Why & how effective leaders have consistent one-to-one meetings
Employee engagement increases lead to improved retention, increased productivity, higher levels of customer satisfaction and growth in both top line revenue and bottom line profit.
Not only that, holding consistent one-to-one meetings:
● Ensures frequent, comfortable communication
● Builds rapport between you and your direct report
● Provides opportunities to air business concerns
● Improves engagement by making every employee feel valued
But consistency is only the first key to a great one-on-one meeting. Effective one-to-ones follow nine steps to maximize meeting efficiency. Those nine steps are illustrated in this infographic.
How do you make the most of every step in this meeting? Try out these conversation starters.
Conversation Starters for Each Step
Here are some conversation starters you can use, some samples to give you an idea of how your conversation might flow.
Just be sure to “stay in the moment” and don’t let these conversation starters become a robotic script. Every one-to-one meeting is a human-to-human engagement. Keep it real, keep it on track, and keep it focused on the development of your direct report.
Step by Step:
1. Set a Regular Time
“Let’s plan our 1-to-1 meetings for the next 6 months. I’m committed to these times and I hope you are, too.”
2. Eliminate All Distractions
“My phone and email will be turned off during our 1-to-1 meetings. We can also meet in a space other than my office so there will be no interruptions. I want all team members to respect each other’s 1-to-1 time.”
3. Prepare to Coach
“Tell me something of value that you learned in this past week.”
“What recent activities have been moving you closer to your personal development goal?”
“What would you like to do next to develop new skills and experience?”
4. Create Opportunities to Collaborate
“I’m interested in hearing how you might tackle a challenge like this one.”
“Let’s brainstorm together and see how we can expand on our ideas.”
“I know how we’ve done this in the past, but I’m always interested in how we can continually improve. Since you’re closest to this work, what are your recommendations for doing things differently?”
“I’ll be delegating this to you but plan to stay involved as you learn…”
5. Start With a Progress Check on Previous Action Items
“Let’s review the action items we committed to at the end of our last 1-to-1 meeting. I said I would ____, and here’s my status update…”
“How are things coming along on the action item you committed to?”
6. Provide Balanced 3W feedback
“I noticed this month that you were on time each day with your demand forecasting. That really helps us to set pricing targets and to communicate with our colleagues. I appreciate this effort and would like to see you continue consistently delivering those numbers on time each day.”
7. Inquire About the Needs of This Direct Report
“What could I be doing to help you accelerate this project?”
“How do you feel about some additional mentoring or coaching on this?”
“Is there anything I’m doing that gets in the way of your peak performance?”
“Tell me more about the struggles you’re having with the sub-committee.”
8. Agree on Action Items, Accountabilities, Deadlines
“My action item is to track down that data so you can use it for your analysis. I will have that to you by the end of the day today.”
“You’ve committed to reach out to ___ for some additional information. When will you be able to do that and then follow up with me?”
9. Connect on a Personal Level
“How is the family?”
“Any opportunities lately to get back out there and do some hiking?”
“How are you feeling about your work/life balance these days?”
Note: Connecting personally is often neglected in favor of getting down to business. But the benefits of personal engagement cannot be overstated. For more tips about re-allocating your time so you can conduct these kinds of one-to-one meetings, read this article.
If you want to maximize employee engagement in your meetings AND in the workplace, always invest time in making a connection with your employees. Acknowledge them as people — not just as workers — to exponentially increase your effectiveness as a leader.
When you’re ready to begin with one-to-one meetings and other people practices that boost employee engagement, let us know how we can help. For more tools and techniques that will strengthen your leadership effectiveness, sign up for this free e-mail training course from People First Productivity Solutions.
About the Author: Deb Calvert has worked as a Corporate Director in a Fortune 500 company and as a consultant, coach and trainer to nearly 400 businesses of all sizes. Deb is a certified executive coach, and a Top 50 Sales Influencer. She is Certified Master with The Leadership Challenge®, conducting workshops and coaching to help liberate the leader in everyone.
