9 Habits That Lead To Outstanding One-On-One Meetings
Struggling with one-on-one meetings? You’re not alone: The biggest challenge managers have with one-on-one meetings is providing value to their reports, according to a report by Hypercontext.
“Having a running agenda, inviting constructive feedback on your management style, having career advancement conversations, offering constructive feedback to your direct reports, letting them know that you care about their life outside of work, and asking open-ended rather than closed-ended questions are all examples of habits that are essential to having outstanding one-on-one meetings,” according to leadership development coach and consultant Tajan Renderos.
That’s a lot of things to think about at once, so here are nine practical habits to embrace for outstanding one-on-one meetings.
1. Have a meeting agenda
“Show up with an agenda and make sure both parties are prepared to discuss the topic at hand,” says Kathryn Montbriand, former Fortune 500 leader and Chief of Staff and Executive Coach at Montbriand Services, LLC. Make sure that both you and your report can contribute to the agenda ahead of time, and that you have enough context and time to prepare for a productive discussion.
2. Stay consistent
Montbriand also recommends holding your weekly one-on-one meetings around the same day and time. Having a consistent schedule creates less admin work for everyone involved – and it’s also important as far as trust and morale.
“Having one-on-one time with a leader can be a big deal and is something that people will plan and prepare for ahead of time. Associates will save up questions and ideas for their short conversation with you, so treat it like the special opportunity it is,” she says. “Don’t move the meeting, don’t show up late, don’t come in and talk about something else ‘more important’ that is on your mind.”
3. Be fully present
You also want to be fully present and engaged. “Do bring your full attention to the conversation – silence your notifications, turn off your email, and close your laptop if you are in person,” adds Montbriand. “Don’t allow interruptions unless it is truly an emergency. I have noticed that Apple watches or similar devices grab someone’s attention with every notification for at least a few seconds. It likely isn’t even noticeable to the wearer, but as the other party it can be jarring to have the conversation stop and start as your partner checks in and out.”
4. Respect the timing of the meeting
Respecting the timing of the meeting is also important: Start and end on time. Don’t assume that the other person can go over and keep talking as the meeting is set to end, says Montbriand: “This can be very stressful if one needs to get to the next conversation.”
5. Don’t get straight to business
Even though a lot of stellar one-on-one meeting habits are about how you deal with business, you don’t want to be all business, all the time. “Start meetings with a bit of personal connection. Jumping right into the ‘meat’ of the conversation can be jarring, especially if you are coming off the heels of another meeting. Taking a minute or two to check in as people and reset gives your brain a chance to prepare for the next big topic,” according to Montbriand.
Renderos says that turning one-on-one strictly into work meetings is a common mistake – focus on genuinely checking in and creating an opportunity for trust and relationship-building instead.
6. Give specific feedback
Feedback is an important part of one-on-one meetings too. “Receiving specific, honest feedback makes people feel satisfied with their work. This is supported by a recent Gallup study that discovered employees who received detailed, constructive feedback had a 14.9% lower turnover rate than those who received no additional feedback beyond what relates to their daily tasks,” according to Roberta Moore, EQ-i Coach and author of “Emotion at Work: Unleashing the Secret Power of Emotional Intelligence.”
This is especially important in remote and hybrid work environments, where “putting structured feedback practices in place to provide both meaningful and effective appreciative, developmental, and evaluative feedback is even more critical than in face-to-face settings,” according to Moore. “This means schedule those one-to-one meetings with direct reports, up their frequency, and do not cancel them when other work demands creep in. Making these priority signals to employees that you are making them a priority,” she says.
If you have to deliver negative feedback, make sure your message comes through in a sensitive manner. To be tactful and effective, Moore recommends asking your report’s perspective on their work, showing appreciation for what they did well, making sure they know you have their back, and also ensuring that they understand the key takeaways of the feedback.
7. Get constructive feedback
Feedback should go both ways. “Coaching style questions like, ‘What would better support from me look like?’ create a way to solicit constructive feedback from your direct reports without them feeling uncomfortable about it,” says Renderos.
8. Discuss career development
Another habit to embrace for outstanding one-on-one meetings is prioritizing the career development of your team. “You do want to have career advancement conversations with your direct reports, and then you want to do everything in your power to ensure that any advocacy required for the role or team transitions becomes your mandate – and that you create a strategy and work plan for that,” adds Renderos. In other words, show you care and follow your words with actions.
9. Schedule smartly
Finally, don’t underestimate the simple habit of scheduling your one-on-one meetings strategically. “If you are scheduled for back-to-back meetings, try to adjust the start time to be five minutes past the hour or half hour. That will give you a chance to stand up, get a drink of water, and take a mini-break between conversations. This is more effective than trying to end early because meetings never seem to wrap up early,” according to Montbriand.
She also suggests scheduling your one-on-one meetings when your energy is best suited for them so you can hold space for your team properly: “If mornings are spent solving production issues, schedule one-on-one conversations in the afternoon when your day is more relaxed and you can be present. If you have the most thinking time on Fridays, schedule development conversations for that day when you know your mindset will be clear and you will be ready to help your team grow. ”
