Have you had any employees request that their 1-1’s be curtailed or simply stopped? How would you handle this?

I appreciate that time is allotted for me to express anything I might have to say, but I’d much rather be able to opt-in when I actually have something significant to say instead of being forced into these. My point being they don’t work for all employees.

Thanks

The outcome?

Teams that created a feeling of psychological safety and encouraged each team member to have an equal say were the ones that consistently performed the best.

Then I found your post, which shared a similar approach.

Thanks for sharing!

Also, wanted to help answer Sheena’s message about 1-on-1 meetings with bigger teams. Usually each manager does 1-on-1 with her/his direct report (not the CEO with all the employees). And since each manager has typically 5-8 direct reports, it’s manageable (and this is about a relationship with your team so it is the most important part of each manager’s job).

Additionally, when you have bigger teams, there is a category of software that helps everyone be more productive, effective and aligned as a team doing these 1-on-1 meetings. For example, I am the CEO of a company called Atiim (www.atiim.com) which helps you with 1-on-1 management by creating a communication “Pulse” with your team – it takes only 10 minutes for your team members to complete weekly questions (as well as update their progress towards goals that a manager needs to know in each 1-on-1). Then a manager reviews each direct report’s reply (and can still do the 1-on-1 but far more effectively since you now possess the most important insights and can focus on what’s truly urgent at this point).

Also, you may appreciate some tips for 1-on-1 meetings that Jessica on our team posted here: https://www.atiim.com/blog/use-these-6-rules-to-build-better-one-on-ones/

Kind regards,
Z

Another challenge I’ve seen is, especially for tech leads that are new to management, is missing the “regular” part of 1:1s, i.e. not meeting consistently. It can be easy to slip into a pattern of “Hey, mind if we skip our meeting today?” It’s can be a symptom of a bigger issue, including having 1:1s that aren’t set up to be purposeful and mutually beneficial.