Emily (00:08)

Now your 1-on-1s should feel very different from other meetings. It's a dedicated time to talk about your direct reports' goals, growth, and concerns. Think of it as coaching and support time in service to them, allowing for a more open and honest dialogue between the two of you.

1-on-1s are about relationship building as well as course correction a place for regular feedback on performance and a place to dive into their overall satisfaction and level of challenge at work. Put simply,1-on-1 meetings really should not be a space for co-working. They should be reserved to talk about topics that are in service to this person's goals. Growth and development.

And why is that? It's because so often these crucial topics of conversation get deprioritized in the everyday urgency to get other things done. But strong leaders and high-performing teams always make space for these sorts of discussions, and the 1 to 1 is how they do it. Researcher Kim S. Cameron found that as a management practice, having recurring 1-on-1s really pays off.

His research states that when organizations implement highly effective 1-on-1s, performance, productivity, customer satisfaction, and employee engagement significantly improve. Now you might ask what makes for an effective 1-on-1? We're going to learn more about that.