Six Ways To Make One on One Meetings More Valuable

John Powell
Aug 9, 2017 · 4 min read

The one on one meeting is a golden opportunity for managers to positively engage employees, yet many do not take them seriously or even meet regularly with employees.

I once went several weeks without having a one on one with a manager. For various reasons, but mostly there was some “crisis” or important something or other that took priority. Sometimes I would tell him I had nothing important to discuss, so I would ask to cancel, thinking his time is so valuable that he has better things to do than stare across his desk at me.

I look back on this and think what a waste.

What a waste of precious time for myself and my manager to both engage and learn and grow as professionals.

One on ones typically get scheduled because, in theory, it’s a good way for you and your manager to regularly stay in sync. In reality they are often too short and not structured enough to engage either party in a way which benefits both professionally and for the good of the organization.

The one on one is typically a 30 minute meeting where you discuss pressing issues the employee may need assistance with or to bring the manager up to speed on new developments. This is not a bad thing, but there are much better ways to spend this valuable time with your employee.

Here are my top six suggestions:

  1. Before scheduling, propose an agenda and review it with your employee. This is not to say, dictate everything you want your employee to report on each week. Rather, use it as a starting point to figure out what is important for both of you. This can include hot agenda items, but it should also give the employee a voice as to what they want to hear from you. Something I always appreciated is hearing from my manager about top management concerns, regardless of whether it directly impacted me. What is weighing on them and important to the business that might make me, the employee, approach or think about something differently?
  2. Schedule a one on one each week for at least 45 minutes to an hour (an hour is preferred). Treat these like GOLD. Do not cancel under any exceptions (unless you or the employee are out of the office of course). Have the guts to tell your boss (and others) that you have another meeting to be at if you are already in a meeting when it’s time for the one on one. In fact, let your own manager know up front how valuable these meetings are. If they do not support you in this, that is unfortunate and may say something about the culture of your organization.
  3. As the manager, own the meeting. Schedule it and be responsible for rescheduling if necessary. Asking the employee to schedule sends a signal that you are not that invested in meeting or in the employee themselves.
  4. When meeting, close your laptop, turn off your phone and listen. Too often, managers are multi-tasking and become scatterbrained when the employee is trying to discuss something which he or she feels is important. One former manager of mine would probe and ask questions about issues I was bringing up and it was not uncommon for us to move to the whiteboard to help problem solve. These sessions left me feeling positive and engaged about my role and value within the organization.
  5. Because you meet each week, there may be times when there are few or no ‘hot topic’ items to review and you have a lot on your plate, so it would be a good time to cancel. See item #2. Use these times to work proactively with your employee. Take a few minutes and simply ask how things are going. Bring up something you are noodling on and ask your employee what their thoughts are. The point is to engage them. Employees feel appreciated and appreciated employees are more committed to working hard and doing great work.
  6. Periodically review pre-set goals with the employee to make sure they are progressing and the goals are still relevant for the work they are doing. This helps in two ways. One, you are staying on top of goals which also impact your performance. Everything rolls up the chain, so why would you not want to make sure your team is meeting the goals you committed to the organization? Second, it’s easier to handle end of (quarter, year) reviews, because you already know where things stand. You can better use review time to focus proactively on the employee and their career.

One on one meetings can be difficult to keep because managers may have multiple employees. If you have five direct reports, this is five hours of meetings every week, which may weigh on you because as a manager you are constantly being pulled in different directions. If done correctly however, these five hours can be the stimulus to helping you be one of the most productive managers in the group. Committed employees will pay dividends on that time tenfold through their output, creativity and enthusiasm.

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Thanks!

John Powell

Written by

Product guy and seeker of new things in life

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