One on Ones: Your Key to Management Nirvana

December 4, 2016 Keith Tatley

Let’s face it, being a boss sounds glamorous but the reality is that it can be a real pain in the butt. Chasing up deadlines, dealing with disputes and being responsible for the work of every member of your team. Being a boss is a hard job. And we are just getting started. When are you meant to find the time to do your own work?

The single easiest management practice is regular one on one meetings with staff. Do one on ones right and not only can you can take care of almost all your management responsibilities in one go but they will also deliver you to manager Nirvana . It almost seems too good to be true – which could be why some managers don’t believe in them.

But Only When They Are Done Right

The reason why not every manager believes in one on one meetings with staff is because not every manager knows how to do fast, high quality one on ones. As with anything in life, do it wrong and you're simply not going to see the results. But do it right and one on ones will change your life and deliver you to management nirvana.

But the Problem is That No-One Teaches You How to do One on Ones

And the reason why bosses and employees have poor one on ones is simply because no-one shows you how to have high quality one on ones. I know none of my my bosses every taught me this skill and clearly no-one ever showed them either. What I do with Manager Foundation is that I show you the real world boss skills that you need but they don't teach you in university. That's why I made a mini-course on one on ones which will show you 3 Steps 2 Easy 1 on 1's. (The course includes a one to one download with one to one form)

What I expect you'll find is that you already know some of the content on some type of level but maybe you're not putting it into practice. This course will help. As I say this is essential for new managers and helpful for experienced managers. This mini-course is sponsored by Boss Camp.

What Goes Wrong Without Training

You see when bosses and employees aren't trained how to have high quality one on ones a lot of things go wrong, such as one on ones:

Waste time,
Don't produce the results you wanted,
Employees come unprepared or with the wrong expectations,
Employees are apprehensive - nervous, resistant or confused,
You miss out on all of the positive benefits.

This means that bosses and employees end up hating one on ones and stop doing them.

What Are Some of the Signs Your Need to Work on Your One-on-Ones?

Now I'm a big believer in one on one meetings with employees because I've seen the positive results. In fact I believe that not only are they recommended, they should be compulsory. But I understand that not everyone sees the world in the same way and so the first thing to figure out is if one on ones can help you. Here are some questions to ask yourself:

Do you ever feel that you're not sure what your employees have done or are planning to do?
Do you feel that your employees aren't committed and/ or you can't 100% count on them to go the extra mile for you and stay and be loyal?
Do you ever feel that your employees do strange things and you're not exactly sure of why they acted the way they did?
Or does it feel like your employees don't seem listen to you?
Do you ever feel like your day at the office is one interruption after the next with little time to do your own work?

If you feel like any of the above are more familiar than you'd like then doing one on one meetings with staff right are going to change your life.

One on Ones Are Where You do all Your Other Management Duties

The reason why one on ones are so effective is because they are like a little communication bucket. So you get to all of your other management responsibilities in one go. Like Performance Communication, Delegation, Development - to name the most frequent.

One on Ones Also Build Functional Relationships

But there is a little known fact about one on one meetings with staff. And that is regular, high quality one on ones build great functioning relationships between bosses and employees. And because functional relationships are so important to work happiness and productivity, this alone is enough reason to do one on ones.

Just a Few Reasons Why Doing One on Ones Will Take You To Management Nirvana

So those are just a few reasons that one on one meetings with staff will take you to Management Nirvana. I could tell you more about why they work so well, but by doing the mini-course 3 Steps 2 Easy 1 on 1's I'll show you how they work so that you can see for yourself. The course is heaped with best practice like how to conduct a high quality one on one meetings with employees and what are the essential topics to cover.

3 Steps 2 Easy 1 on 1's

(Includes a one to one download with one to one form)

This short course has 3 Steps to Easy One on Ones:

Step 1: Do Your Theory
The first step is for you to find out about the theory in this mini-course. Whether you are a new manager or have years of experience this mini course has heaps of good practice which will make your one on ones run fast and achieve fantastic results. This should take you under an hour.

Step 2: Train Your Employees
The second step is to train your employees and get their buy in for one on one meetings. That's because your employees are the other half of successful one on ones. Don't worry this won't take you any time because I have a free course for your employees. P.S. I also have a great Secret Ninja Manager Trick for you which will make training your employees work so much better

Step 3: Practice
The 3rd step is to put it into practice. Because managing is a practice. You do the work and you get the results. This is a bit like going to gym because when you workout, you get results. But you're lucky because with one on ones there aren't any pushups or burpees.

Comments:

What's your experience with one on one meetings? Do you have any questions, comments or tips? Please share them in the comments below.