#2 Things You Should Definitely Not Do In Your One-On-One Meetings

I think the biggest mistakes you can make with one on one is not having them intending to delay them and indicating that it's not a priority.

I've been with managers before where this type of conversation every week is ad hoc. So it will change from day to day, or they'll come to my desk for a conversation and say, hey do you have 30 minutes now? So I think consistency is key, especially if there's something that they want to think about before they come and have the conversation.

At a minimum, I recommend a full hour for those one-on-one whereas, the second half, even the last 15 minutes, are the best insights that come out in those conversations. So I think sometimes you are not able to understand your employees because you are not showing up yourself or are not mentally prepared to listen to them.

The other mistake I could potentially make is just focusing on my own agenda.?

So here comes the Conclusion of all statement

Don't show up late or keep rescheduling: Respect your employee's time and show them that the meeting is valuable to you and not just a placeholder on your calendar. Of course, you may not think it matters, and the employee may not let you know about your calendar meetings. But the truth is you're sending a message and making a statement about whether or not you value the employee and their time.

Don't come unprepared or unstructured:?One-on-one getting tangled about irrelevant things can feel like a waste of time.

And don't assume nothing is going on and cancel the meeting only because you think everything is clear and discussed; your employee might still have something they want to talk about.

This also goes if you happen to have a quick chat with your employee outside of your regular one-on-one conversation. Some employees need that dedicated time and space to raise real issues.

You shouldn't replace your one-on-one with an open door policy since some employees won't feel comfortable using that.

In the following article, I will continue with the best practice you should do in a one-on-one conversation…..