Can't imagine building an org without them (and I've been building startup orgs for 30 years, so back in the bad old days I didn't do them - and it wasn't good). Whether it's en exec team if I'm CEO or a tech team if I'm CTO or similar, I do 30 minute weekly 1:1's with each of my direct reports. It's not about agendas or progress or anything else. It's the 30 minutes they get to ask me stuff. If it gets quiet, I'll ask things. I might ask how their cat or spouse is doing, how they're feeling, what's the most interesting challenge they had this week, where they'd like to see themselves in 3 years in their career, how their cello lessons are going. I'll ask what questions they have about the business strategy or the recent re-org. Whether they think it was right to avoid Elixir on the new service (which I know they wanted to play with), asking them questions about onboarding, training and support costs so they can get a deeper appreciation for the trade offs.
It's a different vibe depending how much work experience they have, but you meet them where they are. Even if they know this is the thing you do to reduce regrettable attrition, it doesn't mean you can't both have fun with it :)
In addition to loyalty and alignment, it helps me to map their career goals to our business requirements and means I seldom get a surprise in terms of performance or regrettable attrition. And I find even with extremely self motivated individuals who don't "need" help, it pays back in terms of loyalty, trust and alignment.
I really liked the article this week. I don't currently run "weekly" one-on-one meetings with my direct reports as I am leading a geo-distributed organization. Instead, I spend extended time with them in person and meet site leaders when I am in town, such as having dinner for a couple of hours with each individual when we are physically together. Of course, ad hoc virtual one-on-ones can happen upon request. This allows me to really get to know them, not just on the surface, but also on a personal level, including their families, frustrations, and career thoughts.
In my opinion, it's never just about having a touch base. While not having weekly virtual one-on-ones and touch bases is an issue, my biggest concern is whether regular 30-minute weekly meetings are more effective than less frquent yet long 1-1s. I believe that converting these into longer, more in-depth in-person conversations on, say, a monthly basis might be more beneficial. I'm not saying this approach is inherently better or worse, but I feel that if our goal is to build a personal connection or help someone grow, 30 minutes is usually too short and in person is better. This has led me to debate whether we should have longer one-on-ones less frequently or continue with weekly touch bases.
Can't imagine building an org without them (and I've been building startup orgs for 30 years, so back in the bad old days I didn't do them - and it wasn't good). Whether it's en exec team if I'm CEO or a tech team if I'm CTO or similar, I do 30 minute weekly 1:1's with each of my direct reports. It's not about agendas or progress or anything else. It's the 30 minutes they get to ask me stuff. If it gets quiet, I'll ask things. I might ask how their cat or spouse is doing, how they're feeling, what's the most interesting challenge they had this week, where they'd like to see themselves in 3 years in their career, how their cello lessons are going. I'll ask what questions they have about the business strategy or the recent re-org. Whether they think it was right to avoid Elixir on the new service (which I know they wanted to play with), asking them questions about onboarding, training and support costs so they can get a deeper appreciation for the trade offs.
It's a different vibe depending how much work experience they have, but you meet them where they are. Even if they know this is the thing you do to reduce regrettable attrition, it doesn't mean you can't both have fun with it :)
In addition to loyalty and alignment, it helps me to map their career goals to our business requirements and means I seldom get a surprise in terms of performance or regrettable attrition. And I find even with extremely self motivated individuals who don't "need" help, it pays back in terms of loyalty, trust and alignment.
Well said!
I really liked the article this week. I don't currently run "weekly" one-on-one meetings with my direct reports as I am leading a geo-distributed organization. Instead, I spend extended time with them in person and meet site leaders when I am in town, such as having dinner for a couple of hours with each individual when we are physically together. Of course, ad hoc virtual one-on-ones can happen upon request. This allows me to really get to know them, not just on the surface, but also on a personal level, including their families, frustrations, and career thoughts.
In my opinion, it's never just about having a touch base. While not having weekly virtual one-on-ones and touch bases is an issue, my biggest concern is whether regular 30-minute weekly meetings are more effective than less frquent yet long 1-1s. I believe that converting these into longer, more in-depth in-person conversations on, say, a monthly basis might be more beneficial. I'm not saying this approach is inherently better or worse, but I feel that if our goal is to build a personal connection or help someone grow, 30 minutes is usually too short and in person is better. This has led me to debate whether we should have longer one-on-ones less frequently or continue with weekly touch bases.