Unlocking the potential of 1-on-1 meetings
Stop having boring status updates that everyone hates and start having career-changing conversations!
Having 1-on-1 meetings is one of the fundamental activities for anyone in management or leadership positions. Even though the legendary CEO of Intel, Andy Grove, described these meetings in depth many years ago, we still have a significant problem getting them right as the industry.
If that weren’t the case, you wouldn’t hear so often about people claiming that 1-on-1s are a waste of their time (from both managers and reports).
Let’s learn more about the benefits of 1-on-1s, investigate the common problems with these meetings and what to do instead.
And to make it even simpler to adapt best practices - I will share the template for having awesome 1-on-1-s!
What makes 1-on-1s truly valuable?
The truth is that 1-on-1 meetings if done right, can be truly transformative:
For reports:
getting coaching
discussing (career) growth
discussing opportunities for promotion
getting feedback about your current work
bouncing off your ideas
understanding what is going on in other teams/departments
suggesting improvements regarding your team or the entire organization
answers to any questions you might have
connecting with your manager on a personal level
For managers and leaders:
building a full picture of what’s going on in the team(s) you manage
opportunities for providing mentorship and coaching
helping solve ongoing problems
getting feedback about your work as a manager
connecting with your reports on a personal level
maximizing their own output - at the end of the day, the output of the manager is the output of their reports
As you can see, there is nothing about status updates, and for a good reason!
And that’s quite a lot of points to cover. Way more than you could often fit in just 30 minutes! Looks quite different from a meeting that is a “waste of time” during which “there is nothing important” to discuss, right?
Now that we know the benefits, let’s look at some anti-patterns of 1-on-1s.
The common anti-patterns of 1-on-1s
Here are some anti-patterns of 1-on-1s that are very common and that probably everyone in a management/leadership position was guilty of at some point:
Using 1-on-1s for status updates
If 1-on-1s turn into a discussion about status updates, it’s indeed a waste of everyone’s time. This is not even worth discussing in a dedicated meeting as it should be clear from whatever tool you use for project management. Or from everyday casual conversations.
Unless there is something special about some ongoing initiative, you would ideally not discuss this at all during 1-on-1s.
Not having agenda
This is a big issue on both the manager’s and the report’s side. No agenda not only means there is nothing significant to discuss (which makes it questionable if it’s even worth having this meeting), but it’s also impossible to the other party to prepare for this meeting.
Coming unprepared
If there is a clear agenda for the meeting some reasonable time in advance, like one day before, coming unprepared is just disrespectful. Of course, there might be some topics that will require way longer preparation, but at least you should know this before the meeting.
Thinking that 1-on-1s are mostly for managers
It’s a common misconception that 1-on-1s is a meeting that is needed mostly for a manager to get some answers.
This couldn’t be further from the truth! At least if these meetings are not used for the status updates in the first place.
The reality is that the reports are the ones who could benefit from these meetings the most. And the role of the manager is also to coach them about how to make the most of this meeting.
Not having 1-on-1s frequently enough
This is a tricky part as what is “good enough” highly depends on the report. For some, the ideal frequency will be every week, for others maybe every 2 weeks.
There is a catch, though - to make the most of the 1-on-1s, there needs to be a connection and a relationship between a manager and a report. That not only takes time to develop, but it requires also frequent opportunities to build that relationship. That’s why it’s better to have more frequent and shorter 1-on-1s, rather than having a long meeting once per month.
Cancelling meetings often
This is more common when 1-on-1s are considered a waste of time. Still, the takeaway is that when 1-on-1 are done right, they are extremely valuable. If these meetings can be casually canceled often, it’s a clear signal there is something wrong with how they are run.
Discussing actionable things but never making anything about them
The meeting was apparently very fruitful and there are some interesting points to act on. That’s great! Assuming that you are going to follow-through and make sure the right actions are taken.
If there are lots of things discussed during 1-on-1s, but there is never any action taken afterward, then no wonder they are often considered a waste of time.
Applying the same structure and rules to all reports
This might sound counter-intuitive and even contradictory, especially since this article even contains a template. But here is a catch: a template is a template. That’s it. It gives you a solid foundation for a smooth start, but the structure is not set in stone.
It might work perfectly well with most of your reports, but you may need to adjust for others. Maybe for more junior reports coaching should become the focus of the meetings, but for more senior ones, an opportunity to bounce off some of their ideas would be the key part of the meeting?
As a manager or a leader, it’s your key responsibility to understand the other people and work best for them. Don’t assume that you can apply exactly the same thing to everyone and that it’s going to work well.
Template and structure of the meeting
Use this template to make the most of your 1-on-1 meetings.
The template structures the meeting around the following points:
Check-in
Wins
Challenges
Review of Previous To-do items
Agenda
Mentorship/Coaching/Feedback
To-do items
I’m personally a fan of spending a couple of first minutes on a basic check-in and having a casual conversation. It’s especially beneficial for fully remote companies where you don’t have a chance for random conversations and building relationships with other people that way.
Next, discussing some top wins and challenges since your last meeting works well for building the awareness on your side as a manager and it also gives your reports a chance to brag a bit and raise some concerns about upcoming challenges. Usually, these challenges will be the part of the agenda, but having a bit more structure like this is very helpful in my experience, especially for the future reference.
After that, it would be worth reviewing the outcomes of previous To-do items. It’s essential to make sure that you or your reports take action on what you discuss, so spending a minute or two to align will definitely be beneficial.
Agenda is the key part of the meeting - make sure that you prepare in advance and share this agenda with your reports. And also, make sure your reports also share their points well in advance.
Giving regular and possibly frequent feedback is a great practice - there is nothing worse than waiting with a bunch of comments 5 months after something happened during (bi)yearly performance review when it’s almost impossible to remember all the details. Also, it delays taking any necessary action, so having a fixed place in the meeting structure for this will be very helpful. For less senior reports it’s likely going to be the big part of all meetings.
And the last section is about To-do items - to note any necessary actions to be taken as the result of the meeting.
I would also recommend to rate morale of your reports and how you perceive their performance. It’s totally fine to use you subjective judgement. This can be extremely useful to observe long-term trends and anomalies. For example, a significant drop in morale and/or performance for a few consecutive weeks might suggest someone is on the path to burnout, which would require an immediate attention.
Wrapping up
Even though 1-on-1s are bread and butter for engineering managers and leaders, they are often executed very poorly.
But it doesn’t need to be that way!
Doing 1-on-1s right could be truly transformative for both parties:
for managers - to maximize the outcomes of their teams.
for reports - getting feedback about their work, bouncing off ideas, getting coaching, and maximizing chances of promotion
If this is not the case for you, give all these hints I provided a try and see how they work for you. And don’t forget to use the provided template!
Contact
You can follow me on LinkedIn. If there is anything you would like to discuss, just drop me a message!