Way too many leaders aren’t having regular one-on-one meetings with each of their team members.
And there’s a powerful cost when you sidestep having these interactions…
Why Is It Vital That You Have Regular Meetings With Each Team Member?
Let’s think about the key positive outcomes that flow from you hosting good, one-on-one team member interactions…
- You and your team member get to be on the same page.
- Your investment of time and energy in your team member has them feeling valued and respected.
- Rapport and trust skyrockets.
- An issue that’s currently a hot ember is less likely to turn into a raging inferno.
- You’re modeling a good leadership practice and behaviour for others
What Stops Some Leaders From Setting A Meeting Schedule
Here are the three reasons leaders most commonly tell me why they’re not currently having these one-on-one interactions:
- “There’s not really anything much to talk about.”
- “I don’t know how to keep these meetings sharp and motivational.”
- “I don’t have enough time.”
And here’s my counter argument for each:
- You need to know where your team member’s on track and where they’re not on track, and what sort of support would be useful for them, don’t you?
- Yeah, I know, reporting the same old, same old to your team member is boring and demotivating. You simply need to take a different approach. (And here’s some good news—I’m about to give you a meeting agenda that will ensure your meetings are sharp and motivational.)
- And yep, pretty much every leader on the planet is already way too busy. But let’s think about it—Isn’t a leader’s primary job to lead/influence/support/motivate their team members so that KPIs and other goals are achieved? Don’t you therefore need to regularly have check ins with your team members?
I’ll rest my case now 
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Here’s The Secret To Making Your Meetings Invaluable
I’m going to give you my encrypted, secret code for making your team member meetings invaluable: ✓ X ?
Hmm, so what does that mean?
It means that your meeting agenda, post a rapport-building greeting, is simply this:
- What’s currently going well for you?
Where are things currently on track for you? (i.e. ✓)
- What’s not going so well for you?
Where are things not as well on track for you? (i.e. X)
- What needs to happen to turn that around?
What sort of support do you need from me? (i.e. ?)
And that’s it! Remember ✓ X ?
Why Does This Agenda Create Invaluable Team Member Meetings?
This ✓ X ? agenda creates invaluable team member meetings because:
- You’re talking about THE things that your team member cares most about and that impact them being triumphant…
—Their successes, what thrills and delights them.
—Their worries, their concerns.
—Where they need help for their goals to be achieved.
- You and your team member will look forward to having an open, constructive and highly useful discussion about the most critical topics that need to be spoken about. It’ll be easy to keep your discussions sharp and motivational.
You’ll notice that lots of positives flow from your regular (ideally weekly, fortnightly at the outside) half-hour scheduled discussions with your team members.
Your meetings will have them:
- On the same page as you.
- Feeling valued and respected by you.
- Experiencing greater rapport and trust with you.
- Confident because they’ve shared and developed an action plan for what they had considered to be potential raging infernos.
- Observing you modeling exemplary leadership behaviour that they can adopt with their team members or others with whom they interact.
Your Leadership Call to Action
I propose two key actions steps for you…
- If you’re not having team member meetings like the ones described here, decide what overhauling steps you’ll take.
- Watch the benefits flow
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As always, give me a yell if you want to talk about what you could do to move closer to being an exemplary leader.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Carolyn Stevens has worked with leaders for more than 25-years—hundreds of them.
She’s supported leader after leader (including those who previously struggled to confront the difficult, let alone persuasively deal with the it) flourish—and become confident, courageous and impressively influential.
Carolyn is authentic and results-oriented. She draws on an eclectic array of approaches, tools and techniques to suit the situation.
