1:1’s are great ways to meet with individuals at work to have open discussions. My first experiences with 1:1’s felt more forced and lackluster. These meetings didn’t provide me any useful feedback or actions to work on. At times, it felt hard to talk about specific problems or career progression. Have you also had issues with your own 1:1 meetings?
Last year I started a new job and I took on a new approach for how to leverage 1:1’s to facilitate the conversations I wanted to have. Conversations such as career progression, feedback, conflict resolution, or ideation sessions. My approach focuses on three main areas: (1) have a network of people to meet with, (2) develop discussion points / questions to talk about, and (3) take notes to develop actions and key takeaways.
Broaden your Network
1:1’s don’t have to be with just your manager. When I started to do 1:1’s last year, I began to reach out to people inside and outside of my immediate team, people that were both inside and outside of my company, and people of different levels to have these conversations. My first 1:1’s were with people who had been on the team longer than myself. I used these…
