Getting to the Heart of 1-on-1 Meetings.
Does this sound like a good description of a 1-on-1?
A 1-on-1 meeting is a private meeting between two team members—typically between a manager and their direct report—where your employee can update you on a project’s status, check in on professional goals, and share feedback or discuss questions.
What if we got more specific?
1-on-1 meetings are about more than status updates. It’s a chance for you to check in on your employees and see how they’re feeling. So, dedicate at least a few minutes to ask your employee the following questions:
Personally, this sounds like a strong description and guideline for a 1-on-1 at work, but this post is not about work...
It's about work/life balance.
Are you taking the same effort into your 1-on-1 with your spouse, significant other, children, parents, or siblings? Over and over, photos of vacations are posted as proof of work/life balance, but what about the other weeks of the year? There are posts on LinkedIn reminding people that corporations are not "family" (specially after layoffs) but do you have a set time in your calendar to ask those who matter to you how they are doing?
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The goal of work 1-on-1s is to increase productivity and communication, get ahead of problems, show employees that they are valuable, and avoid turnover. Those all sound like excellent goals to have in our families as well. At work, if you don't have effective 1-on-1s, you (or HR) will hear about it in the exit interview. Can we afford to wait that long in our personal lives? When that person you care about either disconnects, walks out, or stops taking your call?
Work/life balance is not easy, but it's worth it. Steve Jobs, during the last days that he battled cancer, said, "I wanted my kids to know me. I wasn't always there for them, and I wanted them to know why and to understand what I did."
The Harvard Business Review has this advice for us as it relates to 1-on-1s: "Regular individual meetings with each of your team members may feel like a burden. But meeting for 30 minutes each week with one person adds up to no more than 25 hours over the course of a year. That’s not too high a price to pay to bolster your team’s and your company’s performance support retention."
On the other side of the coin, what price are we putting on our families when we don't set time aside for regular 1:1s?
As you go through your tech odyssey, make sure you remember that the destination is not the only goal. The people who are on the journey with you are of the utmost value.
If you need some "data" to back this, check out this reel: