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I think people put way too much emphasis on 1:1's- Way too much time and focus is spent on 'what did you do last week' and what to do the next week. This sort o

I think people put way too much emphasis on 1:1's- Way too much time and focus is spent on 'what did you do last week' and what to do the next week. This sort of observation & discussion should happen daily and feedback should be immediate. As a manager 90% of my 1:1's would be 10 minutes of idle chat- because we were constantly aware of what was expected and how we were delivering. Of course I always forced the meetings, just in case employee had something to get off their chest.

pearkes 14y ago
> in case employee had something to get off their chest 1:1's offer a consistent opportunity for dialog if there is ever a mishap, broken process or impending event to talk about. Opportunity is the key word - it doesn't necessarily mean it's crucial information being exchanged every time.
sliverstorm 14y ago
This sort of observation & discussion should happen daily and feedback should be immediate Of course! But, that doesn't always happen. The 1:1 is an attempt to ensure that, to some degree, the subordinate and superior get at least a little of said discussion regularly.
philwelch 14y ago
I think Rands wrote about this. 1:1's are not supposed to be about status updates: http://www.randsinrepose.com/archives/2010/09/22/the_update_the_vent_and_the_disaster.html http://www.randsinrepose.com/archives/2010/09/22/the_update_...
potatolicious 14y ago
> "Of course I always forced the meetings, just in case employee had something to get off their chest." This is the only benefit of 1:1's. Status updates and general progress tracking should be baked into your every day processes. And here's the important part: 1:1's must absolutely be off the record. It is a safe place for an employee to voice his/her grievances and concerns without repercussion. Your workplace should already be open and respectful enough that people can voice almost all problems publicly with the rest of the team - which means by default any problem that will be touched on in a 1:1 is sensitive and needs to be treated as such. I've seen so many places where this has failed dramatically. If you keep 1:1's on-record and the contents open, you will get blindsided by the things your employees are uncomfortable bringing up in the open.

pearkes 14y ago

> in case employee had something to get off their chest 1:1's offer a consistent opportunity for dialog if there is ever a mishap, broken process or impending event to talk about. Opportunity is the key word - it doesn't necessarily mean it's crucial information being exchanged every time.

sliverstorm 14y ago

This sort of observation & discussion should happen daily and feedback should be immediate Of course! But, that doesn't always happen. The 1:1 is an attempt to ensure that, to some degree, the subordinate and superior get at least a little of said discussion regularly.

philwelch 14y ago

I think Rands wrote about this. 1:1's are not supposed to be about status updates: http://www.randsinrepose.com/archives/2010/09/22/the_update_the_vent_and_the_disaster.html http://www.randsinrepose.com/archives/2010/09/22/the_update_...

potatolicious 14y ago

> "Of course I always forced the meetings, just in case employee had something to get off their chest." This is the only benefit of 1:1's. Status updates and general progress tracking should be baked into your every day processes. And here's the important part: 1:1's must absolutely be off the record. It is a safe place for an employee to voice his/her grievances and concerns without repercussion. Your workplace should already be open and respectful enough that people can voice almost all problems publicly with the rest of the team - which means by default any problem that will be touched on in a 1:1 is sensitive and needs to be treated as such. I've seen so many places where this has failed dramatically. If you keep 1:1's on-record and the contents open, you will get blindsided by the things your employees are uncomfortable bringing up in the open.