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Ask HN: What agenda do you have for 1:1 meetings with your supervisor?

• staz 7y ago
  I try to use the one from the Manager Tools podcast but we have a hard time sticking to it. https://www.manager-tools.com/manager-tools-basics# https://www.manager-tools.com/manager-tools-basics#
  • jevanish 7y ago
    Why do you have a hard time sticking to it? What do you end up doing instead?
• fdicarlo 7y ago
  Used to have a structured one: - what have I done; - what I am going to do - misc/additional information/personal development
• k4ch0w 7y ago
  It's pretty much just talk about whatever is going on in the week. Some weeks are busier than others. We usually talk about what's going on around the office, how the current project is going, what's going on with coworkers and what the plans in the future are. I will bring up blockers/promotion talks/holidays anything that I need his help with. We're pretty informal about it. It all depends on the manager and their personality. I find it's better to be casual and not have a strict agenda though.
• wozmirek 7y ago
  I prepare the agenda on my own, it's usually 2 to 5 points. My issues, worries, what I struggle with, what I plan to do in the long run, I ask for general feedback every few months. Sample agenda: * I did X in situation Y; could I have handled this better? * I have too many things to do, so which is the priority: A or B? * I'll do this big thing over the next month, wdyt? etc
  • calciphus 7y ago
    Wdyt = what do you think
• CyberFonic 7y ago
  I have had many managers and no two conducted 1:1 meetings the same. In my experience it depends greatly on what sort of rapport you have with this manager. Can you read his personality? If you barely know the person and think he might be a stickler for detail and protocol, then keep your agenda to positive topics. Focus on your accomplishments and anything you plan that has a direct contribution to the company. Avoid anything negative, it might come back to haunt you. This is the safest path. If you have reasonable rapport then I would suggest to still stick to being positive, but you could very diplomatically raise any issues that might be negatively impacting the company. What I mean is that instead of saying something like "This open plan office is too noisy and I can't concentrate" say: "Sometimes the office gets quite noisy. Perhaps these conditions could be distracting for some of the staff and impact upon productivity." If you get asked how it affects you then you could say: "I use noise cancelling headphones to minimise the impact and maintain my workflow." Of course that presumes you have such headphones. The above is merely an example of how to recast comments so that you don't look like a complainer. If in doubt, don't. The next 1:1 will be much easier because you have the experiences from the first one to guide you.
  • Daviey 7y ago
    In most teams, the manager's raison d'être is simply to make you more productive. This means unblocking problems when you are stuck, aligning vision (to avoid wasted work), to motivate and prioritise work when overloaded. The advice of avoiding bringing "negative" things and using the session as almost a celebration of your success is massively missing the potential usefulness of these sessions! If your boss doesn't know about impedance to your productivity, how can they possibly help you?
    • echelon 7y ago
      The OP has a point, though. Perpetual complainers are such a drain. I hate being around them. They drag everything down. Everything doesn't suck all the time. There are pockets of good and bad. Be pragmatic. Don't nucleate a culture of defeatism and make everyone think you only care about your paycheck and not your coworkers and their own struggles. Not everyone is like this. But I can point to a number of examples of this.
• phenkdo 7y ago
  shouldn't a 1:1 be more free-flowing than agenda-based? Let the chat go where the conversation takes you. I find structuring such conversations, confines and probably counter-productive.
  • iansowinski 7y ago
    It's easy to forget what's on your mind if you don't have at least some points you want to want to discuss.
  • eru 7y ago
    You can do both. I like to have some points written down, and just make sure that at the end we covered everything. But eg the order is not always important.
• werbel 7y ago
  * Performance (e.g. challenges, obstacles, short/long term goals, feedback, productivity) * Professional development & engagement (e.g. professional goals, training, engagement, coaching) * Contribution to company growth (e.g. process improvement, supporting colleagues, training pilot/ buddy programs, any other activities) * Things done / achievements since last 1on1 * Feedback for the manager (e.g. what he/she could have done better/differently since last 1:1, what you/the team is missing) In summary: What can be done for you, the team and company aside from just "correct individual contribution". Try to avoid discussing things related to lifecycle of ongoing projects. Those should be handled within your team's standard execution flow. If there's need to talk more on a 1:1 then probably you have a gap there. Of course in an ideal world in a company that supports ongoing feedback and people are not afraid to raise any issues on a daily basis it should be just: "Hey, do you have anything to talk about? - Nope, everything we discussed on a daily basis. - Ok, same here". In the real world, there are always things which "there's never a good time for" and periodical check-up is useful for that just like a team retrospective.
  • wozmirek 7y ago
    Good point about feedback for the manager, I forgot to mention it. Depends on how well you get along with your manager, but I went as far as to say "you were joking about thing X (usually hiring/firing/PTO/performance etc. topics) which I didn't like".
    • werbel 7y ago
      Yes, I realize not all of us have the luxury of being part of organization where direct, open, constructive feedback whether it's positive or negative is just a thing people do. (Many organizations will boast about values but not live them. If you live them there's no need to even talk about them.) 1:1 or not, good manager should not only make everyone safe with giving him/her and everyone feedback but also ask for it if he/she takes the responsibility of taking care of the people seriously. Even if that's not a part of the culture then it seems to me it makes sense to try to be the leading example (with a clear, expressed explicitly if needed intent of doing this to make everyone's life and cooperation better) if it doesn't put your job at jeopardy. However, if it is, maybe it's worth considering what future lies ahead for you in the company? This of course depends on personal goals.
• jerome-jh 7y ago
  Every company has its own template, but basically: - the most important: prepare in advance! Summarize all what you have done during the year. - if the template has graded items, think of a realistic grade, then add one, everywhere. Usually in my copy of the template I also answer some of the questions that were for my manager :) I do that completely naively. Sometimes your manager had no time time to prepare, so you are actually helping. - during the interview be positive: you are fine, work is fine, ... prepare a few points where improvement is needed, but nothing really serious. - usually your manager has limited freedom when it comes to your salary (contrary to HR), so do not annoy him with this. In my company I do not even talk about money with my manager. Keep your discontent for HR and your manager on your side. With that method in my current company I got good raises. The golden rule is: say positive things about yourself and your work. If you do not, nobody will.
• dsr_ 7y ago
  Various commenters have interpreted this in two different ways: a) this is a performance/compensation review meeting b) this is a weekly/biweekly/whatever infinitely repeating meeting I think most managers who ask for 1:1 meetings are talking about case (b). I do. I don't schedule 1:1 meetings for local employees unless they ask; I do schedule 1:1 meetings for remote employees. My feeling (which I have mentioned to everyone) is that people I see most days have the opportunity to ask questions and bring up concerns any time they feel like it, but a person I can't bump into in the corridor deserves extra time for that. My 1:1 agenda is loose: tell me if anything isn't going the way you want. Concerns about your work, other employees, the strategic direction of the company... this is an excellent time to bring it up. I can help with technical problems, or discuss the issue and refer you to the right person. Want to go to a conference? Want to tell me about the conference you want to? Anything vaguely company-related in on-topic, and I don't mind diverting off-topic much, because we'll have another meeting next week.
  • davezatch 7y ago
    I understand your PoV, but I like to stronnnnnngly encourage 1:1s every week, with each team member. I think it's really easy to let that slip if it's not in the calendar, and I've learned so many important, small things from people in those meetings. Especially since some people don't really feel comfortable coming to their manager out of band. That makes the structure of "I have a block scheduled you with every week, in perpetuity" super valuable. Agree with the loose agenda. I try to follow-up on things that came up in previous weeklies, and to make sure we don't forget about commitments, but so much of the value comes from a simple "How are you doing?"
    • fhbdukfrh 7y ago
      I agree. My 1:1 invites explicitly frame them as an opportunity to point out where I'm failing in supporting your goals, things you want to accomplish and questions you have about anything from the trivial to the strategic. I don't use a formal agenda but our 1:1's do produce explicit action items with one of us assigned and a due date
  • swalsh 7y ago
• mabbo 7y ago
  #1- calling out anything co-worker related. I try to always bring up some good things. Ie: this new guy is getting up to speed really fast and I'm super impressed, here's some quick examples. Or negative: the guy in the remote team and I keep having conflicts, not sure what to do about it, any thoughts? #2- my career. I'm working towards promotion X, I've made these steps lately, what do you see that I can be doing? #3- ask for feedback. Has anyone given you any feedback that I need to hear? I can't grow without it. And then give half the 1:1 time to the manager for things they've brought. Their time is often even more limited than mine.
  • eel 7y ago
    Good stuff. I think this is a good general template once you've established a relationship with your manager. If the manager is new, I don't expect direct answers to #2 and #3, so I would ask more meta questions-- how they approach career development and feedback, etc. and get them thinking about those topics for future 1:1s.
• BOOSTERHIDROGEN 7y ago
  I cannot see the benefit of this meeting in a typical large or similar to governments-owned company
  • echelon 7y ago
    Then you haven't had a successful one. The manager's job is to unblock and empower as much as anything. Managers need insight into the health of their teams and how their reports think, feel, and operate. 1:1s are a fantastic sounding board for this.
    • blahfuk 7y ago
      This is the same ‘no true scotsman’ argument used with scrum. Over 15 years I’ve very rarely had anything productive come out of 1:1s. I think some people just require more support than others. I personally find them to be an enormous waste of time.
  • halfnormalform 7y ago
    Ideally, it’s to create and maintain a human connection.
• ryanmercer 7y ago
  My manager and I usually go over my production real quick then talk about shows we both used to go to back in the day and upcoming shows our old butts are thinking about going to. This time of year we'll probably talk about looking forward to going out and getting some morels in the woods soon. She's not the typical manager though. I feel like if I ever get another company interested in me I'll have no idea how the real world really reacts because the opco of my company moves to the beat of its own drum and my office even more so. Our 1:1 meeting are just monthly "here's your production from the last month we've completed the data on" which we get weekly via email from the team leads anyway, we sign it and never get a copy and it gets filed away to never be seen again as per standard bureaucratic make-work. Mangers just use it as a chance to point out any errors you are making repetitively and see if you have any questions or concerns.
• eel 7y ago
  If I am joining a new team or company and therefore getting a new manager, my 1:1 meetings generally support my onboarding. I would ask about the team's current processes, how they got there, who to ask about learning the system architecture, etc. I also try to get a feel about what the new manager's style is. How does the manager want to stay apprised on my work, what is his/her approach to career development, etc. And very importantly, I ask how often we should have 1:1s. If the new manager is joining my existing team as my manager, 1:1 meetings now support my manager's onboarding. The topics are very similar, but I have to be a little more tactful to avoid appearing arrogant or patronizing. I will ask what he/she thinks of the product we work on, or about the system architecture. Once again, I will try to get a feel for the manager's management style, and I will ask about the approach to career development and future 1:1s. In either case, my number one goal early on in 1:1s is to build rapport. I don't intend this as a "winning favor" type of thing, but rather I need to do my best to build the relationship from my side so that I feel comfortable raising concerns and I can understand where my manager is coming from when inevitably he/she starts making new requests. I don't like to share a 1:1 agenda until it's clear that the manager respects 1:1s. Otherwise there's a risk that the manager preemptively invites other people to help answer the topics in the agenda. I try not to rant or complain in 1:1s anymore. I found that my managers' reactions were rarely predictable. Some managers try to solve the problem immediately, and some managers do nothing. Some managers would move me onto another project. Now that I have more experience, if I have a complaint, then I also try to propose a solution. Finally, I try to avoid using 1:1s for status updates or escalating blockers to my manager. In my mind, these are best done as needed or as soon as possible.
  • jevanish 7y ago
    This is really good advice ^ Measured, and with good variation.
• Wilem82 7y ago
  First of all, if you want to talk about something, you don't need to wait for the next scheduled meeting, you can just talk. Therefore the system of scheduled one on one meetings is nothing but bureaucracy. Therefore the question is "is there anything you discuss with the manager, ever?" And the answer to that depends on the manager's competence. If you can delegate your task to the manager and they are actually able to solve it, then you can use it to keep the progress rolling. If they aren't able to do anything meaningful, there's nothing to talk about, really. Which is usually the latter case and it comes down to "want something done, do it yourself".
  • garyrichardson 7y ago
    This is not a model of working I’m familiar with. I work as collaboratively as possibly with my reports and my manager. 1:1 meetings are my most important. If I’m not discussing the non-obvious challenges we face, we are sharing our goals or tuning our shared vision.
    • Wilem82 7y ago
      Little bit of a contradiction there. You say collaboratively, yet you share your ideas one on one, instead of with the entire team. It's either one or the other. Next, assuming the challenges you speak of are technical, the manager is no use talking to because they're not an engineer. The manager of course should know of technical difficulties to understand risks of delays, but that works through inviting them to engineer meetings where the team presents its consensus on the matter.
  • gwbas1c 7y ago
    > If you can delegate your task to the manager and they are actually able to solve it, then you can use it to keep the progress rolling Managers are supposed to delegate tasks to you, not the other way around. If you are delegating tasks to your manager, (as opposed to your manager saying something like, "I'm going to assign this task to XXX," or "I'm going to go try and get team YYY to do ZZZ,") then your manager isn't really managing.
• pvinis 7y ago
  I love these meetings. When I am in one of these, we are both at the same level for me. We (or at least I) talk as if I'm talking to a friend about the good stuff and bad stuff in my experience of the last 2 weeks. Mostly related to work, but even stuff outside. I used to have these at my previous company, and when I moved to another one I asked to do this again, because it was something they were not doing already. I will ask in every company I work with if this is not already something that is done. I'll just paste here my notes for the meetings I've had with my manager/CTO for the last few months. It's a running note so start from the bottom. Some items are more clear than others but it's my own notes. You will see some items like asking for access to something, asking their/company's opinion about things, suggesting ideas for better workflows, complaining with no solution yet, asking to clear up genuine confusion, comments about certain recent events, etc. --- Involved in Machine learning, with employee Y What raise will I get? -- how Can we use our product as a client Dubai 3 weeks remote holidays minus. not paid or next year standing desk for sharing working less hours or days okrs — https://twitter.com/notbrent/status/1159935844888637440?s=21 https://twitter.com/notbrent/status/1159935844888637440?s=21 Bandung. progress as user story lead yeh cheez — external therapists for devs how do you handle time and requests and work --- talk RN EU still under a lot of work with travis Friday off for a month? month open source Friday morning open source -- sentry access demo? ----- I Became gql head somehow? proud of purge react native pr for crashes review cool ------- slack repo, we can archive it for slack questions, check the numbers doc. budget for react Amsterdam? ———— Prs for small things lead to small things not being changed. Maybe I need a better way to work. Maybe we all need one. I find things to fix while working. I can’t create an issue, wait, create a pr, wait, then keep going. Too many slack channels, everyone talks privately. Delete old. Too many branches. Delete old. strange. what does employee X do? not complaint, just curious.
• Minor49er 7y ago
  I never have them with my manager. I actually just learned yesterday that he has them every two weeks with other members of my team, though
• geoffchan23 7y ago
  I'm going to try and add a different angle to this because most people here have covered what I wanted to say (performance, compensation etc.) I would use this time to find out how your manager is doing in his/her role. Find out how you can help them. Talk to them about their frustrations and how they are feeling. Just because they are your manager doesn't mean you need to treat them like a boss all the time. Show them some care and empathy. It can go a long way for your career.
  • Beltiras 7y ago
    This attitude works if you have a leader for a manager. Notsomuch if s/he's a boss.
    • seer 7y ago
      Those types do build a wall between themselves and others true. But if there is ever a time when you can break that and engage with the real person underneath I think 1-1 are it. Those people would try not to show real weakness / vulnerability before groups of people - but just one? Maybe. I’ve managed to build many a close relationship with people that others considered “the devil wears prada” types this way. So strongly agree with the parent comment!
    • marcinzm 7y ago
      Sure it does, baring sociopaths they are still human with the usual sense of empathy. And even sociopaths have a sense of self-interest. You can trigger that sense of empathy and there's many books on it (starting with the classic How to Win Friends & Influence People). And most everyone likes someone who makes their life easier rather than harder. Hell, bosses in my experience promote sycophants (not saying you have to go that far) a lot more often than leaders do so it's likely to work even better on them.
  • fhbdukfrh 7y ago
    As a manager i would fight this approach because the 1:1's i schedule are for an exact flip of the relationship you describe. I certainly appreciate and encourage these feelings across all my teams, but unlike ICs it's my job and I'm given the time and resources to make these changes, it's not fair to expect someone to both execute well and put all the required effort into pushing for organizational improvement
• werber 7y ago
  I've had a few roles with regularly scheduled 1 on 1s, the best were with bosses I worked extremely closely with, and those sessions were generally like, tech heavy heart to hearts, I still years go to a few of those bosses I no longer work with for advice. With the bosses I wasn't as close to or did not have a mutually respectful relationship with, it was usually a waste of time. Empty promises, mindless chit chat, casual gossip. The absolute worst was a role where we got scored on these chats as part of an attempt to quantify every aspect of the job. With that being said, when I want to meet one on one with a boss now, I ask them out to lunch and discuss whatever matter at hand.
• Beltiras 7y ago
  I always have a plan. If you don't, you will just be chatting randomly. These meetings should be for your benefit and address workplace issues that your manager can solve somehow. You should beforehand have a good idea of what a successful resolution should be to the issues you bring up.
• buro9 7y ago
  I wrote something internally a couple of years ago, and it is precisely a thought piece on why 1:1s exist, for whom, and how to get the best from them. As it's too long for a HN comment I hope you don't mind my "publishing" it on Google Docs: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1R4j84c7gHRn1Q3xmwg5h18LaupLv2EcfzU1sQQdSLm4/edit?usp=sharing https://docs.google.com/document/d/1R4j84c7gHRn1Q3xmwg5h18La... Feel free to give this to your manager to help them consider how to use the 1:1 and make it better for the both of you.
  • halfnormalform 7y ago
    I am in the middle of planning my first 1:1 with my first direct report and this is incredibly helpful. My bosses never did this. Thank you!
    • jevanish 7y ago
      You may find this helpful too then for you to get started on them and see where you may want to learn more deeply: https://getlighthouse.com/blog/one-on-one-meetings-template-great-leaders/ https://getlighthouse.com/blog/one-on-one-meetings-template-...
• jressey 7y ago
  5 sections. 1. Personal chit-chat. 2. Review of your work commitments and what your boss can do to help you. 3. Review of personal development commitments and what your boss can do to help you. 4. What questions do you have for your boss about your business, department, or team. 5. Share specific feedback for your manager, ask for specific feedback. It's very important to have those commitments set quarterly or at worst annually. You should set double-length 1:1s for those sessions.
• jszymborski 7y ago
  I keep a little private git repo with markdown files for each meeting I've had with my supervisor (academic setting), and one file for the one in the future where I write down agenda items as they come up. I always have "Project Progress Summary" as a line item, where I give a short summary of what I'm working on. Sometimes I've nothing but that "Project Progress Summary", sometimes I've got some road blocks I'd like to share, other times I've got a bundle of miscellany or brainstorming items on it. I take notes on a pad of paper during the meeting, take photos with my phone, and if anything of substance happened in the meeting, I might transcribe them so that I can find them with a quick grep of the meetings folder.
• HoustonRefugee 7y ago
  I prefer 1:1 when there is something relevant to discuss (merit increases, onboarding, significant problems). Personally I believe this is the best way the manager/employee relationship should function. Email and daily interaction should be more than enough to maintain communication on projects, work, etc. The clear sign of a good manager is the less 1:1's the better. That means the manager is respected enough by his subordinates to know what is going on with his team and the team can collaborate enough to solve problems without constant involvement from the manager. When a manager has weekly 1:1 meetings, time to find a new job...and fast. That is a major red flag if the manager unable to keep track of the team OR upper management is getting ready for layoffs. In fact, when go through the interview process once question I ask is are their views on 1:1 meeting, how often are they, are they mandated by upper management or just the manager's preference.
  • frausto 7y ago
    How do you feel about monthly 1:1's? This was my approach though the topic was less about keeping up to date with what the team/person has been doing, and more about how they are feeling, if there any roadblocks I could help them with, if they are interested in the work they are doing, etc etc... I think of my job as a manager as supporting and empowering my team to be productive and making sure they are happy with their work, this was just one way for me to do so. Given your preference for less 1:1's, I would be interested to hear your take.
    • HoustonRefugee 7y ago
      I was not expecting that downvote. That must be a manager ;) Anyway, I think monthly would be fine as long as it focused on career growth, goals, etc. I am a tad bit of biased since I have had bosses who use 1:1's to stay up to date with projects and work while ignoring the entire team and was on the golf course the rest of the week. Of course I am not talking about deliberately keeping your boss in the dark, that is a problem for another thread. I am not for 1:1s being used for "phoning it in" from a lazy manager.
  • jevanish 7y ago
    1 on 1s as status updates are horribly inefficient, which is why managers should not use their 1 on 1s for them. However, when a manager uses 1 on 1s for what they're actually for (career growth, feedback, blockers, coaching, praise, etc) they have the best teams and best performance, because they make sure the employee stays motivated and the team as a whole operates better. I've uncovered so many problems that would have otherwise blown up later, as well as found tons of ways to better motivate team members from them, I can't imagine not having them, nor ever working for someone who doesn't do them.
• xivzgrev 7y ago
  Reading a lot of comments here people have a very wide range of what they try to cover and I think it’s unnecessary on an every week basis. Let’s start with the basics. Your manager’s number one job is to unblock your success. Whatever the fuck you need to do your job, the 1:1 is when you discuss it (assuming it can wait until 1:1, sometimes things are more urgent and you just need to grab manager right then). Be sure to bring proposed solutions not just problems -bringing a problem: “billy the director from marketing keeps direct messaging me asking for help. I want to help but it’s taking too time” -bringing a solution: same as above, plus “...given the xyz support process, I’m going to send billy an email and cc you, reminding them to follow the process and to reach out to so and so with these issues. If there’s any pushback can you back me up?” You can also share accomplishments / progress but usually there are other channels for that. Then as needed the other stuff here makes sense eg build rapport, ask about them, career dev etc
• jredwards 7y ago
  I keep a running list and discuss whatever I've added to it since our last meeting (1:1s are weekly). I do this for my manager and for my reports. Most of the list will be about whatever the issues of the week are. In terms of recurring items, the only thing that stands out is that I try to have a career conversation with my reports at least once a quarter. (I also time-stamp the list so I can see when we had conversations historically, which is occasionally useful)
• sciurus 7y ago
  I like this blog post's framing of partnering with your maanger and using the 1:1 to maintain that. https://lethain.com/partnering-with-your-manager/ https://lethain.com/partnering-with-your-manager/
• Jemaclus 7y ago
  My boss and I create a Slack thread each week for 1:1 topics. One thing to remember is that 1:1 time is YOUR time, not your boss's time. They can schedule a meeting with you any time for their topics, but 1:1s are always your chance to have face time alone with them. It's up to you what to talk about, but as a manager, I don't need status updates. If I'm a good manager, then I already know what you're up to, so let's talk about something _you_ want to talk about. You don't need to inform me of your day-to-day work, unless that's what you want to talk about. My boss and I talk about a lot of things, but rarely status updates on projects. The topics tend to revolve around organizational changes, obstacles that my team and I are running into, personnel issues, or company strategic/tactical considerations. My 1:1 is also a great time to talk about career development. Every other 1:1 I ask my boss how I'm doing, and if he says "You're great", I push a little bit more on something I can improve. He usually comes up with _something_. I know a lot of ICs feel it's rude or inappropriate to bring up raises or career direction, so I try to bring it up for them every other month or so. Things like "How do you like the direction of your role? Is there something else you'd like to work on? Have your career goals changed? Do you want to talk about that?" I also take the time in 1:1s to get to know them on a personal level. One of my team members is having a baby in a few weeks, another one is competing in an Ironman in a few months, and a third is going through a divorce. These kinds of things don't directly apply to the job at hand, but it does have several benefits, such as letting them know that I care about them personally and giving me context that might explain aberrant behavior. Plus, it's just nice when someone asks about how you're doing, right? Like I said at the beginning, I'll make a Slack thread with my boss. This week's looks something like this: - <employee> performance plan - <project> pivot - <employee>'s annual review is coming up, compensation adj? - <project> budget exploded, what happened? - <another manager> seems to struggle with <project>. How can I help? etc, etc. Hope that helps. Good luck.
  • jevanish 7y ago
    This is awesome. I bet your team really loves working with you.
    • Jemaclus 7y ago
      Hope so...
• dbcurtis 7y ago
  From a manager's perspective, what I think is a great 1:1 is two things: 1. Delegate up. If you have blockers that we haven't talked about already out of 1:1 cycle, bring that first so that we can figure out how to knock it down. 2. The MOST valuable thing is for you to educate me. When I was a manager, it was impossible to stay current on every technical topic I needed to know. The IC working with the tech every day learns that all naturally -- boil it down to the most important and tell me that. That is the information that I crave, and will also use to educate the next level up. (Oh, BTW, if your organization seems to be allergic to this kind of upward-flowing education flow, that is a Bad Sign(TM).)
• throwawaypa123 7y ago
  Every meeting should start with: 1. What am I doing that I should continue? 2. What am I doing that I should stop doing? 3. What should I start doing If manager is open, you can say same things about her. More succinctly: 1. Start 2. Stop 3. Continue
• WrtCdEvrydy 7y ago
  I don't have regular reports but my 1-1s are with my technical team. For a standard 1 hour 1:1 15 minutes for anything from the previous meeting that needed my action. 15 minutes for them to speak 15 minutes for me to speak 15 minutes for any sort of HR action or performance feedback
• dangus 7y ago
  Whatever bullshit comes up to justify the meeting. I’ve seriously never had 1:1s go anywhere useful. But that’s also because I believe that 75% or more of people are bad managers (it is hard to be a really good one).
  • jevanish 7y ago
    That's really unfortunate. They can be incredible meetings to fix problems, work on your career, grow skills, give and receive feedback, and a lot more. Unfortunately though a lot of managers don't know what to do as you suggest, but some of them can be shown a better way. Putting some things you want on the agenda is a great way to make that change. Then you can take the temperature to what they will be open to. Working backwards though, this is why you should interview your future manager really hard before signing on to the job...to make sure you have one of those 25% that are good (based on your number)
    • deleted 7y ago
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    • dangus 7y ago
      I definitely agree with everything you said. I have had some productive 1:1s where they led to interesting changes to my work. But those enlightened managers are rare. And then the flaw with interviewing your manager is that you often can’t control your manager once you’re hired. I’m currently on manager number four, just one year in to my current role. The other ones all quit or were interim managers. So for me, it just seems so much more likely to fail than succeed that it’s hard not to take it as a probable waste of time. I wish I could just say no thanks, I don’t want to have 1:1s.
      • syndacks 7y ago
        Sounds like you're not in the greatest work environment if so many managers have quit. Curious why you think that is? Also, if you have such strong feelings about management, maybe try it out? Based on what you're saying, managers are dropping like flies and it might be helpful to promote from within.
• AdrianB1 7y ago
  Usually as much as we have the time to discuss: - status of current projects and resources that I manage (I am a manager myself) - priorities and direction changes - help needed, in any kind: escalations, resources, etc From time to time, about every 3 months: - feedback and intermediate performance review - work plan updates - strategy updates
  • jevanish 7y ago
    Can't you give most of those status update-y things another way? Seems like most of that would be covered in a standup, or email. Your 1 on 1 could be so much more: your career growth, situations you want help with, feedback and ideas for them, things you want coaching on, any issues they should know about (like say a sick/dying family member), etc
    • AdrianB1 7y ago
      Most of the status update is somewhere in the 200+ emails each of us get daily; the weekly 30 minutes are to talk the most important points, not to inform, that is done upfront. The last time we spent 15 minutes to discuss my idea of re-engineering the technical platform I own; my manager does not have the deep technical knowledge to understand the details and implications of the change, but I need his support to make it happen (to convince others, to allocate resource, etc) so I had to explain and convince him it is the right thing to do. The discussion was based on the 10 slides with diagrams that I sent a week before.
• adrian_mrd 7y ago
  One of the better managers I have had in the past, when he setup weekly 1:1s, said that the agenda for our weekly 1:1s would be “about whatever you want to discuss”. Key word: you. Key point: the agenda was employee-led, and it encouraged open and honest feedback. Many managers focus on what ‘they’ want to discuss in 1:1 meetings, but the best people managers, in my experience, also ensure that the employee’s views are represented.
• deleted 7y ago
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• zoomablemind 7y ago
  What in your opinion is the intent for such meetings? It's not the review kind, is it? I understand the initiative is from the boss's side. Is it just a formal way to align with policies, or a way to keep everyone on their toes, or a genuine two-way communication channel? If it's a formal thing, then just play along, whatever style this boss is expecting. There're even ridiculous cases, when a boss decided to project 'openness' by putting a jar of candies in his office... with the expectations that people would have this as a reason to come in. Not a bad idea in general (taught in trainings) ... except the candies were mostly subpar, halloween kind, the boss won't eat these either. Still, the game was clear, and his employees were showing up for 'a candy', those that did made the boss happy. If it's 'I'm the boss' kind, then it's kinda formal too. So either come up with a question that would highlight his expertise or you own humblness. The easiest part is when it's two-way. Almost no pretense needed. His time is as much or more valuable to him as yours. So the meetings will have some practical reason to them. Either assign, solve, retro, or 'address' something. Make sure you're aware of the reasons to meet, if needed probe in advance. Also use this to your advantage - _ask_ sometimes to meet. There're should be plenty of ways to find a practical topic to discuss. As an example, with a new boss a possible topic could be 'aligning priorities'. If possible, find ways to establish such a two-way channel.
• jevanish 7y ago
  Your 1 on 1s are going to evolve over time with them. At the start you want to simply build some rapport and get a feel for their work style. Ask them about how they prefer certain things like project updates and how to handle problems that arise. Then, as you get comfortable, your 1 on 1s can and should cover a wide variety of topics: - Your Career Growth / areas of interest you have - Suggestions for improving you/your team's work - Problems you want their help with / what they think of the solution you came up with - Personal issues that could affect your work (babies, funerals, long term sickness of loved ones, divorces, etc) - Praise things your manager did you like so they do more of it (They're human too...let em know) - If they're open to it, feedback you have for them - FYIs that you may know about that they may not have visibility to and will want to monitor (see Andy Grove's "Black box of management" https://medium.com/@iantien/top-takeaways-from-andy-grove-s-high-output-management-2e0ecfb1ea63 https://medium.com/@iantien/top-takeaways-from-andy-grove-s-...) - Things you want to lobby for (changes, class you want to take, a project, a certain assignment, etc) More detail on how to approach your 1 on 1s that I've sent to employees here: https://getlighthouse.com/blog/effective-1-on-1-meetings/ https://getlighthouse.com/blog/effective-1-on-1-meetings/
• bradhe 7y ago
  I do weekly 1:1s with all my reports. We have a google doc that we maintain that has notes from every one of our 1:1s. We use the same format every week, asking the same 4 questions of each other. - How are you feeling? - What are you excited about? - What do you have the most anxiety about? - What could we do better? Then we discuss any administrative things, blockers, and there's a "What else" section at the end.
• alagu 7y ago
  We faced a similar problem. We've got a strong 1-on-1 culture in our startup but often struggle with what to talk so we created an ultimate list of one-on-one questions (500+) with a social flavour https://www.peoplebox.ai/t/one-on-one-meeting-template-manager-questions-list https://www.peoplebox.ai/t/one-on-one-meeting-template-manag... These are for managers but can be flipped to find agenda/ questions for direct reports.
• stakkur 7y ago
  Despite intentions by my two previous managers, I try to minimize and avoid '1-1' meetings. Why? Because I want a relationship with the manager where we can talk whenever we need to, instead of having a weekly 'meeting' with an 'agenda', etc. in my long work life, the best experiences have always been where I had no 1-1. The common argument I hear (from managers and others) is 'but we just want a time that's guaranteed reserved, in case you need it'. But that's a calendar problem, not a 1-1 problem. If a manager needs to put me on the 'calendar' to be sure that they can talk to me, they've failed as a manager. TL;DR: '1-1' meetings are unnecessary when you have a manager who understands communication and realizes their job is to help you succeed, not 'supervise' you.
• turc1656 7y ago
  My goals for such meetings are simple. 1) Determine if I am still meeting expectations 2) Figure out what I should be working on. This sounds dumb, but if you work on a varied set of projects/tasks that change all the time like I do, then figuring out priority isn't always obvious. I like to use these sessions to help refocus me to make sure I'm on whatever path my manager feels adds the most value to the business. Because everyone can drift into things over time that are interesting, but not necessarily what is needed by the business. 3) What new stuff can I do? Are there any new projects coming up? Any new skills I should be trying to get or things I should be studying up on? Essentially, these three things are making sure my career goals are at least somewhat where I want them to be and they are in line with what the company needs/wants from me. Those items are how I get there. It may vary depending on the specific position a person has.