Supervisors count on personal meetings with workers to promote collaboration, retention, and engagement, but they need the right tools and resources for these interactions.
According to a new survey, balancing team management with their other duties is the most significant challenge managers face. Two-third (68%) of respondents identify this as a top concern, compared to hitting team goals (14%), obtaining team collaboration (11%), and retaining employees. To manage these efforts, most managers see one-on-one meetings with their workers as an essential tool. They often have different goals and use different resources and technology to make these activities productive. However, there are several tips for one-on-ones that best promote engagement, retention, and innovation.
Almost all (94%) of managers say they have one-on-one meetings with their team members. Half (49%) hold such meetings on a weekly basis, and half of these one-on-ones are 30 minutes in length. Nearly half (41.3%) of managers say they use personal productivity tools such as Google Docs and Apple Notes to document meetings, 34.2% use pen and paper, 27% use communication tools such as Slack or Microsoft Teams, and 21.4% use one-on-one team meeting software.
There are multiple benefits to using one-on-one and team meeting software, the survey authors suggest. They say, “Managers who use [these tools] have a better understanding of how direct reports are feeling overall.” Of the managers who say that assessing their workers’ feelings is their greatest challenge, 100% don’t use this type of software.
Most managers have multiple reasons for holding one-on-one meetings. These include:
- Understanding and eliminating roadblocks (70%)
- Conducting a “pulse check” (61%)
- Updating status of a specific project, role, or activity (50%)
- Talking about career growth (50%)
- Addressing a goal set by the employee (35%)
Three-quarters (75%) of managers say they discuss growth and development within their one-on-one meetings. To help supervisors better understand how employees view their role and how they would like to progress, the survey authors suggest a few questions to include in these discussions:
- What areas of the company would you like to learn more about?
- What skills would you like to develop right now?
- What professional goals would you like to accomplish in the next 6 to 12 months, and what makes you say that?
- Do you feel you’re getting enough feedback on your work? If not, where would you like more feedback?
- Who in the company would you like to learn from? What do you want to learn from them?
- If I could improve one skill between this meeting and the next, which would you choose?
