Note: This article is the first in a four-part series on the tools managers can use to become highly effective leaders.
- The second article is on feedback.
- The third article is on coaching.
- The fourth article is on delegation.
In the fast-paced business world, the role of a manager is crucial to the success of the team. A recent study compilation performed by WifiTalent found that companies with effective managers have 27% higher profitability. But what exactly makes a manager effective? For new managers, how do they reach the level of greatness they aspire to? For veteran managers, how can they improve their game to continue to foster high performing teams?
By looking at great leaders like Bill Gates, Jack Welsh, Charles F. Kettering, Lane Sloan, Tom Watson, and Henry Ford certain themes of great management begin to appear.
These themes are:
1. Great managers know their people exceptionally well.
2. Great managers communicate constantly about performance.
3. Great managers repeatedly ask for improved performance.
4. Great managers grow organizational capability.
Just knowing that these themes are important is not enough. Consider that the same WifiTalent compilation indicates that 69% of managers feel uncomfortable communicating with individual contributors and 33% of teammates dread meeting with their manager. This indicates that managers also need ways to put these themes into action to create positive results. For each theme, there is a corresponding actionable equivalent:
- If managers want to know their people exceptionally well, they need to have one-on-ones.
- If managers want to communicate constantly about performance, they need to be good at giving feedback.
- If managers want to ask for improved performance from their direct reports, they need to be able to coach.
- If managers want to grow organizational capability, they need to be able to delegate.
This article will do a deep dive into one-on-ones, what they are, why managers should do them, and what is the best approach to having them. The goal is to help inform new managers of this great tool while giving veteran managers bolstered confidence by providing context into why it is effective.
What are One-on-Ones?
One-on-ones are personalized meetings between a manager and a teammate. The meeting fosters open communication, provides feedback, and addresses any issues or concerns that may arise. The goal of the meeting is to create better relationships, which is important when only 36% of employees in the US feel they have a strong relationship with their manager. The meeting allows the manager to understand the teammate as an individual and the teammate to have a platform to communicate with the manager about things that are important to them.
Why have One-on-Ones?
The reason to have one-on-ones is to build strong relationships. Managers build strong relationships on a foundation of trust and build trust on a foundation of communication. Weekly properly structured one-on-ones provide both the frequent communication and quality communication that is necessary for relationship building.
Quantity is how often a manager talks to a teammate. In our personal lives, we can see who our best friends are, our strongest relationships, by looking at the frequency of our emails, texts, and phone calls. The same idea applies here.
Quality is the amount of value the communication gives to the participants. For a manager to create a strong relationship with a teammate, they must communicate regularly about issues of interest to the teammate.
In a 2022 paper by Sachin Suknunan and Anrusha Bhana called, “Influence of Employee-Manager Relationship on Employee Performance and Productivity”, one of the key findings was that a positive relationship with a manager is closely linked to increased motivation and performance. The importance of one-on-ones really becomes clear when combining this data point with two others from WifiTalents. Consider that only 32% of U.S. employees are engaged at work, with poor management being a leading cause, and companies with engaged employees outperform those without by 202%.
This means that managers need to have strong relationships with their teammates. Strong relationships make those teammates more engaged at work. More engaged teammates lead to better performance. This explains why managers who know their people exceptionally well create better results.
Here is another way to look at it. To get the most out of a team, every teammate must close the gap between where they are and their potential. A manager can only help a teammate close the gap by knowing the teammate’s individual strengths and weaknesses. To know a teammate as an individual requires having a strong relationship.
For managers that want to have superior results they need to build strong relationships and one-on-ones are a proven method for creating these relationships.
How to Have a One-on-One
Based on the goal of building strong relationships through one-on-ones, here is the recommended approach to doing them.
Scheduling and Frequency
The recommended frequency of one-on-ones is once a week for thirty minutes with each teammate. These scheduled meetings should be recurring on a calendar. By committing calendar time for the one-on-one, the manager is communicating that the meeting is important, that the teammate is important. It is ok if the one-on-one must move occasionally. Remember that the meeting is about relationship building and the scheduling signals a willingness to invest.
The recommended frequency, once a week with each teammate, is to ensure the quantity of communication required for strong relationships. It is impossible to build a strong relationship by talking with someone for thirty minutes once a month. Consider that a report from O.C. Tanner found that monthly one-on-ones decreased burnout by 34%, but bi-weekly one on ones decreased it by 84%. The frequency is important.
Structure
The recommended agenda for a one on one is ten minutes for the teammate, ten minutes for the manager, and ten minutes for the future. Keep in mind the agenda is a tactic to preserve and protect the strategy of building the relationship. The agenda serves the purpose of the meeting, not the other way around. Managers can be flexible with the agenda if they adhere to the goal.
10 Minutes for the Teammate
During the teammates section, the teammate gets to talk about whatever they want. This means that the teammate may talk about work or may not and that is ok. What the teammate chooses to talk about is an indication of what is important to them.
The recommendation is that managers always start one-on-ones with the same open-ended neutral question, “How’s it going?” This is to help a manager avoid skewing the meeting into just another status update.
The first time a manager does a one-on-one the teammate may go over their time and even use the full thirty minutes and this is ok. If they repeatedly go over their time, the manager should work with the teammate to help them be more concise. The manager should gradually move the teammate down from thirty minutes to twenty and then from twenty to ten.
10 minutes for the Manager
During the manager section, the manager gets to talk about whatever they want. The only caution here is to approach this time in a way that does not cause the teammate to start talking only about work. The manager should address any changes in the teammate if it is a departure from how they normally act. For example, a teammate who normally talks about their personal life starts giving status updates during their section to preempt the questions the manager will ask in the manager’s section. The manager will get their time to ask their questions, the teammate should not be sacrificing their time to talk about what the manager wants to talk about.
10 minutes for the Future
Getting into the weeds of the day-to-day operation is where one-on-ones spend most of their time and that is ok. The point of this infrequently visited section is to remind the meeting participants to raise their heads up occasionally and see where they are going. It is a chance for the teammate to reflect on where they want to be one year from now. It gives the manager a chance to consider succession planning and retention. The manager can also use this section to coach the teammate by checking in on how they are progressing against their growth goals.
Location
One-on-ones are meant to be private meetings. The goal is to build strong relationships and sometimes this means sharing personal and potentially embarrassing information. The participants need to have access to a space where they will feel comfortable sharing this information. A meeting room, office, or even a cubicle with high enough walls meets this requirement. If the manager and teammate are not co-located, a phone call, Zoom meeting, or Skype session is fine as long as both people have a space where they can talk freely.
Wrapping Up
Scheduled, well structured, one-on-ones have proven to be an effective ways for managers to build strong relationships with their teammates and improve the overall teammate experience. Revisiting the O.C. Tanner report from 2020 we see that the odds of teammates being highly engaged increases by 430% and that the teammate’s sense of leadership and experience improve by 432% and 226% respectively. Based on these numbers, it is easy to argue that one-on-ones may be the most important meetings a manager can have during a week. Managers need to make time for them.
For folks looking for more information regarding one-on-ones I highly recommend the Manager Tool’s podcast on the topic.
Note: This article is the first in a four-part series on the tools managers can use to become highly effective leaders.
- The second article is on feedback.
- The third article is on coaching.
- The fourth article is on delegation.
