4.29 min
A one-on-one session with your manager.
As employees, it's often difficult to ascertain how you feel about these meetings.
To prepare or not to prepare?
To ask or not to ask?
Plagued with such questions before the meeting, one-on-one sessions usually become the source of an employee's nightmare.
The good news here: there is a silver lining amidst this chaos.
You can leverage these sessions to improve productivity and escalate your growth.
With the past years contributing to around a 13% increase in the number of meetings, it does raise a question as to why we should retain one-on-one meetings.
And it has a simple answer.
Although one-on-one meetings are considered to be a regular check-in between an employee and their manager, it is so much more than that.
An opportunity to:
So, it's high time that we start painting these one-on-one sessions in a positive light. Ben Horowitz, investor A16Z and former CEO of Opsware, in fact, insist on making it a part of an organisation design.
"....one-on-ones provide an excellent mechanism for information and ideas to flow up the organisation and should be part of your design."
Not only that, as the ideas flow up, employees get recognised and appreciated for their initiatives and contributions.
However, at the end of the day, it is all about how you use that dedicated space to extract constructive feedback and relevant action items.
But don't worry, we are not going to leave you alone on this journey.
We are going to bring a plethora of tips and tricks at your disposal to help you ace these one-on-one meetings.
First of all, the motive behind one-on-one sessions is not to put you up for scrutiny. Organisations are doing this to build more transparency and a greater flow of communication in their workspace.
But who doesn't want to be the best version of themselves in a professional setting? And we understand that.
So, here are a few best practices that will help you play your cards right.
A stiff conversation is hardly going to be a productive one.
So, while digging into the meeting agenda is important, you need to create a comfortable atmosphere where words can flow easily.
This will also help you cement a strong interpersonal relationship with your manager that makes working together easier on both fronts.
And there are numerous questions that can help you initiate a healthy conversation:
Ask these questions, and your manager will be happy to engage you with his insights and it will set the tone for the rest of the meeting as well.
While it's one of the safest ways to play, it's also the most unproductive when you want to explore relevant development opportunities.
Bronwyn Smith, Former VP of Business Operations at Influitive feels that it is very important to understand the agenda in advance.
“If you are not careful, 1:1s can end up being status updates. Or the manager can take over the meeting. This isn’t their purpose. It’s important to make sure the employee and their needs stay front and centre.”
This is the time to brainstorm ideas, remove roadblocks, discuss sensitive topics, resolve difficult conversations, align your individual goals with the team goals, and raise any discussion that you think is going to help you improve your productivity.
So, there are a few no-no questions that you should politely redirect:
As these meetings are often few and far between, make sure to have a meaningful conversation with your team leader instead of focusing on project updates.
Before a one-on-one meeting, it is important to be prepared with a list of questions, and areas where you want some clarity.
But to be a valuable asset for the company, you'd want to be known as the problem-solver too.
While you're being helpful by pointing out the hurdles, you will be a significant resource by projecting potential solutions to avoid them.
For example, let's consider a situation where we're facing a delay in a critical project. How do you handle a situation like that?
Question - What factors are currently impeding progress on the project?
A potential solution - In analysing the situation, I believe reallocating resources or seeking additional support from relevant teams could help mitigate delays.
Additionally, revisiting the project timeline to identify bottlenecks and implementing process improvements could accelerate progress.
By combining questions with potential solutions, we can actively participate in problem-solving discussions during one-on-one meetings. This approach demonstrates our ability to think critically and contribute valuable insights that align with the company's objectives.
Organisations keep one-on-one meetings as an initiative to boost employee engagement and help employees align their professional goals to those of the organisation.
But it is not a chore that needs to be completed. It is the perfect time to address the biggest challenges, discuss key topics, address career goals, and project your growth mindset as an individual contributor.
And even the minutest initiatives can contribute to the success of one-on-one sessions.
So, make sure to:
Giving your best in a one-on-one meeting is just another way that demonstrates how you contribute as an employee. Your dedicated time and competitive skills are what help an organisation grow.
And total rewards are how an organisation acknowledges and appreciates your contribution.
At HireSure, we aim to disrupt the world of total rewards planning with CompUp, a cutting-edge solution powered by real-time compensation data.
With its user-friendly interface and comprehensive features, CompUp streamlines the process of analyzing compensation trends, adapting to industry changes, and developing strategic plans to drive employee motivation and career growth.
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