I'm mostly staying quiet at the moment because I want y'all to speak,
rather than I.
But I have a quizzical expression on my face, in particular for those
who don't find one-on-ones useful. I'd love to hear more about your
reasons for feeling that way.
And in particular -- for everyone -- please tell me what you expect to
happen in a one-on-one. What is talked about? What isn't? (What SHOULD
be? What SHOULDN'T be? Who should make those decisions?)
Because if we each have different expectations about what such a meeting
is, we'll respond to it differently.
For instance, it kind of sounds as though some people see "one on one"
as if it's an employee review. ("Here is what you are doing well and
what needs improvement.") For someone else it might be a boss' to-do
list ("first, get THIS done, then work on that") -- which would be
annoying if you both already know what the priorities are.
So, especially if you find these meetings annoying or too frequent...
what (if anything) could a manager (or client!) say or do to make your
life easier? (In regard to communication or lack thereof.)
Peter Loron wrote:
I’ve never found 1-1 meetings to be very useful for me. If I am not on
track or am failing somehow, come grab me immediately and let me know.
If I’m kicking ass, come grab me and let me know. Other than that,
stay out of my hair and let me get stuff done. No reason to schedule
anything. If there’s a reason to talk, then do it immediately. If
there’s no reason, then don’t waste my time.
-Pete
*From: *<[email protected]> on behalf of Matthew Butch
<[email protected]>
*Date: *Friday, July 8, 2016 at 06:34
*To: *Esther Schindler <[email protected]>
*Cc: *Discuss <[email protected]>
*Subject: *Re: [lopsa-discuss] Attention hive mind: Advice on doing
one-on-one meetings?
From the employee side- I HATED weekly scheduled one on ones. That’s
way too frequent and interrupted my workflow. I would say at max once
a month, though I could see longer time frames depending on the
person- every other month, every three or every six (the max it should
be). Honestly, I think it depends on the employee, and maybe depends
on where they are at in their career. I’d probably review the
frequency every six months.
Scheduled is probably a good so that employees know they have time
with their manager, and can prepare.
Be absolutely clear about what it is for. I had one manager who
clearly started them because he wanted to start controlling and
micromanaging us, and I hated that.
The agenda that I prefer is a free form discussion of what ever the
employee wants to talk about, maybe with a few prompting questions-
How’s the work/life balance, how’s the stress level, anything bugging
you, where do you want to go in your career. I don’t want it to be
status updates (where are you at on this project, etc) because those
are for team meetings or I can approach my manager separately as
needed instead of waiting.
I can certainly fill in more details about my experience if you need it.
I hope that helps!
On Jul 7, 2016, at 17:22, Esther Schindler <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
Once again I'd like your input. I like to think the subject is
interesting enough that you'll enjoy responding.
This obviously isn't networking-related, but it certainly is
germane to techies. Or, really, to anyone who works in a corporate
environment.
I’m writing a white paper that aims to give advice to creative
workers (and to software developers in particular) about how to do
one-on-ones well, in a way that benefits everyone (manager,
employee, company… heck, the whole world). Fortunately, this isn’t
a short piece, so I have some room to spread out. And I'd like
your input (privately or publicly).
The key question: *What should people know about
manager-and-worker one-on-one meetings? *
What do you wish your manager or employees had understood? What
did you appreciate when they did?
Among the topics I’m going to cover: why one-on-ones are
important; what dire things happen when you don't do them, or
don't honor that process; how the one-on-one is different based on
your roles (manager/peon, client/consultant, mentor/mentee);
logistics and timing; what you should expect to talk about... and
NOT to talk about; real life examples (and lessons to take away
from them); judging success.
I’d love to hear from you about your advice and experience with
one-on-ones – both the good ones and (even more valuably) when
things did not work ideally. Tell me your stories. Anecdotes are
awesome. If they happen to fit in any of the categories above,
that’s groovy; if not, that’s cool too.
You don’t need to be an “authority” on HR or doing one-on-ones. I
want real-world experiences!
It's completely okay to be anonymous; the point here is to share
advice. Though if you would like to be quoted, that's do-able.
(Context does help; if you've managed developers for 12 years
readers will get a different perception than for someone on her
first job.)
--Esther
twitter.com/estherschindler <http://twitter.com/estherschindler>
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