospect brings to the table."

This keeps your meetings actionable, your reps honest, and their path forward positive.

5. "Do you have any feedback for me?"

It's just as important to ask them for feedback on your performance during your time together. I recommend using the SBI model of feedback. It looks a little something like this:

In a feedback setting, your rep might use the SBI model this way:

Situation: "Last week, we had a meeting with Marketing to discuss the state of our pipeline."

Behavior: "Mark kept interrupting me, and you stepped in and made sure I was able to finish my thought."

Impact: "I felt heard and valued, and it was great to know you had my back."

This ensures, whether the feedback is constructive or positive, it's always specific, which gives you actionable steps to repeat or work on.

The one-on-one meeting has a singular purpose -- to develop the salesperson's potential through the improvement of critical skills. By prompting the rep to lead the conversation, you keep the focus on them. And if you're executing the meetings well, one-on-ones will help you develop your relationship with the salesperson.

If you have questions on how to improve your sales one-on-one meetings, check out my website.

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5 One-on-One Meeting Questions You Should Be Asking

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"Tell me about last week." "What do you think the problem is?" "What about this week? What are your plans and priorities?" "What's one thing that worked and one thing that didn't, last week?" "Do you have any feedback for me?" A few years ago, I wrote the book 1-on-1 Management: What Every Great Manager Knows That You Don't.

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Let's just say it: one-on-ones are nerve-wracking.

As an employee, when someone drops a one-on-one meeting on your calendar, it can mess up your whole day.

As a manager (new or otherwise), you can struggle trying to come up with the most perfect and productive way to use your time: you need to get to know the status of what your employee is working on, how they feel, any bumps in the road coming up-it's a lot of information to cover!

I want to take a little bit of the stress out of the equation for you and help you rock conducting one-on-one meetings with employees.

Prepare for a one-on-one meeting with an agenda

Have a list of your one-on-one meeting questions ahead of time. In fact, maybe even have a set of categories that you cover every single time. A good example of this could be:

What things are working and not working?

How is your workload going?

What are your personal development goals and how are they going?

Bring a case or a ticket to talk about.

Of course, you can talk about things outside of these categories, but having something regular and planned on your one-on-one meeting agenda helps to keep you away from that dreaded first five minutes of awkward silence. It also helps to build regularity and lets both you and your employees prepare for the meeting and have meaningful conversation.

Leave time for personal conversation

For me, one of the main things that I try to focus on during one-on-one meetings with staff is getting to know them personally.

Hopefully you already have some context into what they are doing professionally, so try to leave some time to create personal connections. This can happen at the beginning of the meeting, or at the end, but no matter when it happens, remember to share a little bit about yourself as well.

Create a relationship with your employee that humanizes you right off the bat, and they will feel less nervous in meetings to come.

Set expectations

One to one meetings are not meant to be stressful. Almost everyone has had the experience where a C-level reaches out and says "hey, let's have a 1:1" without any other context. You sit there and think to yourself "am I going to be fired? Did I do something wrong?" and you fret away until you actually get to the meeting just for it to be a (usually) trivial and simple thing.
DON'T DO THIS TO YOUR EMPLOYEES.
Set expectations for what the one-on-one meeting is going to be about, or at least give them some context.

For example, instead of just saying "Hey, do you have a second to meet later? I put something on your calendar for 4." You could say "Hey, I'd love to chat about that blog post you wrote. I have some suggestions for how you could do it better in the future. Do you have a second to meet later?"

Put your people at ease, otherwise they won't come to your meetings with their game faces on.

Be respectful

Your employees' time is just as valuable as yours is. Don't use time in a meeting just because you have it. Having a one to one meeting with a manager is meant to be a time for your employees to feel like you are hearing them and their concerns, but that doesn't mean that you need to drag out the meeting beyond the time it needs to take.

If you notice that you are filling time with conversation just to take the full amount of the meeting, stop. After the meeting, evaluate what you could have done differently, or if there is something you need to add to make it a more full meeting in the future, but do not add additional fluff just for fluff's sake.

Also, don't spend 30 minutes of time talking about your amazing weekend getaway, just to leave your employee wishing that you'd spent more time discussing OKRs.

Pick a good cadence

Similar to the above, there is nothing worse than having a meeting every single week and not feeling like you need it. Effective one-on-one meetings cover a large amount of information, and always feel needed.

If you find yourself not getting any real updates with your meetings, play around with the cadence. For example, I will have meetings with some employees for an hour every two weeks, or every week for 30 minutes. Try to find what works for you and stick with it. No one likes a bloated calendar full of unnecessary and meaningless meetings.

The space matters

Pay attention to what environment you meet your employees in. Whether you are remote or in-person, the environment in which you meet your employees is important.

If you are a remote-friendly company, find a great online service that will allow you to have face-to-face videos whenever you need. Make sure that it is reliable for you: imagine if you were in a meeting with one of your team members in person and ran out fifteen minutes into the meeting with no explanation? That's what it's like when you get disconnected from a video chat while remote.

One-on-ones done remotely are just as awesome as one-on-ones done in person, but you need to be considerate of the same things: is the room and environment where you are conducting the one-on-one steady? You wouldn't have a one-on-one in a place where you were going to be interrupted, so you should do the same when conducting them remotely. Make sure you have good headphones, a steady internet connection, and a private room so you can devote your attention to your employee.

Ask about their career

Where does your team member want to go in their career? So many people view support as a stepping stone to other options; by talking about their career regularly, you can help show them that they can keep working in support if they want to.

A good way to do this right from the beginning of your relationship is to have them come up with development goals and list them as items to discuss in each one-on-one. Even if you don't discuss them every single time, having them listed where ever you keep the agenda for your one-on-one means that you (and your team member) will always be thinking about what they can do to advance further in their career.

A final say on acing one-on-one meetings

One-on-ones do not need to be tricky. Follow the guidelines above and you are already off to a great start with one-on-one employee meetings.

Remember: the goal with one-on-ones is to better understand your employees needs and career growth as well as build a relationship with them. Use your time wisely and expediently, and you'll be rocking it out in no time.

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Rock Your next One-On-One Meeting: For Employees and Managers

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One-on-one meetings don't have to be nerve racking or painful. With the right structure, a manager can help an employee develop and achieve their goals. Prepare for a one-on-one meeting with an agenda. Leave time for personal conversation. Set expectations. (%date%)

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You've heard time and time again about the importance of one on one meetings in the workplace. If you haven't, take it from Forbes: "One on ones are one of the most important productivity tools you have as a manager." They're absolutely crucial to building a relationship between a manager and employees.

But as a manager, your resources are stretched thin. You've got to balance your own workload, on top of carefully monitoring your direct reports' performance and development. I'm sure you often find yourself wondering how to have the most productive and effective conversations.

Good thing we're here to help. Check out these six essential one on one meeting tips to maximize your meetings.

#1) Hold one on one meetings frequently.

This doesn't mean blocking off hours and hours on the calendar. This means meeting frequently enough so performance, goals, challenges, and barriers can be discussed in real-time, while they're top-of-mind.

#2) Set a meeting cadence.

This tip is simple: put a reoccurring meeting on the calendar. Whether that be monthly or quarterly, the consistency will help you and your employee prioritize the one on one, making sure it doesn't slip through the cracks among all your other responsibilities.

#3) Share topics ahead of time.

Thinking through the topics to be discussed at your next one on one shows that you've put time and effort into the meeting and that you consider it a priority. It also allows your employees to prepare, think through their answers, and inspire more topics of their own to be discussed.

#4) Do your research on your employee.

Do you really know what your employees have been up to? How is their progress on goals? Have they received any positive or negative feedback on recent projects? Are their peers recognizing them for their great work? Checking in on these smaller milestones can help you paint a better picture of how your employees are really doing.

#5) Make sure it's a conversation.

Effective one on one meetings should be a two-way conversation. Both participants should be actively engaged, sharing their thoughts and opinions to make sure the conversation is constructive.

#6) Discuss next steps.

Don't let the time you've put into your one on one go to waste: make sure ideas become realities by discussing next steps to hold both parties accountable. Record these next steps using one on one tech so they're not forgotten by your next one on one meeting.

It's time to take these six essential one on one meetings tips and implement them in your organization. Whether you're a seasoned manager, or embarking on the new adventures of a leadership role, you're bound to have more effective one on one meetings with these tips in mind.

Need questions to ask in your next one on one meeting? Download a whole bunch (350 to be exact) today!

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6 Essential One on One Meeting Tips for Managers

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You've heard time and time again about the importance of one on one meetings in the workplace. If you haven't, take it from Forbes: "One on ones are one of the most important productivity tools you have as a manager." They're absolutely crucial to building a relationship between a manager and employees.

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Lattice | Managers, Here's How to Run a One-on-One

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A 1:1 meeting is an ongoing feedback strategy to keep both the manager and the employee updated on the employee's progress, an opportunity to develop employees' skills, and gives the employee a chance to discuss workplace challenges with their manager.

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One on one meetings are a crucial tool for managers to keep their teams happy and motivated, yet many struggle with them.

Other times, you have to dig deeper and look at the overall structure of your meetings to understand why they're not going as well as you may like. If you want to maximize your time investment in each team member, then you should add one on one meeting agendas to your process.

Even if your one on ones are already pretty good, adding an agenda can really enhance the meeting so you make the most of the 30-60 minutes you have for each of your team members. Here's why:

Times change and so do people. There's always new challenges, issues, problems, and opportunities that come up that you have to help your team with. It's why you have your one on ones in the first place: to stay on top of these issues that don't neatly fit into their daily tasks. As Andy Grove, former CEO of Intel wrote on one on one meetings:

While many of you may know this, it's still really easy to let some important topics slip in your one on ones.

Maybe something happened to them last Monday and so it's no longer on top of their mind in your one on one this week. Maybe you had something you wanted to talk about, but you would have waited to discuss it if you had known what was pressing for them.

If you have your team member work on an agenda of what they want to talk about leading up to each one on one, you can ensure you don't miss any critical issues that you should make sure fit into your one on one with them.

2) Maintain trust and keep them efficient

Meetings and management go hand in hand, so it's really easy to get buried alive in them. As you run from meeting to meeting, you could easily sit down in your one on ones and have no idea what you discussed last time.

At the least, this sets you back in the meeting as you'll spend the first 5 to 10 minutes jogging your memory. At worst, your team member will resent it and be less likely to open up to you, feeling like you won't remember what's important to them anyways.

By having an agenda for each of your one on one meetings, you can ensure that you sit down knowing what you'll be covering. If you add to that glancing over what you talked about last time, you'll make the most of your meetings by hitting the ground running when you start them.

3) Build momentum and continuity across one on ones

One of the challenges with one on ones is that they happen infrequently; if you're meeting with people to talk for 30-60 minutes every few weeks, it's pretty easy for each one to be an isolated conversation.

However, if you want to build valuable momentum from meeting to meeting, as mentioned before, reviewing your notes and having an agenda each time can be a big boost. You'll also ensure you cover the variety of good topics for 1 on 1s like their career goals, feedback, praise, and shopping ideas.

One on ones become much more powerful when there's continuity from one meeting to the next. Whether you ran out of time on a subject and need to push it to next meeting, or have something you don't want to forget to check in on, an agenda ensures neither of you will forget.

It also avoids wasting a one on one on small talk, when you could have covered something more important that keeps them happy and motivated.
Want an easy way to keep all your 1 on 1s well prepared and effective? Then sign up for a free trial of Lighthouse and keep all your 1 on 1s organized and set a great agenda with your team.
How to make a great one on one meeting agenda

So now that you can see why agendas are important, let's take a look at how to create a great one on one meeting agenda:

1) Put them in charge of the agenda

This is their meeting so it only makes sense to ask them to take the lead on creating the agenda. You don't need anything fancy, just ask them to send you a simple outline of whatever is on their mind that they want to discuss.

Encourage them to "add it to the agenda" if they come to you mid-week with something they would like to discuss and you can't handle it in the moment.

Then, as your one on one approaches, ask for it in advance of the meeting so you have a chance to review it, ask for any clarifications, and be in the right mindset in the meeting. Most managers will ask for it either the day before, or the morning of the one on one at the latest.
{Ed. note: If your team member is brand new to one on ones, this post can help them understand what to expect and what are good things to bring up with you in the meeting, and if you use Lighthouse, they'll teach them and automatically send you the agenda. Don't use Lighthouse yet? Sign up now for a free trial and start having great 1 on 1s.}
2) Add your own questions and topics

While one on ones are their meeting, it doesn't mean you don't have any work to do. You still need to do your part to prepare and especially bring good questions.

While your team will build the habit of bringing pressing issues to you by adding them to their agenda, you'll still have to develop the skill of probing deeper and asking good questions to leave no elephants in the room. Ben Horowitz captured this well when he wrote:

Do you have an agenda for your one on ones? What advice would you give managers starting out with them?
Want an easy way to keep all your 1 on 1s well prepared and effective? Then sign up for a free trial of Lighthouse and keep all your 1 on 1s organized and set a great agenda with your team.

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Why You Need a One on One Meeting Agenda & How to make them great

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One on one meetings are a crucial tool for managers to keep their teams happy and motivated, yet many struggle with them. Other times, you have to dig deeper and look at the overall structure of your meetings to understand why they're not going as well as you may like.

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The one-on-one meeting is one of the most important tools you have as a manager.

It's the best way to discuss issues, develop relationships, and make sure an employee's goals are being met.

It sounds simple enough, but in order for them to be effective, there's more to it than just sitting down and chatting.

In this article you'll learn...

How to prepare for a one-on-one meeting

A one-on-one agenda to manage your time

A complete list of questions to ask employees

They are a time to ask strategic questions such as, "are we focused on the right things"?

They are a way to show employees that you value them and care about them as people.

Simple tips for giving tough feedback

What are One-On-One Meetings And What Are Their Purpose?

According to Harvard Business Review, one-on-ones are a productivity tool that serves two essential purposes:

From our experience of using one-on-ones at Officevibe, they are a time to catch and stop problems in their track, realign on goals, build trust and ensure that employees are heard and feel valued. They are about taking a breather after a month-long bout of hard work and reflecting, together. They are a human-fueled activity that reminds companies to put employees at the center ❤️.

How to Prepare for One-On-One Meetings

Question Examples

In our last one-on-one you mentioned you were frustrated by X and wanted to try Y as a solution. How has that been going?

What development areas do you want to work on in the coming weeks?

What additional resources can I provide for you between now and the next time we meet?

Showing up to a meeting with last minute ideas is not efficient, and it will make your employees feel as though they're an afterthought.

Start From Where You Left Off

A great place to start is to review the last one-on-one you had with them (if this is not your first) and make sure to do a follow-up.

Prepare Your Feedback In Advance

It's the perfect time for you to give your employee some feedback. Recognition for their hard work is a great way for you to make your employee feel valued, and thus make them more productive. Take a moment and start recollecting general observations about their contribution to the team/workplace. Constructive feedback is just as good, just be careful about how you deliver it.

Question Examples

I've noticed that our last several one-on-ones have stayed pretty surfaced. What are your honest impressions of this meeting? What could we be doing differently or better?

What would you like to see change in these discussions? How could we make them more useful for you?

I'm trying to make my one-on-ones better and would appreciate your honest feedback on this one - what did you like about it, and what could be improved?

One-on-ones are not meant to be exclusively for professional topics, so show some interest in them by asking some general questions about their lives, beliefs, and aspirations.

If Your One-On-Ones Are Stuck In A Rut

Sometimes these meetings can be a little bit hard to navigate. The conversation can feel forced or lacking in depth. How can you fix it? A good place to start by mixing things up a bit. Try holding the meeting at the cool new coffee shop that opened down the street or just simply go for a walk. The important thing is to change things up.

Retrospective thoughts on the past month

What they would like to work on moving forward

What they need from you if they encountered any roadblocks.

1. Informal Catch Up

Start your meeting with about 10 minutes of informal catch-up. The point of this part is to make your employee feel as comfortable as possible. It's a nice, light way to start off the meeting, and shows employees that you genuinely care about them as people.

You can follow up on something that was brought up in a previous one-on-one (Hint: bring a pen and paper and start taking notes!) or just ask how life is going outside of work.

2. Listening To Employees' Concerns

It is important to listen during this time more than you speak. Block about 20 minutes for this part, but if this goes longer, don't cut the employee off.

It's during this block of time that you can encourage employees to share whatever is on their minds.

Tip: Try pausing for 3-4 seconds before responding to what they just said. This might encourage them to dive deeper into what they were just saying.

PBS NewsHour anchor Jim Lehrer describes it perfectly:

"If you resist the temptation to respond too quickly to the answer, you'll discover something almost magical. The other person will either expand on what he's already said, or he'll go in a different direction. Either way, he's expanding his response, and you get a clear view into his head and heart."

3. Sharing Your Notes And Comments

It's important to come prepared with notes on where your employees deserve recognition and what you would like them to improve so that you don't forget anything you wanted to say. Coming unprepared can be invalidating for employees, demonstrating that they weren't worth the time.

Ask For Feedback During The Meeting

As a great leader, it is your innate desire to constantly grow and learn. Use this opportunity to have an open and honest discussion about how you could be a better leader for them.

Feel free to prompt them to get the discussion going with yes/no questions about leadership behaviors you have. For example: "When I offered you criticism, did you feel that it was constructive enough?"

Question Examples

I'd like to improve as a manager and I could really use your help. Next week, would you be willing to share some feedback on one to two things you think I could do better as your manager?

What can I do to help you enjoy your work more or remove roadblocks to progress?

Which areas would you like more or less direction from me on your work?

4. Action Planning

Take 10 minutes at the end of the meeting to come up with an action plan based on what was discussed so that you can follow up properly for the following month.

Setting 1-3 clear goals will really help employees focus over the course of the next month.

Jason Evanish, who has written a lot on one-on-ones explains it perfectly:

None of the things you talk about in one-on-ones matter if you don't follow through and take action on them. These two questions will ensure you always follow through with the important things you discuss in your one on ones:

What can I hold you accountable for next time we talk?

What do you need from me in order to achieve your goal?

Ask Employees For An Agenda 24 Hours Before

This will definitely accelerate the process as it will help the employee collect their thoughts prior to the meeting while also helping you guide the session.

1. Remember, It's The Employee's Meeting

One of the most important tips is that it's the employee's meeting, not yours. While this might seem subtle, it's important to change your frame of mind to focus on the employee.

The key to a good one-on-one meeting is the understanding that it is the employee's meeting rather than the manager's meeting. This is the free-form meeting for all the pressing issues, brilliant ideas and chronic frustrations that do not fit neatly into status reports, email and other less personal and intimate mechanisms. Ben Horowitz

2. Keep Track By Taking Notes

While it's important to actively listen to your employees while they speak, it is also essential to document the key points of the meeting so that you can follow up properly in the next one-on-one.

To avoid physical blockers, which can create a sense of mistrust between you and your employee, use a pen and paper to jot down your notes instead of using a laptop. Pings and alerts are sure to pop up and distract you. In fact, avoid all devices in the meeting so you can focus respectfully.

Their agenda can include;

One-On-One Meeting Agenda

From a high-level, here is a suggestion for how you can structure your one-on-one, but keep in mind that you don't need to confine yourself to this timeframe. It is more important for the conversation to flow naturally.

Tips For Great One-On-One Meetings

1. Focus on behaviour, not personality: It's harder and more discouraging to have to change who you are than an action that you do.

2. Be specific: Zoom in on a certain problematic area instead of creating negativity around their general work. If they were disorganized, give the specific instance, don't label them in general.

3. Avoid negative terms: Ultimately, you want a positive outcome. Avoid words like "but" because it primes defensive behaviour and removes weight from the positive feedback before the "but".

These types of meetings can be tough, especially for new managers if they conducting them for the first time. Here are a few tips to make sure you have an effective one-on-one everytime.

Having Difficult Conversations

Giving negative feedback can be as stressful for managers to share as it is for employees to receive - we get it. Anticipating hurting someone's feelings, having a defensive reaction, or being unliked afterward. These are valid fears.

Most employees want the feedback so that they can improve, but there are certainly some dos and don'ts when it comes to communicating.

Here are 3 simple tips for delivering negative feedback:

Want to be a better communicator all around? Download these 7 amazing communication techniques for leaders.

Do You Conduct One-On-Ones?

Any tips to share with us? Let us know in the comments below!

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Agenda & Template For Successful One-On-One Meetings | Officevibe

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Leverage one-on-one meetings like the all-star leader that you are. Learn how to prepare for a one-on-one meeting, how to set up an agenda to manage your time, get multiple examples of questions to use along with a free template. It's time to optimize your meetings and avoid common pitfalls.

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Ever feel like your one-on-ones's with your manager aren't that helpful? The reason might be that you're making some - or all! - of these mistakes.
1. Using the time exclusively for updates rather than for having a real dialogue. Too often, people use their one-on-ones to run down laundry lists of updates on projects. But when that information could easily be captured in a quick bulleted list that you email ahead of time, you're squandering time with your manager that could be more productively spent on actual interaction: talking through challenges that you're facing, getting advice, formulating strategy, and getting feedback. And speaking of feedback...

2. Not asking for feedback. One-on-one's are a perfect place for you and your manager to talk about what's going well and what could be going better. And sure, your manager should proactively give you feedback on her own without you needing to ask for it, but the reality is that plenty of managers won't give feedback until or unless something is dire - which puts you at a disadvantage, because you'll perform better if you're getting feedback along the way, rather than waiting until something goes wrong. So don't be shy about saying to your manager, "How did you think that meeting went?" or "How are you feeling about how I'm handling X?" or "I'd love your thoughts on how I could approach Y more effectively."

3. Not debriefing recent work. In addition to getting feedback on your performance, it's helpful to talk through projects after they're over. What lessons can be drawn? Are there things you should note could be approached better next time? The next time a major project ends, try asking your boss to spend 10 or 20 minutes doing a post-mortem on it with you, to draw lessons that will help you do even better in the future. (This kind of reflection has been shown to dramatically strengthen people's performance.)

4. Not driving the agenda. If you're just showing up to check-in meetings with your boss waiting to hear what she'd like to discuss, you're missing out an opportunity to get more out of the time. Before each meeting, spend ten minutes thinking about what would be most helpful for you to discuss. Is there a project you want her feedback on? Do you need to communicate that there's some time-sensitivity on that draft that's been sitting in her in-box for two weeks, and that you can't move forward until she signs off on it? Are you struggling with getting something from a partner organization that she might have more pull with? By thinking through what you need from her, you can come prepared to get more out of the meeting time.

5. Not scheduling them at all. If you and your manager don't do regular one-on-ones, you might be missing out on an opportunity to get better results in your work, as well as strengthen the relationship. If weekly seems like it's too frequent, consider doing them every other week - but do make a point of making time for them. They'll almost certainly help you and your boss be better aligned, which translates into what type of results you get and how your performance is assessed.
You May Also Like: How to Make Weekly 1-On-1's More Useful for Your Team

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5 Mistakes to Avoid in Your One-On-Ones With Your Manager

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Ever feel like your one-on-ones's with your manager aren't that helpful? The reason might be that you're making some - or all! - of these mistakes. 1. Using the time exclusively for updates rather than for having a real dialogue. Too often, people use their one-on-ones to run down laundry lists of updates on projects.

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One-on-one meetings are, in my opinion, the best tool a manager has to engage employees.

Naturally, they're becoming more popular as the concept of frequent feedback becomes more important.

Managers are using the one-on-one as a way to build a relationship with their direct reports, find out about issues early on, and create a consistent dialogue.

But they're not perfect.

Like all good things, they come with their flaws and they're not a silver bullet.

Let's go through a few of the most common problems with one-on-ones and what you can do to fix them.

But first...

Problems With One-On-Ones

Here are a few common problems that most managers can experience with one-on-ones and some tips for what you can do to fix them.

1. They Take Up A Lot Of Your Time

As a manager, you already have more than enough on your plate.

Between doing your own work and managing your team, who would think that there would be room for hour-long chats with each one of your direct reports.

If you're managing two or three employees, it's not that big of a deal, but if you have a team of 15 people, it can become overwhelming to plan and track these meetings.

Plus, some one-on-ones go way longer than the scheduled hour (I've done this to my manager many times), but it's hard to cut them short because they're so valuable.

You can learn so much about the challenges and the roadblocks of every employee, that you need to be doing them consistently, but you have to both accept the fact that it will take time, and plan for it accordingly.

How To Fix This: I think your best bet would be to get them all done together instead of spreading them at different points throughout the month.

Pick one or two days, and just do all of your one-on-ones back-to-back. Try your best to stay focused on the agenda and keep them within the allotted time.

2. They Can Eventually Feel Forced

After a few months of successful one-on-ones, your employees might legitimately not have anything to say in their meetings.

You could turn the meeting into a performance update, but that's not what a one-on-one is supposed to be.

It might get to the point where the meeting feels forced.

This is especially true if there's nothing bothering an employee. If they genuinely have nothing to talk about, then there's no real need to force a conversation.

Having said that, they're still good to have and good to keep consistent.

How To Fix This: It's important for you as a leader to come prepared to the meeting with some notes. Even though it's the employee's meeting and not yours, it's a good idea to have some talking points ready to avoid that forced feeling.

Another good idea is to follow up from last month's meeting to talk about their progress on what they wanted to achieve. This is why it's so important to be constantly taking notes.

Otherwise, you can use the time to get their input on other higher-level stuff that's going on in the company. Everyone loves to have their opinion considered, so you can use that time to gather their thoughts on new initiatives.

3. They Can Be Too Unstructured

While one-on-ones are meant to be informal and used as a way to build a relationship with your employees, it's important that they have some structure.

For example, you should be taking notes, you should be following an agenda, and you should be holding each other accountable for change.

It's impossible for a manager to remember what was said and if you want to hold people accountable, you need to both be on the same page.

The content can be informal, and the chat should be nice and friendly, but you need to develop a routine to make sure they're effective.

How To Fix This: Develop a three-step routine to make sure you keep the required structure for your one-on-one.

1. Take notes throughout the entire meeting, and at the end of the meeting, take 5 minutes go over the notes with your employee

2. According to Jason Evanish, you should ask two questions at the end of your meeting:

What can I hold you accountable for next time we talk?

What can I be accountable to you for the next time we talk?

3. Send an email right after your meeting with your summary of the meeting to your employee to keep everyone on the same page.

4. They Can Be Easy To Skip

An informal chat with one member of your team is the easiest thing to think about cancelling.

But it's an incredible opportunity to learn from your employees and make them feel listened to. You don't want to cancel or skip the meeting, no matter how busy you are.

When things are busy for your company, it can be even more tempting to cancel that meeting.

But it's during those busy times that you need one-on-ones more than ever.

Those busy times can be stressful for employees, so you need to know what's on their mind to make sure they stay happy.

Plus, it sends the wrong message to your employees. It shows them that you don't care enough about them, plus some employees wait until their one-on-one to bring something up that's on their mind. If you cancel the meeting, that can be incredibly frustrating to employees.

How To Fix This: The most important tip is to remember what your priorities really are. Of course, it's easy to think that skipping the meeting isn't a big deal, but you need to keep your team happy.

As tempting as it might be to skip the meeting, don't do it.

Bonus: 10 Questions You Can Use For Your One-On-One

One piece of feedback I hear frequently is that many managers don't know what questions to ask their employees during the meeting.

Here are 10 questions that you can use for your next meeting.

1. What else can I be doing to help you grow in your career?

2. How would you say we're doing at working together as team?

3. What is the biggest challenge you're currently facing?

4. How is your workload right now?

5. How has your work-life balance been lately?

6. What new skills would you like to be learning?

7. What's something I should stop doing?

8. What's our team not doing that we should be doing?

9. What are three things that you're proud of accomplishing in the last month?

10. How's everything going outside of work?

Any Tips For Better One-On-Ones?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

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4 Problems With One-On-Ones (And How To Fix Them)

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One-on-one meetings are, in my opinion, the best tool a manager has to engage employees. Naturally, they're becoming more popular as the concept of frequent feedback becomes more important. Managers are using the one-on-one as a way to build a relationship with their direct reports, find out about issues early on, and create a consistent dialogue.

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n getting to know subordinates, nurturing a relationship with them, and giving them feedback.
 
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📎 How to Start One on Ones with Your Team
📎 5 Mistakes to Avoid in Your One-On-Ones With Your Manager
📎 4 Problems With One-On-Ones (And How To Fix Them)
 
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 Referenced on Asight.co
📎 How to run effective one-on-one meetings

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One of the most under-appreciated tools of any manager's toolkit is the one-on-one meeting. It's a regular time for you to connect with each person reporting to you, get a sense of what they're working on, where their priorities are, any obstacles that are in their way, share information they need to know, and (most importantly!) develop a relationship with them grounded in trust.

This meeting is the most important meeting you have with each person who reports to you and, in a very real way, dictates one of the most critical parts of the employee experience: How they feel about you, their boss.

In most cases, the boss is our conduit for the organization at large. Have a great boss, you'll think the organization cares about you. Have a not-so-great one, and you'll be writing a potential negative Glassdoor review in your head on a pretty consistent basis.

Your one-on-one meetings are a profound opportunity to send a clear message to the people reporting up to you. If everything we do at work sends a message to others, think about the messages you're sending to you team members in regard to the one-on-one:

If you just show up and wing it week after week, with nothing to tell them or report back, what message does that send? It means you don't think putting effort or energy into them is important.

If you regularly cancel your one-on-ones when things get busy, that means you won't make time for them.

If you spend the entire meeting talking about what you're doing, or interrupting them when they try to speak up, that means you don't care about what they have to say or contribute.

If you mostly criticize their ideas and efforts, without giving much positive feedback for the things that are going well, that means that nothing they ever do will be good enough.

These may seem to be framed in an extreme way but that, friends, is just how the human brain works. And if those are the perceptions that your team members are walking away with, you're going to have problems related to morale, productivity, and quality of work on your hands.

On the other hand, what if you show up every week prepared with an agenda, spend time giving them your full attention without interruption, openly and transparently share information you know across the organization, answer their questions without judgement, consider their ideas, and give them tons of positive recognition for the good work they're doing? That's going to paint a very different picture in their minds about how much the organization cares about them. Their effort will follow suit.

So, don't dismiss the one-on-one meetings. You've got to get these right. And it doesn't take a ton of effort to do so - just a plan and a commitment to doing things consistently.

Make them weekly

The question I get asked most often is about frequency. Should they be once a week? Every two weeks? Once a month? What's best practice?

For my money, a weekly one-on-one meeting is always your best bet. There are a few reasons for this:

It keeps everyone informed. Office gossip starts when communication is not clear, consistent, and transparent. Having individual time every week ensures the consistency piece.

It enhances accountability. If your team members know that you're going to ask them about their progress each week, they're more likely to make progress rather than waiting until a day or two before to start the next step of a project.

A lot can change in a week! Having the time regularly blocked on your calendar makes sure you have it set aside for when you need to connect.

We live in an instant gratification society, where any piece of information we want is available to us at a moment's notice just by pulling out our cell phone. That makes more frequent communication even more important.

Finally, every employee should have the peace of mind to know that their boss makes individual face-time a priority. If their boss doesn't care about them, then why should they give you their best every day?

So there's lots of great reasons to keep it once a week. But here's the most common objection I hear:
I don't have the time for weekly one-on-one meetings with all of my employees.
And my response is simple: We find time for things we care about and deem important. So find the time. If you can't give everyone reporting to you 30 minutes each week, then one of these statements is true:

You're managing too many people;

You're not delegating enough of your own work down to free up your time;

You just don't care.

The most important job you have as a manager is to take care of the people reporting to you so that they can perform to the best of their abilities. Your one-on-one meeting is critical to that. This is not a time for excuses. This is a time to figure it out.

On board? Great. Here's how you run a really amazing one-on-one meeting.

Utilize a consistent agenda

Consistency is your best friend when it comes to the one-on-one meeting. It lets your team know exactly what to expect each time so that they can prepare accordingly. It also sets you up to prep efficiently, not only prior to the chat but throughout the week. As items come up that you know members of your team need to know, just make a quick note to add it to the agenda.

Here's the framework I like to use:

1. The first part of the meeting is all about your employee. What are they proud of accomplishing in the last week? What are they working on? What do they want to discuss? What's holding them back from being successful?

2. The second part of the meeting is about you. What are you working on that they should know about? What conversations have you been a part of that will impact their work? What new items do you need from them? What items are you delegating down to them? If they need to develop new skillsets to take on those assignments, this is also a perfect time to coach them in that direction. You can prep your agenda ahead of the meeting by putting together a quick list of the topics you want to make sure you hit on.

Assuming a 30 minute meeting, this allocates about 15 minutes to them and 15 minutes to you, but don't be a stickler on a perfect even distribution of time. If they're on a role and are engaged and excited in their end of the conversation, let them have a bit more time. Those are feelings you want to encourage - it will help them leave the meeting motivated to hit the ground running as soon as they get back to their desk.

All about them

Here's the thing: As the person in the power position, the very best thing you can do to support your team is put your ego to the side. Everyone has an ego - there's nothing good or bad about it. But you must think back to your goal here: Create an experience where they are intrinsically motivated to do their best work while still being held accountable to the goals they need to accomplish. That means this meeting has to be about their needs on a deeply psychological level. But you don't need to be a psychologist to get it right - it's just about making them feel good when they walk out of the conversation.

The most important thing you can do in your one-on-one meetings is to listen.

In coaching clients in organization, not a week goes by when I don't hear some version of the following words: You are the only person that listens to me.

That means that they don't feel like the one person whom their success relies on - their boss - really listens to a word they say. This could be an inaccurate perception, or it could be that you were legitimately distracted. Either way, it doesn't help you get their best performance and make them feel good about the relationship you have. This happens for a lot of reasons. You're busy and focused on your priorities. You have your computer open during meetings and are answering email. You dismiss their ideas too quickly, making them feel as though they weren't properly considered in the first place.

There's a time and a place for everything, but these one-on-one meetings are the time and place for you to put everything aside and give them your full attention.

Do not have your computer open. Even if you are just using it to take notes, it's very easy for them to interpret it as you answering email and not really focusing on what they have to say.

Face them with open body language. Don't lean back with your arms crossed - that just makes you seem closed off.

Repeat it back. Use active listening techniques to articulate back what they're communicating to do. "What I heard you say is that you can't complete this step of the project without support from Johnny Jones in marketing. Did I get that right? Is there anything else you need?" Doing so doesn't just nip any chances of miscommunication in the bud - it also really emphasizes that you heard what they said.

Ask amazing questions. Sometimes, your team members need your help in fully pulling apart different strategies or solutions. Instead of saying, "This is how I would do it," ask them questions to guide them in the direction you want to go. That will leave them more engaged, instead of in the dreaded position of order-taker.

Make it forward looking

When your employees see that you're listening to them, you'll develop the trust required to have them come to you when problems arise or when they need help. That's a good thing! You want them to feel comfortable coming to you with problems.

When it happens however, you might be inclined to dissect why the problem occurred or give your team member the impression they are in trouble or will get dinged for it on their performance review. Rein it in and focus your attention on how to move forward: "This didn't go how we wanted it to. What are you going to do about it? How can I help you? What do you need?" If your team members feel they are going to get in trouble, they won't tell you when things are going wrong. However, if they feel like you're motivated to support their success that will give both of you the opportunity to come together and brainstorm on the best next steps.

Take notes

Finally, throughout the meeting, you want to make sure you're taking notes. Since I just told you to turn off your computer, we're going to do this the old-fashioned way: by writing it down. Taking hand-written notes during a meeting lets your employees see that you are engaged in what's going on in front of you, and shows them that both you and they are being held accountable. Use a notepad, a journal, whatever works best for you.

If you're looking for a quick, easy template, download this one I developed specifically to keep track of what's going on in your one-on-ones.

When the meeting is over, just pop your notes in a specific folder that you've set aside for your employee and they'll be there next week when you prep your agenda. Look back and make note of what items you need to follow-up on or get a status update.

Be present and remember your goal

At the end of the day, these simple tactics allow you to be fully present in the meeting, and focused on your primary goal of supporting your employee's performance. You may have a lot going on, but run these meetings well and it will be some of the most productive 30 minutes you spend each week. The other things you have going on will be waiting for you when it's over, and you'll have an engaged team member ready to help you achieve them.
This was originally published on Zen Workplace.

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Here's Your Guide to Holding Effective One-on-Ones

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One of the most under-appreciated tools of any manager's toolkit is the one-on-one meeting. It's a regular time for you to connect with each person reporting to you, get a sense of what they're working on, where their priorities are,

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The Importance of One-On-One Meetings | Team Development | LMA

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Focusing on your team as a collective whole is important. After all, the team dynamic is one of collaboration for the sake of increased productivity and ingenuity. However, as a manager it is essential for you to also recognise that your team is made up of distinct and diverse individuals; individuals who require your time and attention to remain dedicated and motivated in their own tasks.

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As discussed in the previous article Importance of Effective One on Ones - One on one is beneficial for all- Employees, managers and the company. It enhances employee engagement. And that's the reason importance of a quality one on one is huge. As promised I am back with my new article and I hope this article helps you recognizing, realizing and eliminating mistakes 13 common but biggest mistakes from your one on ones making them more productive.

Performance management driven by managers is appreciated by the organization who look forward to future growth. And one on one is a key tool to drive quality manager interactions with your direct reports- that caters to great performance management. It is very important to make sure that the one on one is a quality interaction with the employees and the time invested in it gives a good return. To make sure the one on ones are mistake proof - let's find out what are the common mistakes that managers make in one on ones.

1. Not Having a Backup Plan:

There can be days when you don't have a specific thing to talk about or perhaps things are tense, or maybe too smooth, and you're not sure what to cover in this meeting. Don't cancel the one on one, in fact, this can be the opportunity where you can talk about the developmental feedback. Look for solutions to a current high-level company problem and you never know you may discover leadership potential in this report.

Office premises may work as a roadblock when it comes to sensitive topics. Employees may not come up with these topics which may be bothering them otherwise when they have this fear or are not sure who might be around the corner or how thin these walls really are. To avoid such hesitations call them for a coffee meeting, or a walking meeting, to change the scenery and give them the confidence to speak their hearts out.

The one on one meetings are as important as any other meeting. It needs to be consistent so that you can communicate value to your employees and make sure they have a safe place to air concerns. Don't cancel or postpone one on one meetings keep the meeting on your priority list.

4. Renaming or Combining Tasks:

Don't try to have a one-on-one with two employees at once, it won't solve the purpose - neither will they benefit out of it. One will think what others might think. It is their time, with their managers where they don't have the fear of being misunderstood. Combining a meeting will not give them the quality time they need. Let it stay as per the name "One on One", simple and to the point.

5. Not Documenting Deliverable:

Your employees may request for things- like training material, or some HR or organizational related information that is not accessible to them. Always make a note of your deliverable. If they have to follow up a couple of times with you for something they need- it will erode trust. Don't give them the opportunity to follow up.

6. Failing to Talk about Career Growth:

Every employee needs growth and yes this includes even the happiest team member you have. Timelines, new skills, and directions should be an ongoing discussion. Career paths today aren't always ladders, so be open to moving your employee into a new department if it makes sense for their skills.

7. Spending Time on Status Updates:

Don't waste time on taking a status update. It can be easily communicated via email - one-on-ones are for topics that require being in-person. If you must go over project statuses, limit it to five minutes.

8. Allowing Distractions:

Try not to carry your laptop or mobile during the one on ones as that can bring a lot of distractions. Consider bringing just a pad of paper and pen to minimize distractions.

Look interested in the conversation and ideally, you'll want to face each other, and make eye contact.

If your report asks for feedback on an idea, make a note to follow up. If they were given corrective feedback, watch for them to show improvement, and give recognition.

One on Ones is the platform for the employees to speak and the manager needs to be all ears. The manager should aim to speak for 10 percent of the meeting.

This is an opportunity to build trust with your employees. If the employees admit their weakness - or ask dumb questions or share failures - should not count against your report. Give them credit for bringing something to your attention, and retain trust by keeping it between the two of you.

Have a structure in place - it will help you to use your time better and you won't miss out on things. A suggested formula allows for 15 minutes of initiatives for which your report needs your approval, 15 minutes for issues you need to raise with the report or new projects to delegate, and 10 minutes for airing concerns and discussing developmental goals.

The next time you schedule a one on one just take care of the above points and see the difference. A quality one on one will definitely help you get a successful team and we all know "a manager is as successful as his team".

Feedbacks and comments are welcome in the comment section.

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Eliminate 13 Biggest Mistakes in One on Ones

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As discussed in the previous article Importance of Effective One on Ones - One on one is beneficial for all- Employees, managers and the company. It enhances employee engagement. And that's the reason importance of a quality one on one is huge.

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Leigh Limpic has over 20 years of Human Resources experience as an HR consultant and internal HR Practitioner. She specializes in assisting companies develop human resources best practices through people, processes, and corporate culture development. Leigh's most... Read full bio

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10 Ways to Conduct One-on-One Meetings with Impact

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One of the basic premises of being an effective leader is to have regular one-on-one meetings with your staff. Yet often, these meetings feel like torture to the employee, lacking forethought and focus. Here are ten tips for having motivating and meaningful one-on-ones:

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SHRM/Globoforce Survey Reveals Human-Centered Approaches in the Workplace Help Organizations Better Recruit and Retain Employees

An environment that fosters continuous and supportive peer feedback with more frequent check-ins can spur employee growth and development

Survey also shows that recognition programs funded at 1 percent or more of payroll are more likely to be aligned to organization's people strategy

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. and DUBLIN - January 24, 2018 - HR leaders are using human-centered approaches in the workplace, which may help resolve retention, recruitment, and culture management challenges, according to the 2018 SHRM/Globoforce Employee Recognition Report. The report explores the key elements of what constitutes a human workplace and reveals HR leaders are creating supportive feedback environments throughout the year to improve employee engagement, organizational culture, and the employee experience. The survey results were announced by Globoforce®, a leading provider of social recognition and continuous performance development solutions, and the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), the world's largest association devoted to human resource management.

In the report, "Designing Work Cultures for the Human Era," 47 percent of HR leaders cite employee retention and turnover as their top workforce management challenge, the third consecutive year this challenge has topped the list. Recruitment follows as the second biggest challenge, while 34 percent of those surveyed also see culture management as a top challenge.

The survey of 738 HR leaders finds that an organization's feedback environment is more likely to be supportive when human-centered approaches such as ongoing peer feedback, frequent performance reviews, and recognition tied to core values are adopted. Additionally, the celebration of employees' life events has the potential to help HR leaders advance their organizations in both their retention and recruitment efforts.
Key insights and findings from the report include: More human-centered approaches can help meet recruitment and retention challenges.
Among HR leaders surveyed, 80 percent say their organization currently has an employee recognition program. Many of these leaders say their employee recognition program helps with employee experience (89 percent), employee relationships (86 percent), organizational culture (85 percent), employee engagement (84 percent) and organizational values (83 percent). Therefore, according to the survey, it's important for HR leaders to treat employee recognition as not just a program, but a management practice with a real and measurable business impact.
Values-based recognition remains highest-rated among HR leaders who adopt these programs to reinforce and drive business goals.
Values-based recognition programs - where employees are recognized and rewarded for behavior that exemplifies a company's core values - continue to be more highly adopted (70 percent) than recognition programs not tied to a company's core values (30 percent). Programs tied to values are also more than two times as likely to be focused on reinforcing and driving business goals; 33 percent more likely to be focused on empowering employees; and 29 percent more likely to be focused on creating a positive employer brand.
Recognition programs funded at 1 percent or more of payroll are more likely to be rated highly than underfunded programs or programs with zero budget.
HR leaders who have programs funded at 1 percent or more of payroll are more likely to agree recognition programs are fully aligned with the organization's people strategy - meaning tied to important business metrics such as retention rate of critical employees, strength of company values, and employee happiness. Additionally, compared to cost-saving recognition programs like "e-thanks," programs at 1 percent or more of payroll are 86 percent more likely to be rated as good or excellent.
Peer feedback, more frequent reviews or check-ins, and a supportive feedback environment can effectively spur employee growth and development.
Only about half (51 percent) of HR leaders surveyed feel their current performance appraisal process is accurate. Yet those who conduct semiannual or more frequent reviews are 1.5 times more likely to agree they are an accurate appraisal of employees' work, compared to organizations that only conduct annual reviews.

Organizations that rely on more frequent performance reviews are more likely to use peer feedback, either ongoing or intermittently (38 percent versus 27 percent). Additionally, 89 percent of HR leaders surveyed agree ongoing peer feedback and check-ins have a positive impact on their organizations.

Compared to annual reviews with no peer feedback, semiannual reviews and peer feedback are nearly two times as likely to be perceived as accurate (81 percent vs. 42 percent)

Even if an organization is not ready to forgo the traditional performance review, HR leaders can consider adopting frequent peer feedback as a supplement to improve the quality of conversations and employee development over the course of the year, the report adds.
Organizations are celebrating life events to humanize the employee experience at work.
Creating a community celebration of life events at work - including getting married, buying a house or having a child - can help strengthen workplace relationships and employee connections, making organizations more attractive to potential and future hires. According to the report, employees are nearly two times as likely to agree their company is a good place to work when they are very or somewhat satisfied with how life events are celebrated in the workplace (64 percent), compared to those who are very or somewhat dissatisfied with the celebration of life events (35 percent).

"Continuous peer feedback and recognition, as well as a supportive feedback environment, have the power to help organizations drive employee growth and development," said Derek Irvine, vice president of strategy and consulting, Globoforce. "As our study shows, HR professionals are still dissatisfied with the accuracy of traditional performance reviews. Reward and performance strategies need to be reimagined so they help fulfill employees' basic human needs of appreciation and connection. Social recognition programs alongside more human-centered practices have the power to not only strengthen relationships between employees, but also employees' overall connections to the companies they work for."
Survey Methodology
* The SHRM/Globoforce Employee Recognition Report was commissioned by Globoforce and conducted by SHRM from Sept. 27, 2017, to Oct. 18, 2017. This is the sixth deployment of the survey since its launch in 2011. This edition of the survey was sent to randomly selected SHRM members at a manager level or above. The final sample of the survey was composed of 738 HR professionals who are employed at organizations with a staff size of 500 or more employees. The survey had a response rate of 12.5 percent and a margin of error of +/-4 percent. Results include responses from organizations in the U.S. across a wide range of business-to-business and business-to-consumer industries.
About Globoforce
Pioneer of the WorkHuman ® movement, Globoforce helps make work more human for millions of people and organizations worldwide. Its cloud-based social recognition and continuous performance development solutions help build award-winning cultures where employees feel more appreciated and socially connected at work - driving a sense of belonging and inspiring the entire organization to reach its full potential and achieve business success. Founded in 1999, the company is headquartered in Framingham, Mass., and Dublin, Ireland.
To learn more:
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Contact:
Shweta Agarwal
Senior Manager, Public Relations
(508) 229-1541
Shweta.Agarwal@globoforce.com

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SHRM/Globoforce Survey Insights -- Press Release

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SHRM/Globoforce Survey Reveals Human-Centered Approaches in the Workplace Help Organizations Better Recruit and Retain Employees FRAMINGHAM, Mass. and DUBLIN - January 24, 2018 - HR leaders are using human-centered approaches in the workplace, which may help resolve retention, recruitment, and culture management challenges, according to the 2018 SHRM/Globoforce Employee Recognition Report.