Ace Your 1:1s: Insights for Leaders & Direct Reports
1:1s are already happening at immense rates, in fact an estimated 200 to 500 million occur globally every day. There’s good reason for this, namely, 1:1s matter. They produce real results for those who utilize them, and there’s data to prove it:
- Employees who meet with their managers regularly are more likely to be engaged – as reported by Gallup when reviewing 2.5 million manager-led teams
- Direct reports who get little to no 1:1 time are more likely to be disengaged – as reported by Harvard Business Review
- Both managers (89%) and direct reports (73%) stated they believed 1:1s positively affected their team’s performance – in one study of over 2,000 employees.
They can achieve this by enabling direct reports to gain support from their leaders while also providing leaders with the ability to provide direct reports with ongoing feedback, enabling them to reach their goals and grow and develop within their roles.
But what is a 1:1 anyway? At its core a 1:1 is an expected recurring meeting held between a direct report and their manager. What’s discussed during one is less clear, with various options from project status reports to conversations regarding growth and development. Truly, the options are almost endless: as long as it has to do with your job, organization, or future career aspirations, it’s pretty much on the table. This openness is at the heart of what makes 1:1s able to produce impressive results. Still, it can also make navigating them challenging especially when so few organizations provide training on how to conduct them (often past experience is all individuals get, and previous bosses like the one who used to spend 98% of your 1:1 telling you about their daughter’s track meet or the one who chose to skip 1:1s altogether more often than not don’t provide great examples to model).
In essence, a truly effective 1:1 isn’t as simple to conduct as it may first appear, but that doesn’t mean it has to be hard to do either (and they’re more than worth the time and effort doing so takes). Just a few changes can make the difference between a mediocre meeting and an engaging conversation that drives results. Leaders aren’t the only ones who play a part in achieving stand-out meetings, though; both leaders and their direct reports have their own roles to play in increasing a 1:1’s effectiveness. That’s why we’ve broken down a few key recommendations depending on which role you take during the meeting providing both. Check out our recent blog posts with:
References:
- Rogelberg, S. G. (2024). Glad we met: The art and science of 1:1 meetings. Oxford University Press.
