1 on 1 Development Meetings - 3 of The Most Common Mistakes

A one-on-one development meeting is the cornerstone of effectively managing a direct report. Over the years I have seen this simple but effective management strategy work wonders by driving accountability, improving performance and developing a solid bond between manager and report. Despite all the benefits these meetings offer, I occasionally hear about managers who feel too busy to hold these meetings consistently. I hear stories about managers who have "office hours" of availability. Some managers, I hear, feel that these meetings are unnecessary because they sit on the floor with their reps. These managers clearly don’t understand the full value, power and potential of the one-on-one development meeting so let's explore some of the many benefits below.

One-on-one Development Meetings for managers, are:

  • Opportunities to set goals

  • Opportunities to evaluate performance

  • Opportunities to identify training needs

  • Opportunities to remove sales roadblocks

  • Opportunities to drive accountability

One-on-one Development Meetings for direct reports, are:

  • Opportunities to receive feedback

  • Opportunities to celebrate wins

  • Opportunities to learn

  • Opportunities to communicate

Consistency

Consistency is key to driving accountability through these meetings. If they are haphazard or de-prioritized, this sends a message to your direct report that hitting the numbers can be treated in the same erratic way. These meetings should be as sticky and consistent as meetings with top clients or board members.

Recap

Always recap your conversations, especially the tough ones. This can be done via email and it’s important to articulate how happy you are with the successes as well as the impact of falling short of the target. Do your best to quantify these results in your recap. For example, "This is the 3rd week in a row of exceeding your sales activities, great job!" or "This is the 3rd week in a row that you have missed the deadline".  Many times, the direct report will focus on the positives and forget the negatives. It’s nothing personal, that’s just the way our brains work.

Do Not Use This Time for Training

As tempting as it may seem to have your new hire or struggling direct report captive in front of you for 30 minutes, do not take this time to administer training. It's very easy to slip past the review of goals and performance and move on to something more comfortable for the both of you but this is not the place or meeting for that. This is about reviewing performance against predefined goals and for you as a manager, this is about identifying roadblocks and coming up with strategies to overcome them. The byproduct of that discussion MIGHT be training but that can be held at a different time.

There are many benefits to a consistent, recurring one-on-one development meeting and we discussed just a few pointers above. The most important thing to remember is that if you as a manager de-prioritize these meetings, so will your reports. You should be having fun with this and you will know you are doing them right when your reps start looking forward to the one-on-ones with you.  For more information download our free meeting guide.

 

Jonathan Elhardt