By Chief Maker Executive Development Academy

When 1-on-1s aren’t done right, they can in fact have a negative impact. If leaders don’t prioritise these meetings, if they cancel, delay, turn up unprepared or don’t follow a set process, individual team members don’t feel valued, they start to lose interest and motivation and they certainly don’t bring that discretionary horsepower that is being stored away inside. 

All high performing teams have a culture in which feedback is welcomed, tough conversations aren’t avoided, and counsel is sought. The best way to achieve this is with regular, well prepared 1:1s providing uninterrupted time to truly invest in each member of the team. 

Not sure where to start with these meetings?

Here’s a 4 step process called COPS to help get you started.
 

1. CHECK-IN

Don’t dive straight into business. Start by checking in on health, personal development and career goals. Take the first 10-15 minutes to ask a few questions and then listen to their story. Create a connection and establish some context. Over time, this will give you a better understanding of what they’re going through and you’ll be better placed to pick up signals from them when things aren’t going so well. 

2. OPERATIONS

Next, run through their day-to-day deliverables and check in on their performance against annual and monthly targets. Are they across everything? Are they on target for achieving their goals? If there’s a chance they’ll miss any KPIs, work together to develop a plan to help them achieve it. You don’t want their annual performance review to come as a shock, so this is your opportunity to keep them on track. 

3. PEOPLE

Now it’s time to talk about stakeholders, customers and people who report to them, and see how their EQ and relationship-building is going. Are they connecting with and influencing the right people? Are they motivating their team to help deliver results? Remember, you’re leading by example with these regular 1:1s, so in essence you’re demonstrating exactly what you need them to do as well. 

4. STRATEGY

Lastly, review the key business improvement projects that they’re leading to help execute the company strategy. Are they on track personally? What challenges are they facing? And how can you assist in helping them to work more efficiently and productively?

Just remember…

  1. Be prepared and be present. Demonstrate to your people that you’re taking this seriously.
  2. Create a solid agenda. Use it to track action items and progress, which you can revisit again and again.
  3. Don’t cancel. Regularity is everything.

With regular and consistent 1:1 meetings your people will feel like a truly valued member of the team, they’ll be more focused on key projects, and they’ll deliver results for the business. 

Better yet, by embedding these 1:1 meetings into your company culture, you’ll be leading by example, teaching your future leaders the importance of communication, feedback and trust when coaching and developing people.

 

Chief Maker Executive Development Academy

Chief Maker is a global professional development company specialising in leadership and executive excellence. Trusted to create high-performance teams and inspiring leaders, their flagship MiniMBA equips leaders with the toolkit to navigate change, drive growth, and inspire excellence.