How to have Great One-on-Ones

Subtitle: Leaders as Chief Conversation Facilitators

I was reading the proceedings for the 2004 OD Network Conference. Maria Seddio gave a presentation was called, ”Can Conversation be the Cure?” and said that leaders should be Chief Conversation Facilitators. I like the term and can’t think of a better use of a leader’s time than to improve corporate dialogue.

I’ve done several posts on the topic of improving dialogue in the last couple weeks. It’s so critical to the success of our businesses. Today, I am exploring one tool that can improve dialogue and execution: The one-on-one.

A couple of the larger companies I have worked for have had formal one-on-one processes. Few small and medium sized companies use one-on-ones, which is a shame, I think. One-on-ones are a valuable tool that I would like to see more companies using. And for we solopreneurs - how about one-on-ones with key clients?

What is a one-on-one?

A one-on-one is a meeting between two people to discuss current and future work. This is not a performance review, but rather a regular business discussion about the work. In many cases, it is a regular meeting between a manager and his or her employee, but one-on-ones can also occur between peers, team members, and customers and suppliers . The one-on-one lasts between 30-60 minutes and is held weekly, biweekly, or monthly. Topics of discussion typically include:

• Status of projects.
• Status of assignments and tasks.
• Barriers and roadblocks.
• Changes coming down the pike.
• Goals.
• Development plans.
• Reviews of new procedures or processes.
• Idea sharing.
• Other general Q&A.

What are the benefits of having regular one-on-ones?

• Improved clarity and focus for all parties involved.
• Faster identification and removal of roadblocks and barriers.
• Improved communication and relationships - better mutual trust and cooperation.
• Improved performance to goals.
• Improved execution.
• Improved focus on development and a greater likelihood to follow through with development plans.

What are the limitations of one-on-ones?

• They take time!
• Although one-on-ones are held regularly, they should not become substitutions for daily business conversations.
• One-on-ones are only as effective as is the conversation - it is open, candid, lively?
• When one-on-ones are put off and rescheduled, they lose effectiveness. One-on-ones need to be high on the list of priorities.
• Some issues and opportunities should be discussed with the entire team.

Are one-on-ones always leader initiated?

One-on-ones are often initiated my the leader, but it does not have to be this way. Some companies ask employees to take the initiative to schedule one-on-ones. I scheduled regular one-on-ones with a couple of my managers. Peers with interdependent processes should regularly hold one-on-ones (sales and marketing, operations and engineering, HR and training, etc).

Ways to make one-on-ones more fruitful, fun, and worthwhile:

1. Meet as often as possible and makes sense. When one-on-ones are spread too far apart, there is too much to cover and the conversation suffers.

2. Schedule one-on-ones for a regular time and day a week and try to keep the schedule. The regimen will ensure that more one-on-ones occur. Hold one-on-ones in a place with few distractions. A meeting room is often better than an office.

2. Establish a regular agenda with some time for ad hoc topics.

3. Take notes and send a follow-up emails to confirm what was agreed to. The email should focus on the assignments and agreements, not the nitty gritty of the conversation.

4. Come to the meeting prepared with the information you need to have a good discussion. Bring reports and examples. Try to resolve as much as possible at the one-on-one.

5. Both parties should ask lots of questions and be willing to share fully (as appropriate). If all you do is go over project and task status, the one-on-one will lack oomph and impact. Managers should ask about barriers, challenges, and ideas. Employees should ask for feedback, relevant changes and news, goal performance, upcoming opportunities, and ideas. Both should ask about how they can help the other succeed. Peers should share challenges and ask about ideas, upcoming changes, barriers, and how they can help each other succeed.

6. Periodically, the entire one-on-one should focus on development and career goals. While development may be discussed regularly, it is wise to dedicate some time each quarter to discussing career goals and development. While this may seem most appropriate for the manager/employee one-on-ones, it would be beneficial for peers to discuss their goals as well. Peers can often help each other broaden their skills and experiences.

7. Take time to brainstorm new ideas. Have fun with this! If sharing new ideas is a regular part of the agenda, both parties are more likely to come to the table with ideas to share.

If you are using one-on-ones, please drop a comment and share your best practices and words of caution. If you do not use one-on-ones, consider giving them a try to improve execution, dialogue, and business relationships.

And while I am talking about meeting effectiveness, just a reminder that you can still get a FREE copy of my Meeting Cheat Sheets by clicking here.

Comments

[Phil Gerbyshak]

I do one-on-ones with my associates as often as they request them: some weekly, some bi-weekly, and some monthly. I also weekly keep everyone up-to-date on the numbers they have so we don't have to spend time talking about them at weeklies unless they are outstanding or need improvement. Getting by is not what we use weeklies for.

What we DO use them for is:
1) Goal check-in - how are those goals coming we set now almost 5 months ago? Are you getting the opportunities needed to achieve them?

2) What's going well since our last meeting? A chance to brag about something I might have overlooked.

3) What needs improvement (personally or could be something I need improvement on or the team needs improvement on).

4) Suggestions for our next weekly meeting - we try to bring in experts from around our company so we can better understand what they do and so we can better serve their needs.

If you haven't guessed, I manage a Help Desk that is a single point of contact for all matters, IT and not, so it's important to know what can be done better, what's going well, and what the associates are interested in learning more about.

I don't see any other comments, so I'm curious if there are only 2 people who do weeklies, or if we're all so wrapped up in them we can't take time to breathe?

[Lisa Haneberg]

Phil: I know several of my readers who use one-one-ones so I thinkyou are right, people are too busy to breathe! Thanks for your thoughts!

[Philip]

Sorry to discover this two years late, but perhaps it's still worth commenting.

> Few small and medium sized companies use
> one-on-ones, which is a shame, I think.

Although an individual contributor, I like to read the advice that's out there for those who want to be excellent managers. However, it reassures me that you realize how little this particular piece of advice has taken hold, especially in small organizations.

The other day I mentioned to my peers that one aspect I've read about great managers is that they hold one-on-ones with each of their reports. In essence they sneered at this notion as hopelessly unrealistic. In referring to one-to-ones and other means of feedback as "babysitting," I fear they may have been reflecting the boss's attitude, and hence that of the whole eight-person organization.

That's a shame, but at least resources like this article give me one great idea of how to tell I've found a great manager when I'm interviewing my next one.

[Linda London]

I have one-on-one with my staff monthly. I also, have staff meeting monthly. I have staff in two different cities in North Carolina. One of the most amazing thing I find with monthly one-on-one, I have some employee's love it and others that just hate it. I try to make it fun and no have the meeting last for no more than an 1hour. I let the staff know we do not have to talk the hour about business, but we can talk about anything you want to talk about. Some of the one-on-ones do not last but maybe 15 minutes. How can I get these team member to have more input in our one-on-one sessions?
The other thing that amazes me is that I am required to have one-on-one session monthly, but my manager does not even have one-on-one sessions with me, even though I have asked for the feedback. I have however; set it in my Performance Goals for 2008,so I am thinking she will need to follow through. How can I get my manager on-board for one-on-one sesseion?

I like the one-one-ones with my staff, I have found that for the most part it is successful.

Thanks for giving me a chance to post my comments.