One Crazy Trick For Great 1:1s
The title is clickbait, but it's also true. You probably have one-on-one meetings ("1:1s") with supervisors and subordinates regularly. But are you and your counterparts getting real mileage out of them, or are they just another meeting to attend?
Andy Grove, in High Output Management, has a great approach to one-on-ones. Grove devotes a few pages on how to effectively conduct these meetings. He calls them one of the best applications of managerial leverage available, because the subordinate goes off and uses an hour's input for a week or two of actions. He notes that they're not for simple every-day problems, but for mutual education and helping subordinates work through deep challenges.
What can make them so effective is the promised "one weird thing":
Having the subordinate in the relationship prepare an agenda and send it to the supervisor ahead of the meeting, preferably the day before.
Why is this so powerful?
First, consider a usual case: if both people just show up to talk about whatever's at hand, the meeting turns into a rehash of the day's firefighting, and both people walk away feeling that the meeting wasn't valuable. And they're not wrong! Then the meeting recedes in importance to other, more pressing issues. Has that ever happened to you?
Preparing an agenda makes the subordinate the true owner of the meeting by preparing and articulating its direction and focus. He or she can review current performance indicators, deeper business issues, and identify potential problems or needs that he wants to discuss with the supervisor. In turn, it gives the supervisor time and opportunity to be ready for a productive coaching, learning, or engagement, or builds awareness that there may be other discussions coming up.
Further, it's an opportunity for the subordinate to demonstrate critical thinking about the business in a collaborative setting; to take ownership of career discussions at a regular interval; and to be proactive about addressing things that may not have a regular outlet otherwise. It's otherwise too easy to put off meaningful discussions and leave issues unaddressed until they become problems.
I've done this as both a supervisor and as a subordinate, and the meetings with this kind of preparation were always more productive and reached topics that wouldn't have otherwise come up.
Give it a try - if you're the supervisor, ask for an agenda, and if you're the subordinate, prepare one - and watch your one-on-ones become more meaningful and productive!
Feel free to contribute other techniques and approaches in the comments.
For a useful and portable book on being a great supervisor, check out my book Practical Floor Supervision. For more on performance management techniques in a distribution setting, take a look at Practical Performance Management. Enjoy!