Written by: Kyle Gillette, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
When 50% of employees quit their boss, not their job, there's something broken in the way managers are leading their teams. This stat tells us a lot about the need for better communication and connection between supervisors and employees.
One on one meetings between managers and their team members is a primary area where improvement can happen.
The heart of this is that many business leaders struggle to find time to focus on and develop their employees. Add to this the reality 69% of managers are uncomfortable communicating with employees and 75% of companies struggle with overwhelmed employees and you get a recipe for frustrated employees and poor performance.
These numbers reveal some sad statistics about the current state of leadership. Yet, there's been a dramatic increase in meetings since the pandemic began. You would think all the communication would help. Unfortunately, many leaders don't know how to facilitate productive meetings, are too busy to focus on them appropriately, or have too many of them all together!
Research indicates there is a high cost to not resolving the issues mentioned. According to Harvard Business review, soft skills issues cost large corporations $144,500 per day! Small businesses are not exempt from these costs either.
A key component to resolving the communication and overwhelm occurring in businesses across the world is one on one meetings. When done well, these meetings provide significant benefits to employee and business performance.
The research shows one on one meetings.
Improve communication
Provide feedback opportunities
Boost retention
Increase engagement 3x over other employees
Allow employees to vent and limits frustrations
Help resolve conflicts faster and prevents others
Improves employee performance and saves time
When leaders have effective meetings with their employees weekly or biweekly, their businesses benefit in all the ways mentioned above plus many more.
These meetings provide a huge benefit for time-strapped small business owners and leaders. When done right, these meetings will eliminate wasted time and resources in ad hoc conversations, drawn-out team meetings, and help the employee confidently make decisions and move forward.
Great meetings follow a simple structure to ensure they remain productive. Below is a 5 part template you can immediately use in your leadership.
The One on One Template
There are five fundamental keys to effective one on one meetings.
Keep them on topic
30-minutes or less
Honor the scheduled time
Employee brings agenda
Follow the CORA approach
Keep meetings on Topic
Great meetings don't stray from topic to topic. They are brief and tackle one issue at a time (preferably only one issue). Further topics can be discussed in a separate meeting or only after actions and accountability has been assigned.
Short Meetings
One-on-one meetings should be no more than 30-minutes. This forces the manager and employee to stay on topic and stay engaged. It also creates a sense of purpose and energy that longer meetings tend to not have.
Honor the Scheduled Time
Statistics show that over 42% of these meeting types get rescheduled. The rescheduling alone is a waste of time, gets people out of a routine, and delays needed communication.
Employee Agenda
Employees need to provide the agenda. If they have been led well, they will know exactly what their responsibilities are and what needs to be communicated in the meeting.
Use CORA
Speaking of communication, great meetings will follow a simple formula like CORA. This acronym stands for Communication, Obstacles, Resources, & Action + Accountability.
The idea with CORA is to create a structure for the meeting to follow that will always produce results.
Use the following example questions to help you get started with this approach.
What needs to be communicated and to who? What has already been communicated?
What obstacles have been overcome? What obstacles are anticipated?
What resources are necessary? What resources have been used or can be used?
Who will do what and by when?
At the end of this 30-minute meeting, both the manager and the team member will have clarity in each of these areas. Plus, they both need to walk away with actions to take between this meeting and the next.
During the next meeting, those actions will be reported on by both people. This ensures great accountability and progress. It also demonstrates for the employee that their supervisor is willing to take action to move things forward as well.
Summary
There are too many meetings in most businesses and they aren't as effective as they could be. When you have effective one on one meetings there is a myriad of benefits, two of which are much higher employee engagement and an overall decrease in a need for meetings saving you hours of time.
To watch a video presentation of this concept, you can check out the SAGE Mindset YouTube channel to learn how to implement this into your small business.
You can also contact me at Kyle@sagemindset.com
Kyle Gillette, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Kyle Gillette is an expert mindset coach. After working for 9 years in a men's mentoring program and seeing how much the student's mindsets were limiting their success, Kyle created the SAGE Mindset® Framework. He now helps small business owners who are struggling with burnout, feeling overwhelmed with work, or just plain stuck create the habits and mindsets gain the clarity, confidence, and clients they deserve. Kyle is also the creator of the SAGE Mindset App, he's an author, and host of the SAGE Mindset Podcast. He's been coaching and leading people in the non-profit and small business contexts for 20 years. Kyle desires to help his clients become the leaders they were meant to be. Visit sagemindset.com to learn more.
