## **Preparation** - Read last week’s 1on1 - Read this week notes. It's best to write things down as they happen, instead of trusting one's memory. - Prioritize ## **Meeting** - _Pick the questions that feel right. What not to skip is in bold._ - _A simple structure like “What’s going well, what’s not, what to improve” is fine for people who are naturals are taking a step back, prioritizing things, and who are very open about their personal matters. Other will welcome a bit more help._ - **Small talk** (pick one) - How is life outside of work? - How are you? - How do you feel your work/life balance is right now? - If around a holiday: Do you celebrate *Holiday*? How was it? - Tell me about last week → Sit back and listen. - **What’s going well?** - Listen first, then follow up with any cool thing they’ve done that you want to celebrate. Recognizing great behaviors reinforces them. - **What’s not going well?** - What’s not fun about working here? Ask for their idea before you volunteer yours. - Is there any aspect of your job you like more help in or coaching on? - **If you’re identified an issue**, say it and ask the Talent for potential solutions - “Jane, the past couple of weeks, I have noticed the client is rejecting a lot of your PRs. What do you think the problem is?” There is an enormous amount of information to be gathered from how the employee answers this simple question. Do they make excuses and blame others? Or do they openly talk about issues and ask for help? In which case you can identify root causes and create plans for behavioral change together. - When you want to offer specific advice, ask for permission: “I have a couple of ideas that I think might help. Would you like me to share them with you?” + advices. More questions depending on the situation: - Do I micromanage you a bit too much? Or would you like more guidance maybe? - Do you feel you’re getting enough feedback on your work? If not, is there anything specific you would like more feedback on? - What could I do as a manager to make your work easier? - Is there anything I should start doing? stop doing? keep on doing? - How could we improve how the team works together? Any issue with someone? Anything to start, stop, keep doing? - Most managers say the hardest part of the job is “people problems”. People are complex so it can be hard to pin point the root of these problems, but one thing’s for sure — you have a better chance of solving them if you include your employees in the conversation. - Providing space for you and your employees to openly talk about ways to work better together can help you uncover issues but remember — the hardest issues to talk about might be you: so be incredibly attentive! Ending the session: - **On a scale of 1–10, how happy are you at work?** For anything below 8, ask “How do we get you to an 9?” - **Write action items**. Let the employee lead. Make them SMART. ## 3 Quick Guidelines - Don't ever skip a 1on1. - Use a private doc to prepare the meeting, and a shared one to take notes during the meeting and list action items. - Put aside 30 to 60 minutes every week or two. ## 3 Principles - **1on1 are about people & their work, in that order** - Focus on personal aspect to build human connection. - Schedule another meeting to talk about work if needed. - **Never skip a 1on1** - If your team feel you don’t care about them, there’s almost zero chance they’ll work well. - Be consistent: same day same time. - **80% listening 20% speaking** - This meeting is for the employee, not for the manager. - Listen and try to draw the key issues out of the employee. - The more introverted the employee the more important. ## Going Further - 80-20 in a 5min read: [https://a16z.com/2012/08/30/one-on-one/](https://a16z.com/2012/08/30/one-on-one/) - Why 1on1? Spotify engineers’ take - [https://labs.spotify.com/2015/12/16/a-101-on-11s/](https://labs.spotify.com/2015/12/16/a-101-on-11s/) - [https://refactoring.fm/p/how-to-run-effective-11s-](https://refactoring.fm/p/how-to-run-effective-11s-) - [https://rework.withgoogle.com/guides/managers-coach-managers-to-coach/steps/hold-effective-1-1-meetings](https://rework.withgoogle.com/guides/managers-coach-managers-to-coach/steps/hold-effective-1-1-meetings) - [https://rework.withgoogle.com/guides/managers-care-professionally-personally-for-team/steps/structure-career-conversations-with-grow/](https://rework.withgoogle.com/guides/managers-care-professionally-personally-for-team/steps/structure-career-conversations-with-grow/) - [https://cwodtke.medium.com/working-the-weekly-1-1-b80bcf3fbe5f](https://cwodtke.medium.com/working-the-weekly-1-1-b80bcf3fbe5f) - https://hbr.org/2013/12/how-google-sold-its-engineers-on-management ## Next Steps for This Doc - Add how to structure the longer term career discussions - Interesting read? [https://refactoring.fm/p/the-pyramid-of-engagement-](https://refactoring.fm/p/the-pyramid-of-engagement-)