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Improve your one-on-one meetings with these 5 tips

Too many one-on-one meetings about the leader talking and directing. Try a conversation about values and results where your report drives the conversation.

2 min read

Communication

Bad one-on-ones

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As leaders, do you hold regular one-on-one meetings with your team members? Many leaders do, but they go about their one-on-ones completely backwards.

Most one-on-ones play out with the leader telling the team member what to do, what they’ve done wrong and sending them on their way. These meetings are leader-driven and results-focused.

It’s entirely backwards. There’s too much talking and directing by leaders.

The most effective one-on-ones are a conversation about values and results, with the team member talking more, sharing more and asking for help where needed.

This approach makes perfect sense if you believe, like I do, that the purpose of leadership is to engage and inspire talented team members to cooperatively align to shared values and common goals.

Effective leaders see one-on-ones as an opportunity to learn about performance and values traction, and they learn how to serve team members more effectively in the weeks to come.

Watch this crisp, three-minute video to learn how to tweak your one-on-ones and engage and inspire team members.

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