I have a team of seven. Doing weekly 1:1s with everyone would take a significant amount of my time, so I decided to do them monthly instead. I usually keep the conversation short to 30–40 minutes and, whenever possible, do it face-to-face in the office, to keep these conversations as rich and honest as possible.
Early on, I noticed something: Some 1:1s started to feel like a monthly status report.
"I finished this. I worked on that. This project is delayed."
That's useful information—but I don't think a 1:1 is the best place for it.
Then I have the following fixed agenda plus any open topics brought from both sides:
- How are you really doing? Is everything fine?
- What's the achievement?
- Where are you getting stuck?
- What do you need from me?
- What are goals for the next 1:1 meeting?
If it's effective, 1:1s are a space for managing up. It's also a chance for team members to give me feedback, challenge my decisions, tell me what isn't working, and help me understand what I might be missing.
How do you use 1:1s to achieve with your manager or your team member?
This is part of my "100 Days of Year One" series. Follow along as I share what I've learned in my first year as Head of Data and Cloud.