My 1-1 Cadence
I schedule a minimum of one half-hour with each of my direct reports every week. Yes: I schedule them, they are at least a half hour, and they happen with every direct report, every week. Somehow, this is a rare approach. Here’s how I my 1-1 cadence and why.
I schedule them.
I know many managers, directors, VPs, etc. that have their direct reports schedule the 1-1s themselves, saying it’s to encourage responsibility or comfort with scheduling time with people higher in the org (I won’t address the “I’m too busy to do it myself” crowd). I believe it’s important for the manager to schedule for a few reasons.
It shows your investment and prioritization of them as teammates.
Your calendar is packed, and your team respects that you have higher level, impactful meetings they won’t want to disrupt for a meeting that’s just for them, especially a meeting that has no perceived immediate need or problem to solve.
When the inevitable conflict does pop up, I can simply reschedule the 1-1 myself instead; this is a much better feeling for the teammate than declining their invite and asking them to find another (likely non-existent) place in your schedule.
They are at least a half-hour.
Fifteen minutes is ok for daily check-ins but simply useless for meaningful 1-1s. People need time to decompress and reach a level of comfort, paticularly if they are going to share anything related to conflict or struggle, which are the most important things I need to know in order to be effective in my role.
In many cases 1-1s need to be closer to 45 minutes or an hour. These can include new hires, teammates wanting extra leadership or skills coaching, or teammates simply needing more time to share and process. My goal is always to connect with the individual to understand their strengths and opportunities in order to bring out the best in them, so the actual duration will match accordingly.
They happen with every direct report, every week.
The level of need of each of your people will always vary based on project cycles, level of personal development, and even personality type. Every week may feel like too much, and there will be periods where bi-weekly is all that is manageable, particularly if you have 10 or more direct reports. However, the regular cadence is critical. All of the teammates in my part of the org know they can talk to me about anything at any time based on the emphasis I place on personal policies like Self > Family > Work. Even so, bringing up sensitive topics is confrontational in nature, and people are less likely to do that without the right intro or space. Having a regular cadence where teammates know they’ll have a private, safe space with me allows for these critical conversations to take place. This is where the regular, banal, “do we really need this meeting?” 1-1s become extra important because they are what set the foundation that “we always talk”, which significantly takes the edge off of broaching difficult topics. Teammates are much more likely to bring up important or sensitive information when they know you talk with them regularly regardless of topic.
A good 1-1 meeting with each of your teammates is the single most effective tool you have as a manager of people, and there are articles and articles about the benefits of regular 1-1s. Yet, shockingly, many managers treat 1-1s as nice-to-have, they schedule them ad-hoc when something is needed, or…worst of all…only have them when it’s time for performance reviews.