New Tips And Triks For You

Michael Wolfe, Startup founder

Let's first talk about why 1-1s are a crucial part of the "operation system" of how a company runs.

A company lives or dies by:

Getting the best people to join the company, Keeping them engaged and productive, Making great decisions about what these people should work on.

A manager has only a few tools in her arsenal to make these things happen, and 1-1s are perhaps the most powerful.

Let's talk about a small company that has settled on the following weekly schedule of meetings as part of its operating system:

This structure works for companies of any size.

If you are tiny and everyone reports to the CEO, the Monday meeting would be with the whole team, and the 1-1′s would be between the CEO and each team member.

If you have another layer of management (VPs or department heads), the CEO would have 1-1′s with each department head, and each department head would have 1-1′s with each team member who works for her, and so on.

For an example, let's say you are the VP of Engineering at a company with a couple of layers of management and perhaps 50 people. Your weekly engineering department cadence might look like this:

And each of your managers would be having 1-1s with their direct reports as well.

This does represent an investment in time for you, perhaps 6-8 hours per week. And this is on top of the other work you have to do, like interviews, daily scrums, project meetings, and the other day-to-day of startup life.

But let's think about what you get for that investment:

Coaching and feedback

We all know that coaching and feedback is imperative, but most of us struggle with doing a good job of it. We know that feedback should be:

Immediate - the best time to give feedback is right after you observed the job performance. Did someone do a great job in a meeting? Tell him that right after the meeting. Continuous - feedback should happen year round, not just around performance review time. Informed - by feedback from peers, subordinates, even customers. Never rely solely on your own observations.

The regular cadence of 1-1s can allow you to offer feedback regularly, and it can ensure that feedback is informed by other team members.

Let's take a typical week where you may discover a problem in your team meeting and then work it via your 1-1s:

You found out that a project was running late. Jan gave you her input on how to fix it. You spoke to both Shun and Niraj in their regular 1-1s and gave them feedback. Let's think about what happened:

You addressed the problem quickly, so the project may get back on track. Jan feels like her opinion is sought and valued. Shun and Niraj gained valuable feedback. You may have headed off escalating tensions between Shun and Niraj. You learned that you need to improve how you are asking your managers to work with each other.

Without the regular heartbeat of your 1-1s, it may have taken several weeks for you to gather the information you need and work the issue. In the meantime, the problem may have blown up beyond repair. An investment of a few hours may have saved the company hundreds of hours down the line.

Better and faster decision making

Imagine that in your Monday management meeting, your CEO tells the executive team that is concerned about slowing revenue growth. He wants to create a new plan by next Monday that slows spending growth. You take a note to work the problem with your team. Your week may then look like this:

You shared the problem with your team, worked it with them in your 1-1s, then came prepared with a new plan the following Monday. And you:

Did not have to scramble - you used meeting time that you already had scheduled. Did not panic anyone - you didn't have to schedule any last-minute emergency meetings. Gave your team time to generate ideas and contribute. Got a pulse on how your team is feeling and soothed concerns they may have. Came into the following Monday management meeting with a new plan and, more importantly ready for a discussion of how the team took the news and what you can do to improve morale.

This is what rapid and efficient decision-making looks like.

Communication and transparency