Tips for Having Productive One-on-One Meetings

One-on-one meetings are essential for you and your team to stay on track. Are your employee meetings as productive as they could be? As you ask the right questions? Does it have a good flow? If you’re not sure about the answers to these questions, it may be time to make a change. Here is how you can have a more natural conversation with your employees using these tips.

Determine the Type of Meeting

It’s good to have a structure for your meeting. Starting with a casual check-in will set the tone. Then you can get updated on current work, talk about upcoming work, and wrap up by expressing action items. But a meeting intended to set goals will pan out very differently from a meeting for providing performance updates. Before the meeting, think about the kind of meeting you need to hold.

General Questions for Checking In

Your initial check-in should be informal. It sets the tone for the meeting and puts your employee at ease. Example questions can be:

  • What are you working on right now?
  • How are things going?
  • Do you have any concerns you want to talk about?

Show Interest

Next, to get the most out of your one-on-one meetings, you need to show interest in what your employee has to say. Be sure to engage in active listening. Don’t focus too much on what you want to say next. If you need to, make notes about the key points and then spend more time in the meeting paying attention to how your employee is steering the conversation. Also, ask questions about their work/life balance and how they feel outside work.

Motivation and Engagement

You also want to be sure to include information about motivation. What motivates your employee? What has changed since your last meeting that has impacted their engagement? Ask what they love most about what they’re working on. Talk to them about the possibility of burnout and if they feel overwhelmed at work.

Challenges

It’s essential to know your team’s challenges and take them seriously. Ask them about what roadblocks they’re facing. More importantly, find out what you can do to eliminate these problems and work with your employee to determine a solution.

Professional Development

One-on-one meetings should also inform the future career path of your team member. Talk to them about what they like most but branch out to figure out how to leverage their strengths for the future of their careers and the company. When these pathways align, you’ll see more engagement long term.

Employee Feedback

Make sure you always provide ample time for your employee to provide feedback. Encourage them to share about the job, problems with coworkers, management issues, and more. Always leave time in the meeting to hear their feedback and address concerns or make plans to solve them.

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