One-on-one meetings are important and they should handled in a way that does not make your team feel sigh, but rather excited to express their thoughts. When the time comes closer to a performance review session, it gets even more important to conduct one-on-one meetings which can help to analyze team strength and individual thoughts of each person from your team. The managers who can handle one-on-one meetings well are more in sync with their team members.
What is a One-on-One Meeting?
One-on-one meetings are basically the meetings that take place between a manager and an employee. Therefore, it is more like a conversation that ranges with various topics starting from the concerns at the workplace to career progression and others. It is an opportunity for the managers to show that they are present for their teams, supporting each member. It has many benefits, such as,
- Helps to gain deeper insights about the team members and determines the team strength.
- Establishes managers and team leaders as trustworthy supporters.
- Embraces psychological safety and instills trust and loyalty in the team.
- Helps to improve work relations and brings more transparency.
How to Conduct One-on-One Meetings?
If you are wondering how to conduct a one-on-one meeting with your team, here are a few avenues you need to focus on.
1. Setting the Schedule for the Meeting
You need to schedule the meeting before conducting it and the planning should be made a few days before. Make sure to do it at a regular cadence so that the team members can be prepared. Somewhere between 20 to 40 minutes is good for a one-on-one meeting and since you need to attain other members as well, it is better if you schedule a slot for everyone.
2. Defining Meeting Agenda
Keeping a meeting agenda can help you set the purpose and tone for the meeting. While many employees might consider these meetings as unnecessary vanity exercises imposed by management, having an agenda is like setting objectives to discuss certain matters. Make sure to determine the critical points you need to talk about before the meeting.
3. Progression in One-on-One Conversation
One of the important focal points of a one-on-one meeting is to catch up where it ended last time. Focusing on the work-related areas, as a manager, you can shed more light on the areas of professional development and personal growth. When you ask your team members about such progression, it shows that you care and you listened carefully and remembered what they said last time. When there is a constant progression with every meeting, it establishes consistent growth among the employees.
4. Utilizing Feedback
Constructive feedback is highly important for growth and learning from own mistakes is the best way to do that. As a manager, you need to highlight the critical areas and share your feedback which offers more room for improvement for the employees. Constant implementation of support and resources is also required in the process. Reinforce positive ideas and attitude which also reflects on the employees.
5. Building Rapport
One-on-one meetings are one of the greatest mediums to instill more candidness in the workplace where employees can spontaneously participate in business meetings and suggestions without worrying about it. It offers a greater chance to understand how each team member feels and helps to address their concerns through the meeting.
Why do One-on-One Meetings Fail?
Now that you know how to conduct a meeting, it is time to focus on what can lead such meeting to a fail.
- People are different and not every employee does it the same way.
- When the Manager complaints without showing the right path.
- When the manager takes the lead without trusting their own team.
- Defensive behaviors and boundaries.
Conduct One-on-One Meetings efficiently to foster more authentic relationships at the workplace.
