Do You Dread Your Staff One to Ones? - By Caroline Cooper

This month I’ve been working with one of my clients conducting one to one coaching with a number of their managers to help them with conducting their own one to one meetings with their team.

Fortunately for me in this case there is a strong culture for conducting the meetings, but a huge difference in their approach, expected outcomes and confidence in their ability to do so.

What’s the point?

The starting point has to be identifying what you want to achieve from the meetings. Sadly some see it just as a chore. Never under estimate the impact of sitting down with each member of staff on a one to one basis. Your aim should be to motivate your team members to either continue or sustain good performance and to feel confident that they have the ability and support to fill any gaps where they need development.

It’s an opportunity for them to have their contribution recognised – not just performance, but have their ideas heard. And finally it devotes time to set direction and goals for the coming weeks.

The net result should be an enthused and motivated employee who knows what they should be focusing on, and how this will contribute to the business.

Finding the time

One of the common concerns I hear is that the process is time consuming, particularly when you have 8 – 10 people reporting to you. Well, ask yourself this – how much time potentially will you need to spend rectifying things if you don’t take that time out with them?

This week I listened to one manager telling me he spent literally hours preparing for the meetings, then found himself having to work twice as hard to get the employee to contribute their ideas and views to the meeting. One to ones are as much for their benefit as yours, so ask them to take some responsibility too for the preparation.

There may be things they’ve done that are worthy of comment, which you are oblivious to; remember you don’t see them every minute of every day they are at work. So ask them to plan what they would like to discuss. As a minimum you may like to consider these 3 questions:

• What successes or achievements have you had this month or what have you done this month that you’re proud of?
• What disappointments or frustrations? Or if you had a magic wand, what would you change or do differently?
• What do you feel needs to be your number 1 focus for the coming month?

You don’t need to use this wording, but you get the gist.

Their preparation obviously doesn’t let you off the hook altogether, but if they are well prepared it will certainly reduce the amount of time needed in the meeting to achieve the same result.

What’s on the agenda?

The agenda doesn’t need to be written in tablets of stone, but it’s good to follow a basic structure so you both know what to expect and can plan accordingly. Linking back to your objectives there are some key elements to include, all of which can be structured around the questions above. It’s far better to home in on one or two areas at each meeting so you can go into some depth, than covering everything superficially and covering the same ground each time.

• What have they achieved towards pre-determined goals, targets, KPIs, etc
• How have they gone about this – this is where you might also look at their behaviours too. It’s all very well achieving all their targets if they have upset colleagues or guests along the way.
• What needs to be focused on or addressed, and what support or development do they need to do this
• A summing up and agreement on actions moving forward, with some measurable goals and clear direction 

Time and place

One to ones should be scheduled so both of you can plan for them and around them, and fully prepare. And nothing smacks more of "I'm not valued" than one to one meetings being continually cancelled for the slightest reason.

I’m often asked how often and how long should they be. There is no hard and fast rule, but allow on average a minimum of an hour per month per person, longer for roles with more responsibility. So if you conduct them monthly then set aside at least an hour for each, plus preparation time. If logistics mean that you can only meet once every 2 months, then allow two hours.

Either way allow sufficient time so that neither of you are rushed or distracted by imposing deadlines e.g. prior to your main service times for F&B staff. Think also of their state of mind at the end of a very busy shift.

Avoid the fish bowl type of office or public areas. You want a free and open discussion, and you’ll not get this when there’s a fear they’ll be over heard or others can see their reactions to any sensitive issues raised.

Getting them on board

One to ones should be a two way discussion. Ask open questions to get their ideas on performance and how to move forward.

When giving feedback on their performance use the AID model:

• A Action what they did – i.e. what you have seen or heard (back this up with examples, focus on actions not on your interpretation or their intentions)
• I Impact – what has that achieved, or what impact has it had on the business, the department, the guests, or themselves
• D Development – what can they do to build on this, or do differently to improve or perfect, and how you can support them

Ask for their views, not only on their performance, but what support they need, what could be improved in the business, what feedback they have had from guests, their suggestions for future objectives. And be prepared to listen to their answers and probe for more detail or examples if you need to so you fully understand what they are saying.

Remember, if people's previous experience of one to one meetings up till now has been bad or at best just a waste of time, it can take time to build trust before these can be totally honest exchanges. Start by asking the questions above, or similar, and use this as a starting point to get the discussions going.

Where to begin

If you aren’t already conducting regular one to ones now might be a good time to start. Use your first meeting to establish (jointly) their goals and KPIs if you don’t already have these in place.

Begin with the end in mind.

 

Caroline Cooper is a business and leadership coach with over 25 years’ experience in business and management development, and founder of Zeal Coaching, specializing in working with hospitality businesses. You can hear more on this topic in Caroline’s recent teleseminar


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