So I'll list some things that have worked in 1:1s and things that have not.
I also depends on where on the management spectrum your manager is. They are highly-technical and could be an "individual contributor" on the other end they are a glorified "project-manager." You can tell where my preference is, but there's equal advantages and disadvantages to each. One-on-ones are important because they provide a vehicle to discuss difficult topics in private with rapid-iteration. Such as those about your team, organization, the company, and your career that otherwise there might not be set aside time for. It can be a chance to bond with your team or your manager. It can be a way to align your team on initiatives and create better working relationship across your team and other teams or create relationships with upper management (from a report's view). *Worked:* Providing visibility about the company its initiatives that only your manager might have visibility into. Career advice and how to work in those goals into the day-to-day How to push an initiative with another team or help with interfacing getting connected with another team on a project Candid bi-directional feedback Mini-Agendas Shared notes Frequent Non-work banter High-level goals High-level technical discussion (not like a design review) What pressures is your manager shielding your from and how can you help or what can you shield your report from and work on as a team. Matching each other's conversational pace and preferences towards being wordy. (maybe they are introverted or extroverted, finding a middle ground if need be is important) *Not Worked* Cancelling, leaving early, infrequent, or irregular time schedules, too-short. Surprises, sometimes it's good to have a mini-agenda Soliciting project updates (is there no other time, really?) Having too many reports and not farming out 1:1s to TLs. I believe the ideal time-frame is weekly 45-minutes and one should have no more than 5-7 reports. Offering feedback, but prepending it with praise to try to 'soften the blow.' Repeating yourself / not being concise Not giving the other person a chance to speak or letting them speak too much (goes with introverted/extroverted point above). I thought I would also offer up a couple of useful articles too that essentially echo what I have said: The series on Managing-Up: https://hbr.org/2015/01/what-everyone-should-know-about-managing-up Also, http://workplace.stackexchange.com/a/32797 Regards, Dennis O. On Thu, Jul 7, 2016 at 2:47 PM, David Parter <[email protected]> wrote: > I just scheduled my monthly one-on-ones with the student staff... so this > is timely. > > Your question -- what should people know about > manager-and-worker-one-on-one meetings is very broad. > > My answers aren't complete, just what I am thinking of as I write them. > And I think that is really valuable for me as a manager to review why we do > one-on-ones and how they are conducted.. so thank you for asking. Hopefully > others can contribute and learn from this conversation. > > I think the most important answer, if you can only have one answer, is > what are the expectations (from both sides)? > > Getting more into it, first, on the expectations and implications/scope: > - What is the purpose of the meeting? > - What should each/all of the participants get out of the meeting? > - Is this going to be used in any way for performance evaluation, or any > other HR type action? > > I use regular one-on-ones with the staff for a couple of related purposes: > > - As a general check-in on how things are going. Not project specifics, > not a status report, all the other stuff. Note: these aren't specific > questions, just topics. How is work going? How's their workload? Working > with the rest of the team? working with others outside the team? training? > vacation? good stuff? problems? Communication with me (their manager) or > others? Anything particularly interesting that they have been working on or > learned as they worked? Any ideas for things we should change, improve, > look at for the future? Career stuff? new projects they are interested in? > > -Anything I (their manager) can improve or help with? > > - For some staff, follow-up on any particular performance or other > specific issues from past meetings > > I think it is very valuable to have regular meetings scheduled. Even > though I talk to most of the staff every day, having a set time that is > "our" time to talk about these things. It helps to have a scheduled time, > so I am not ambushing them, and they are not ambushing me. They can prepare > mentally, think about what they want to bring up, etc. > > --david > > On 07/07/16 16:22, Esther Schindler wrote: > > Once again I'd like your input. I like to think the subject is interesting > enough that you'll enjoy responding. > > This obviously isn't networking-related, but it certainly is germane to > techies. Or, really, to anyone who works in a corporate environment. > > I’m writing a white paper that aims to give advice to creative workers > (and to software developers in particular) about how to do one-on-ones > well, in a way that benefits everyone (manager, employee, company… heck, > the whole world). Fortunately, this isn’t a short piece, so I have some > room to spread out. And I'd like your input (privately or publicly). > > The key question: What should people know about manager-and-worker > one-on-one meetings? > > What do you wish your manager or employees had understood? What did you > appreciate when they did? > > Among the topics I’m going to cover: why one-on-ones are important; what > dire things happen when you don't do them, or don't honor that process; how > the one-on-one is different based on your roles (manager/peon, > client/consultant, mentor/mentee); logistics and timing; what you should > expect to talk about... and NOT to talk about; real life examples (and > lessons to take away from them); judging success. > > I’d love to hear from you about your advice and experience with > one-on-ones – both the good ones and (even more valuably) when things did > not work ideally. Tell me your stories. Anecdotes are awesome. If they > happen to fit in any of the categories above, that’s groovy; if not, that’s > cool too. > > You don’t need to be an “authority” on HR or doing one-on-ones. I want > real-world experiences! > > It's completely okay to be anonymous; the point here is to share advice. > Though if you would like to be quoted, that's do-able. (Context does help; > if you've managed developers for 12 years readers will get a different > perception than for someone on her first job.) > > --Esther > twitter.com/estherschindler > > > _______________________________________________ > Discuss mailing > [email protected]https://lists.lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss > This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators > http://lopsa.org/ > > > > -- > David Parter > Director of Academic Computing Services > University of Wisconsin Computer Sciences > [email protected] > > > _______________________________________________ > Discuss mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss > This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators > http://lopsa.org/ > >
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