Are you making the most of your 1:1's?

Traditionally 1:1's are meetings between a manager and a member of their team. This was used as a means of the manager keeping up to date with progress on work. This has grown and changed so much in the last few years. I have found 1:1's to be one of the best ways to get to know each person in my team. This was the prefect time to understand the individuals worries, concerns as well as successes. This was also a time where you can coach your member of staff to make subtle changes and check in again in the next 1:1.

By understanding someone, you also build trust that they will come and speak to you before issues become larger. This gives you the chance to support them when they need it, with time to work with them on a possible solution.

It's much easier to resolve something that's small then try and resolve something that grown and become a crisis. That is why it's always good to understand their whole life. If you think about it if you don't know their partners been made redundant or their parent is seriously ill, how will you know that they're struggling to focus or burning the midnight oil to just keep up. Sometimes a persons lack of due diligence or patience is due to things happening around them and regular 1:1's is a good way to keep up to date.

In the time after Covid, I found staff struggled with their mental wellbeing, due to feeling isolated, struggling with working from home and juggling home responsibilities . These discussions are difficult to have if your member of staff doesn't feel there's a safe space to talk, be heard or a solution that can be worked on together.

In my previous organisation I used a HR product called CultureAmp. The reason for mentioning this, that there are tools out there or you can create a simple solution to keep on top of what's going on and help to open up dialogue. The application provided you with an opportunity before the 1:1 for your team member to report their well being on a scale so it was quick to get a feel on a person's stress level and mood. Let them direct some of the agenda by identifying items to discuss and giving them an opportunity to write what is going well or not. This meant even a 30 minute discussion was helpful to both of you, as genuine concerns are dealt with and easier to make sure are discussed. Being open and providing notes that are shared is also helpful in building trust.

Tips

• Make sure you leave time outside of the 1:1 in case a discussion needs expanding

• Make notes and share these including any agreed next steps

• Discuss work as well as getting to know their personal circumstances

• By getting to know them you also discover their strengths and weaknesses so can coach and support them

• This process takes time so don't rush, only once the person trusts you will they be open

• Though you might be time constrained sitting in a quiet time even for 30 minutes and listening to them will be good for both of you