Effective One-to-Ones

Do you do one-to-one's? If not, why not? I believe the simple process of checking in on your people can be one of the most powerful tools in your arsenal. A must have in any leaders toolkit.

In a detailed study featuring two Fortune 100 companies, the Microsoft Workplace Analytics found that “.... the average manager spent 30 minutes every 3 weeks with each of their employees.  Perhaps unsurprisingly, employees who got little to no one-on-one time with their manager were more likely to be disengaged. On the flip side, those who get twice the number of one-on-ones with their manager relative to their peers were 67% less likely to be disengaged.”

Effective regular one-to-ones can drive employee engagement within a company culture. And employee engagement has a measurable and quantifiable impact on a company’s success. A study by Gallup, a leading global analytics firm has “…discovered links between employee engagement at the business-unit level and vital performance indicators, including customer metrics; higher profitability, productivity, and quality; lower turnover; less absenteeism and shrinkage, and fewer safety incidents. When a company raises employee engagement levels consistently across every business unit, everything gets better.”

So how do we start? One-to-ones take time and investment, and the more your teams grow the more your investment will increase. Each manager will have their own individual style for engaging with their team but there are some practical tips which will help ensure the success of your one-to-ones.

RESPECT THEIR TIME!

It is essential each meeting is scheduled and recurring. Your team member will benefit from knowing when each one-to-one will take place and where. Cancel a one-to-one at your own peril as this will inevitably serve to disengage your team. It tells them they are not important to you and you do not feel it worth your time to invest in them. Be predictable and reliable and if you do need to reschedule communicate this clearly with your team member. This will build trust in you and in the one-to-ones. It will lead to more open and honest conversations and build a sense of value and purpose for your employee, all adding to their employee engagement.

A SHARED PLAN

One-to-ones are for the benefit of both your team member and you, so having a shared plan on the format of the meeting will ensure you are each making the most valuable use of this precious time. Have a shared agenda where you both can add points of note in advance.

Decide in advance if you want the one-to-one to focus on work, career progression or for opening up. There is no reason why each meet cannot be a combination of all those things, but having clear focus going into each one-to-one will ensure you get the most out of the time spent and engage fully with your team member.

FEEDBACK IS FUEL

This goes both ways. Show you are willing to receive feedback as well as providing it. Well-intended feedback which is specific and backed up with evidence can serve as fuel to drive a team member’s performance. Avoiding opportunities to give and receive feedback may be easier in the short term but in the long run it does a disservice to you both by not letting either of you grow and progress.

BE CURIOUS

Ask questions! Lots of questions… Prompt discussion by asking open-ended questions and listen carefully to their responses to get a sense of what they are really saying to you.

How is your most recent project going? What can I do to help? How are you feeling about your goals set this year? Who do you like working with most? What can we do together to help build your career progression with us? What do you love most about your job right now? What is frustrating you that you would like to improve? What motivates you?

Do not be afraid to ask personal questions about how they are feeling. Is there anything that might be impacting them outside of work? How do you feel about your work-life balance? How are your family/kids/pets? Have you done anything fun at the weekend recently? And share stories with them, this will help build better and deeper relationships. During this time of social distancing, every human interaction makes a difference, and your one-to-one check-ins are essential to ensure the overall health and well-being of your team.

Ultimately you know your team best, and you will tailor your questions to suit their style and comfort. Open questions will allow for deeper discussions to really get to the heart of the person, their hopes, and ambitions and what might be holding them back from achieving them.

OWNERSHIP AND ACCOUNTABILITY

Conclude each one to one by going over what has been discussed. Have you set any new goals or objectives? To drive success in any new goal there needs to be accountability. How do they plan to action these new goals? What timeline will they set to ensure these goals are hit? Can they set dates there and then? If not, why not? Do they see any blockers which will hold them back from achieving these goals? How will they measure success and how can you as their lead help them to achieve success? Is there training the company can provide to help achieve their goals?

Each one to one should end with clear next steps and who is accountable to each next step.

Having effective one-to-ones is the key to success, both on a personal level and also for the company. In order to have effective one-to-ones you need to get into the mindset of becoming a coach for your team. It’s on you to empower them so that they can be truly and successfully engaged.