A Manager’s guide on how to conduct successful 1-on-1 meetings

1-1 meetings are a very common practice in most organisations and particularly in technology organisation. According to Camille Fournier, best selling author of the book “The Manager’s Path: A Guide for Tech Leaders Navigating Growth and Change”, 1-1 meetings serve 2 purposes for a Manager – 1) to connect with employees on a personal level and 2) to create a forum to discuss work related issues.

However, conducting 1-1 meetings is often a daunting task for managers and most spend the time discussing projects updates. I had a tough time figuring out what outcome should I expect from 1-1 meetings both as an employee and as a manager. I tried seeking guidance from peers and my managers. I also researched for the perfect recipe to conduct 1-1 meeting through books, academic publications (likes of HBR), and industry leaders such as Google, Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, Spotify, etc.

I found a lot of suggestions, recommendations and best practices, and I tested them in the hundreds of 1-1 meetings I had both as an employee and as a manager over the past 10 years. In this post, I have distilled my framework for conducting effective 1-1 meetings and once you finish reading, you, as a manager, will be well on your way to conducting better 1-1 meeting that will benefit you and the employee as well.

1. Goals of 1-1 meetings

The first step in conducting effective 1-1 meetings is to establish goals. Ask yourself – What do you as a manager hope to get out of these 1-1 meetings? How could that translate into benefits for the employee you are meeting with? Here are 5 goals that I believe every manager should have when conducting 1-1 meetings:

1. Build trust and establish a more personal communication medium. This helps employees trust manager and realise that he is well supported.
2. Create a safe place to discuss issues (both personal and work related) openly. The purpose of this goal is to enable the employee to share issues that are affecting his/her work.
3. Jointly work on employee career development. This enables employees to set goals and get support in achieving their goals.
4. Get a pulse check of the team, get reflections, and understand problems. Employees can have a private space to ask for support in resolving conflicts, process issues, blockers for team, etc.
5. Communicate and align strategy such as product vision, direction, etc. This enables employees to get feedback and better align on overall organizational vision and strategy. It also guides employees in understanding what and how to prioritize work.

2. Set expectations for future 1-1 meetings

Once you have a sense of the key outcomes you want to drive from the 1-1 meetings, the next step is to discuss these goals with the team members and get feedback from them. I have found the first 1-1 meeting to do just that. It not only helps you set the expectations of the 1-1 meetings, but also helps you get feedback on what the employee wants out of these meetings. One additional benefit to doing this in the first meeting is that it helps you build trust in the process with the team and gives them the assurance of the value they can derive from these meetings.

After setting the expectation for the future meetings, you can go ahead and schedule regular 1-1 session with your team members. However, I have expereinced some best practices and practical while conducting these meetings. I describe these in the next step as guidelines or recommendations.

3. Guidelines for conducting 1-1 meetings

Now that we understand our 1-1 meeting goals and have established/aligned these goals with the employee, its time to actually have these regular 1-1 meeting. These meetings need to be productive and at the same time beneficial for both the manager and the employee.

Here are some guidelines to help you effectively conduct the 1-1 meetings and steer the conversation.

• Schedule frequent 1-1 meetings and send calendar invites: I strongly recommend blocking recurring time slots in each of the team members’ calendar. The frequency of the meetings are typically dependent on the size of the team you manage and priorities. The default frequency is a weekly 1-1 meeting of 30 mins. If you manage a large team more than 10 people, then perhaps a biweekly or a monthly might be more feasible. However, make it recurring and don’t cancel unless it is really unavoidable.
• Always start on a positive note: Starting on a positive note, with a praise or appreciation or share a “win”. This is a great way to start as it creates a positive energy for the rest of the discussion.
• One central goal per meeting: Although you could touch upon all the goals in every meeting, I recommend you have once central goal for each meeting. Communicate your central goal in advance and aim to spend atleast 50% of the 1-1 discussing that goal. This way each 1-1 could briefly cover all the topics but still have an indepth discussion of one specific topic.
• Ask open ended questions and uncover the root of the problem: This is where you could really wear your coaching hat. In the book The Coaching Habit, author Michael Bungay Stanier suggests kickstarting with an open ended questions such as “What’s on your mind?” in order to invite people to get to the heart of the matter and share whats important to them. However he also suggests, to refrain from immediately getting into answering or helping mode immediately. Team members may leave many things unsaid to perhaps avoid difficult conversations. So instead dig deeper to continue unearthing to reveal the root of the problem.
• Show gratitude & support: End the 1-1 also on a positive note, by expressing gratitude and/or an offer of support. A simple “thanks for sharing openly” would suffice. It shows that you value the employee.
• Have the goals in mind but be flexible: Finally, a structured 1-1 meeting can help you steer the conversation more effectively and efficiently. But be flexible. If an employee wants to spend more time of a specific topic because she considers it important, give her the space.

4. Things to Remember

Do..

• Set expectations and get feedback early on.
• Start 1-1 with a positive note.
• Keep a tab on professional development goals, actions, and provide support.
• Listen concerns, uncover the central issue, and only then provide feedback or solutions.

Don’t..

• Cancel 1-1 meeting unless absolutely unavoidable
• Forget to show gratitude and support.
• Be inflexible on the agenda.
• Just focus on project updates.

These tips and guidelines have helped me improve my 1-1 meetings drastically and have received a lot of positive feedback to back it. This is not to say that I have mastered the art. I’m definitely still learning and trying to be better. So if you have any tips, thoughts or things that you do that has give you great results please do let me know in the comments. Also, would love to hear what is your 1 big take away from this post.

Here’s wishing you a better day tomorrow!