Regular one-to-one meetings with your employees are one of the best things you can do as a boss.

There’s absolutely no better way to drive accountability, provide motivation, and ensure things are going as expected, than to regularly sit down for a more intimate conversation. 

This is why smart bosses prioritise one-to-one meetings. 

And they do so with a clear framework for how to get the best from from them.

Without one, this golden opportunity just becomes another sleepy, wasteful meeting that could have otherwise been an email. 

Take Advantage of the Opportunity.

There are countless reasons many one-to-one meetings (or any meeting, for that matter) fall flat before they even begin:

• No clear purpose

• No agenda

• No action, just talk

• No one talking except the manager

• No objectives

• No incentive

• No next steps

• No regularity

If you’re not putting much effort into your one-to-one meetings, or not holding them at least monthly, you really won’t get much out of them.

But these more in-depth conversations provide the perfect forum for you to check in on your team, discuss what’s working and what’s not, maintain accountability and discuss any performance related issues.

Instead, here are 4 ways to start getting the absolute most out of your one-to-one meetings:

1. Let them do much of the talking

The best way to empower an employee is to allow them to hold court in a private meeting with their manager. This is a chance for them to talk about: 

• Personal goals 

• Ambitions

• Challenges they encounter on the front lines

• Challenges they anticipate 

• Ideas for improvement

• Development, training & skill gaps

Establish a safe environment to share open dialogue. Be empathetic to their feelings and listen to their suggestions. 

The more openly you can communicate, the better your relationship with your employee - professionally and personally.

2. Objectively assess their performance

Now it’s your turn to do the talking. 

When it comes to managing performance, its important to have agreed expectations/results already in place for your employee. What is it that is expected from their role? What does success look like, and how can you measure it?

Once you have clear expectations in place, the performance review simply becomes a matter of going down the list of:

• Which targets or expectations are being met?

• Which are not?

• What is needed to address the ones that aren’t.

Unless you’ve clearly outlined what is expected from a role (and therefore the team member performing it), you have nothing to assess their performance against. It then becomes a matter of your opinion.

That’s when conversations feel uncomfortable...

3. Plan for the month ahead

To get the most from the one-to-one meeting, ensure it ends with immediate, actionable steps: 

• Priorities to work on

• Training to complete

• Challenges to address

Come up with a plan together, document the steps required and set a firm date for your next one-to-one meeting one month from now (highly recommended interval).

Regular, monthly meetings are also great for accountability - a month goes by fast.

4. Make the meeting fulfilling, but concise

While we’d all love an open, productive conversation to go on forever, put a cap on it (continue after work over drinks, if you must).

Create an agenda for your one-to-one meeting and allot a specific time for each topic. Then, use a timer (yes, really) to keep the meeting moving forward and on topic. 

Work time is valuable and meeting fatigue is real, even if your meetings are generally productive. 

Nothing cancels out a productivity-filled conversation like turning a 30 minute meeting into a 90-minute chit chat.   

It's all about seeing eye-to-eye

The uniqueness of a one-to-one meeting is the chance to connect on level ground. 

As an employer, making one-to-one meetings a priority gives you an unmatched opportunity to strengthen the core of your business: your people.

Like any relationship, the stronger it gets, the more you look forward to that time together. 

Click here to book a FREE 30 minute call with us to discover how we can help you improve your effectiveness as a leader and structure more meaningful meetings with your team.