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Are Your One-on-Ones Working?

Keith Tatley
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What are your one on one meetings with your employees doing for you? If you’re not walking out of your one on ones feeling that you’ve made major progress then you may be wasting your time with your employees.

The Secret Ninja Manager trick is that it’s not just about you, the other half of an effective one-on-one meeting is your employee. That’s why I have a Best Practice 1 on 1 Template, plus (free) training for you and your employee.

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What should you be getting from your One on One meetings?

It seems pretty obvious on the surface - One on Ones are a chance to catch up with your employees. But the great managers know how to get even more from their one-on-one meetings such as:

  1. Confidence and Peace of mind that you’ve taken care of almost all of your management duties in one go

  2. Great relationships & communications with your employees because One on Ones build relationships. Regular one-on-one meetings practically force you to have better communications

  3. High productivity and growth: Each one on one meeting helps to keep forward momentum. But it’s also a chance to grow your employees through delegation and coaching

  4. Awareness & Prioritization: Do you know what your staff did last week? Do you know what they’re planning to do next week? Are your staff working on your priorities or are they wasting time working on the wrong things? In my one on one template (which includes a one on one meeting agenda) I’ve got sections for all of these

  5. Your time back because One-on-One meetings done well are a super efficient way to manage staff. You also avoid those annoying unscheduled interruptions. Plus prioritization is the best way to save time

If your One-to-Ones with staff are lacking any of the above, then I bet that you (and frankly your employees) feel that they are a bit of a grind. The great news is that it doesn’t take much to fix it.

Why one on one Meetings with Employees go wrong

So why do one on one meetings go wrong? It’s simple, it’s like cooking because without a recipe or training how to cook bad things will happen. Sure most people can make something that resembles food but there is a massive difference between a professional and someone trying their best without any help.

And that goes just as much for your employees as it does for you. I know when I had my first one on one meeting with my boss that I didn’t know what to do. I did get better over time but it’s only when I decided to find out the best practice that I realized what I was missing out on.

WHAT NO ONE SHOWED YOU ABOUT ONE ON ONE MEETINGS

Did anyone show you how to run a one on one meetings? No one showed me and so when I started managing I just kinda made it up as I went along. And this is what most bosses do because running a great One on One Meeting is a Manager Skill that they just don’t teach you in school. That’s why I made a free, online course so you don’t have to make the same mistakes that I did.

Improve your Manager Skills with 3 Steps to easy 1 on 1's. 

3 STEPS 2 EASY 1 ON 1S WITH YOUR EMPLOYEES

So by now I’m sure that you can see that the way to have kick butt one on one meetings is obvious:

  1. Upskill your own one on one meeting practice by learning best practice and using a recipe (which is simply a Best Practice  1 on 1 Template)

  2. Upskill your own employees so that you get what you want from them in your one on one meetings

  3. Put it into practice

It really is that simple. If you’re looking for one on one meeting best practice and one on one templates, I’ve created a helpful free guide for you and your employees:

Comments:

Do you have any tips, questions or comments about managing employees or one-on-one meetings with employees? Please help the rest of us out by sharing in the comments below.