1:1 One on Ones to give Feedback

Another interesting format of One on Ones is feedback.

Essentially feedback is a candor talking that will help you and your team member to align whatever is going off road and letting them know how you perceive their performance.

To give helpful feedback, it's important to pay attention every day to what your team does well, what's hard for them, what chances they have, and what errors they might make. Watching and being involved in what your team does help you understand how they are doing and where they might need to do better. When you're tuned in like this, you can give them advice that fits exactly with what they need to get better at. This kind of feedback can really help your team grow and get better at what they do. Remember, this needs to be a daily thing. If you can't keep up with what's going on regularly and then try to recall everything on feedback day, it's just not going to work. Do not get this wrong. Micromanagement is not staying tuned. But we will dive into this on the coming chapters.

I like to schedule feedback sessions like this:

1. The first one should ideally take place within the first week after the new hire joins the team. This early session allows for timely check-ins and support as the new team member integrates into their role and responsibilities.
2. Another one for aligning expectations and conducting a performance review a month after the hiring.
3. Then, one every three months for the REST OF YOUR LIFE or at least for the rest of your time with that team member in your team.

After establishing a structured schedule for feedback sessions, it's essential to consider the key points for delivering effective feedback. This involves maintaining a focus on tasks, processes, and goals during the initial phase of feedback, rather than on individuals. Subsequently, the second part of the feedback should shift entirely to an individual-centered focus, ensuring a comprehensive assessment of personal performance and interactions within the team.

1. In the first part of the feedback, you will critique actions and compare what was planned to be done with what has been accomplished. You will evaluate how much was supposed to be done, the manner in which it was to be completed, and compare it with the actual output and the time it took compared to the original plan. This performance segment should remain consistent across all feedback sessions.

1.1. The second part of the feedback must entirely focus on individuals.

Month One-on-One Feedback and Three-Month One-on-One Feedback:

• How is the mood regarding workload and assignments as well as personal performance?
• How are other team members treating this individual?
• How are other people in the department or business unit treating them?
• How is the rest of the company treating this individual?

2.-Have the initial plan for each member. It is supposed that you hire this person for a reason, a need you needed to meet, a task (or group of tasks) you needed to be done, a skill you needed to add to the team’s skill set, so it is handy to have this statement as baseline for performance and evaluation. It is crucial to have a well-defined job description and clear goals when evaluating an individual's performance. When hiring someone, it's important to identify the specific tasks, skills, and contributions they are expected to bring to the team. This forms the foundation for assessing their performance. We will explore this in more detail in upcoming articles focusing on hiring talent. Additionally, regular tracking of project progress and individual performance is essential for effective feedback. Daily standup meetings can serve as a valuable tool for aligning on progress and addressing any challenges. Tailoring these meetings to suit the unique dynamics of your team and projects is crucial for maximizing their effectiveness. [1]

This is why it is important to have very clear from the very beginning the goals and the work that must be done. This is why the job of a manager is heavy and never has to be eclipsed or overcharge with operational task that the rest of the team must do.

Manager must focus on the next, regarding the performance of the team:

Plan all team members goals, track their progress, assure that they have all means to do their jobs. Plan resources (money, assets, time and people), track this distribution along the year or projects. It must have time to structure and manage technical and people issues.

Next, I will share a simple table for your use as a baseline for a scorecard. Keeping it concise will provide a clear overview and enable accurate performance tracking with data, rather than relying on perceptions. This approach will facilitate a better understanding of performance.

During the session, you must address each point and elaborate on the score given, explaining its significance and the reasons behind assigning that score.

Discussion Points:

• Previous Outcomes of One-on-Ones (if applicable)
• What to Keep Doing
• What to Stop Doing???
• What New Things Must Start Doing
• Commitments and Deadlines

Using this format, scores should be assigned for each concept. The overall score can be calculated based on the average of the individual scores or weighted according to their importance. This is a general scorecard, but I like to fix it for each role in my team. [2]

At the end of the session, it's important to focus on the lowest scores and to continue tracking the highest scores in order to maintain their high standard. It's crucial not to rely solely on the average of the scores, as a score alone doesn't fully represent a person's performance. Scores should not be used to label individuals as "good" or "bad" performers. Instead, the scorecard serves as a guideline for open dialogue about concerns and goal alignment, providing a baseline for discussing common topics. You need to get to know your team very well in order to learn how to communicate effectively with them. Effective communication is crucial for ensuring that tasks are completed as expected and delivered on time. Clear communication helps prevent confusion and misunderstandings, ultimately safeguarding the quality and timeliness of deliverables.

At the end of the year, I also like to provide the team with the opportunity to offer feedback on my leadership. This allows for a two-way exchange of constructive feedback, enabling me to improve and gain valuable insights to enhance my performance as well. By fostering an open feedback culture, we can collectively work towards continual improvement and growth within the team. It can be intimidating, but the rewards are significant.

In this format, you can list the criteria on which you'd like them to evaluate you, or alternatively, ask them what aspects they would like to evaluate you on.

The next article will continue with Part Two of Chapter 3: Building the Foundation. This section will cover how to identify and hire the right talent. It will help us identify specific tasks for the hiring roles and use them as a baseline for performance. Additionally, through ongoing performance tracking, you will be able to identify new skills that can be sought for similar roles, and even discover potential new roles.

[1] For practical examples, read this 'story time'.

[2] In my case I have managed: project managers, software engineers, data scientists, data specialists and different levels of expertise: junior and senior.