{"id":4759,"date":"2019-10-10T21:18:45","date_gmt":"2019-10-11T04:18:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/knowyourteam.com\/blog\/?p=4759"},"modified":"2024-07-12T12:32:25","modified_gmt":"2024-07-12T19:32:25","slug":"the-5-mistakes-youre-making-in-your-one-on-one-meetings-with-direct-reports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/2019\/10\/10\/the-5-mistakes-youre-making-in-your-one-on-one-meetings-with-direct-reports\/","title":{"rendered":"The 5 mistakes you’re likely making in your one-on-one meetings with direct reports"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Don’t waste your time. Make sure you’re getting the most out of your one-on-one meetings with your direct reports. <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"One-on-one<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019re feeling good: You\u2019ve started to hold regular one-on-one meetings with direct reports. But have you paused to ask yourself, lately, \u201cAm I making the most of them?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The question is worth asking. One-on-one meetings with direct reports can have a surprisingly<\/em> large impact on your team\u2019s performance. In Google\u2019s widely known 2009 manager research code-named \u201c Project Oxygen<\/a>,\u201d they found that higher-scoring managers were more likely than lower-scoring managers to have frequent one-on-one meetings with their team members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our own survey results revealed a similar narrative: After surveying 1,182 managers and 838 employees from all over the world this past year, 89% of managers said that one-on-meetings positively affect their team\u2019s performance\u200a\u2014\u200aand 73% of employees said that one-on-one positively affects their team\u2019s performance, as well. For both managers and employees, the majority of them think of quite highly of one-on-one meetings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, let\u2019s zoom in on these numbers. When you look at our own survey we conducted, there\u2019s a differential between the perceived effectiveness of one-on-one meetings. More<\/em> managers (89%) seemed to believe that one-on-one meetings positively affected their team\u2019s performance than employees (73%) did. In fact, the difference between the two is significant\u200a\u2014\u200a16 percentage points!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This suggests that while both managers and employees seem to find one-on-one meetings as positively affecting a team\u2019s performance, there\u2019s a gap in perceived effectiveness between the two. Managers seem to think one-on-ones are going a whole lot better than employees do. Despite all the time and energy, we\u2019re investing in holding these one-on-one meetings, it\u2019s likely that employees themselves aren\u2019t benefitting from one-on-one meetings much as they could.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And so, as we ask ourselves the question, \u201cAre we making the most out of our one-on-one meetings with direct reports?\u201d the answer is, \u201cProbably not.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Based on the research we\u2019ve done around one-on-one meetings over the past few years, the data from Canopy<\/a> we\u2019ve collected in working with over 30,000+ people, and countless interviews and anecdotes shared in our online leadership community, here are the 5 biggest mistakes we often make as leaders when it comes to one-on-one meetings\u200a\u2014\u200aand what we should do instead to get more out of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\nLooking for more detailed guidance on one-on-one meetings?<\/strong>\nMake sure to check out our 1:1 module in Canopy.\n<\/div>\n
\nLearn more<\/a>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Mistake #1: You reschedule your one-on-ones often.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The other day, I was looking at my calendar for the week and saw I had a one-on-one meeting with a direct report scheduled on Wednesday. \u201cOh man, not this Wednesday,\u201d I thought to myself. That was a particularly stacked day, and, boy, was I tempted to reschedule the one-on-one meeting. I almost did\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then I remembered: If I canceled or rescheduled this one-on-one meeting, what does that say to my direct report about how I value hearing her perspective? When you do something consistently, it shows that you value it. If you\u2019re not serious about something, you don\u2019t do it regularly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also thought, \u201cIf I postpone the one-on-one by a week, what meaningful information from that particular moment in time might I miss?\u201d Most managers hold one-on-one meetings every single week<\/a> because it helps establish a pulse of how the other person is feeling. When you\u2019re meeting one-on-one every week, you have a baseline for where someone is at, and what the red flags are when they waver. Postpone or cancel the meeting and you forgo part of that pulse. In fact, Gallup found<\/a> that employees whose managers hold regular meetings with them are almost three times as likely to be engaged as employees whose managers do not hold regular meetings with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, this doesn\u2019t mean you\u2019re never<\/em> allowed as a manager to reschedule a one-on-one meeting (e.g., an important meeting comes up, you\u2019re out of town). Understandably, we\u2019re all busy. Merely realize that our busy-ness is a threat to a big part of what makes one-on-one meetings so effective: Their consistency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mistake #2: You\u2019re 100% sure what the purpose of a one-on-one meeting is.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTell me the latest on X\u201d or \u201cWhat\u2019s going with Y project?\u201d If you\u2019ve ever uttered those phrases during your one-on-one meeting with a direct report, you\u2019ve unfortunately made a grave error \ud83d\ude42 This is because we often misconstrue what the purpose of a one-on-one meeting is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The purpose of a one-on-one meeting<\/a> is not<\/em> to get a status update. Rather, the true purpose of an effective one-on-one meeting is to unearth feedback, issues, and concerns within the team. In our survey of 1,182 managers and 838 employees, we found that 46% of managers and 28% of employees both saw the #1 purpose of a one-on-one meeting as \u201cuncovering potential issues.\u201d Wobbly team dynamics, unforeseen customer glitches, frustrating negotiations with partners, unnerving observations in the market\u200a\u2014\u200athese are the issues a single one-on-one meeting can uncover. Rarely do you get the opportunity to talk about this stuff, otherwise. Focus your one-on-one on uncovering these potential problems and issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mistake #3: You never seem to carve out enough time to prepare ahead of time.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In our recent survey we conducted of 1,182 managers and 838 employees, we found 36% of employees believe their manager is only \u201csomewhat prepared\u201d\u200a\u2014\u200aand 40% of employees think their manager is \u201cnot prepared\u201d or \u201cnot prepared at all.\u201d Woof. We have some work to do! As managers, we\u2019re woefully underprepared for our one-on-one meetings\u200a\u2014\u200aand as a result, we\u2019re severely hurting our chances for our one-on-one meetings to be as effective as they could be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Preparing for a one-on-one meeting with direct reports can take as a little as 15 minutes, and involves three main steps:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. Review the latest meeting <\/strong>and relevant status updates about what your direct report is working on. This way, you don\u2019t waste valuable time during the meeting getting up to speed.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Pick 1\u20133 focus areas and brainstorm 5\u201310 questions you\u2019d like to ask. <\/strong>The most useful one-on-one meetings tend to focus on one or several of these areas: Feedback, Issues\/Concerns, Career Direction, and Personal Connection<\/em>. (You may want to check out Canopy<\/a>, which offers training and agenda templates around these focus areas.)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Calibrate your mindset. <\/strong>A one-on-one meeting is a vital time to listen. You\u2019re not kicking off or delegating new projects, you\u2019re not defending decisions or espousing the team\u2019s vision\u200a\u2014\u200ayou\u2019re there to figure out where your direct report is at, mentally and emotionally, and where they want to go.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    You can read more about how to prepare for a one-on-one meeting as a manager, here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mistake #4: You never ask for your direct report\u2019s input on the agenda.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    One of the biggest, most common mistakes we make as leaders is forgetting to get input on what the one-on-one meeting agenda should be, ahead of time. After all, the one-on-one meeting isn\u2019t just your<\/em> meeting\u200a\u2014\u200ait\u2019s your direct report\u2019s meeting, too. You want them to feel bought into the process, that they have a real stake, and that you\u2019re not just trying to interrogate them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    As a result, a best practice that\u2019s utilized by many members in our online leadership community, is to collaborate on a shared agenda for the one-on-one meeting ahead of time. In Canopy<\/a>, we have a One-on-One tool that makes it very easy to this\u200a\u2014\u200abut you can also use a shared Google Doc to kick off a shared agenda. Here\u2019s an example of an email you could send to your direct report to ask them for their input on the one-on-one meeting agenda:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    Hey [EMPLOYEE\u2019S NAME],<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I\u2019m really looking forward to our one-on-one meeting later this week. I took the liberty of kick starting an agenda for the meeting\u200a\u2014\u200abut would love your input on what topics we should discuss.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Feel free to add the topics you\u2019d like to discuss here: [LINK to Google Doc]<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Thanks! [YOUR NAME]<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

    Mistake #5: You ask, \u201cHow can I help you?\u201d during your one-on-one meetings.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    You might be thinking, \u201cWait a minute, Claire. I ask this question, \u2018How can I help you?\u2019 all the time. How is this possibly a bad question to ask?\u201d Well, it is for several reasons. And trust me, I\u2019m guilty of asking this question as much as you are. Learning how counterproductive this question is surprised me as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    First off, the question \u201cHow can I help you?\u201d is enormously intimidating to an employee. There\u2019s a reason that 9 out of 10 times that you ask it, that the other person says, \u201cHmm nothing I can think of right now.\u201d It\u2019s because you, as the boss, are putting pressure on the other person to critique your job. You\u2019re giving them no parameters, no direction, as to what kind of feedback or critique you\u2019re looking for\u2026 And so your direct report will often think the safest response is no response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Secondly, asking \u201cHow can I help you?\u201d puts a burden on the employee. You\u2019re asking your direct report to do the heavy lifting of figure out how you<\/em> should be doing your job better as a leader. There are plenty of better questions you can ask\u200a\u2014\u200aquestions that, no doubt, require a little more thought ahead of time to come up with. For example instead of asking, \u201cHow can I help you?\u201d try asking:<\/p>\n\n\n\n