Who Owns Your 1:1 Meetings?

By Terre Short

Do you dread weekly or biweekly one-on-one meetings? Is it the prep, the actual meeting, or the follow up that you find challenging? Or “D” – all of the above? This could be an ownership issue. These meetings hold the key to being proactive, as a contributor and a leader. Creating a framework enhances your ability to squeeze lots of goodness out of these key interactions while aligning goals and expectations.

In a previous article, I offered a framework for your consideration that outlines six essential components of a highly effective 1:1 meeting. You can find this resource among our free offerings. What I did not overview was ownership. I find that who owns which components of the meeting varies greatly with leaders. The factors that should influence ownership are tenure and performance.

When a direct report is new at their role, they may need more frequent 1:1 meetings and since they do not know what they do not know, they may need the leader to assume a greater percentage of the ownership. When someone is under performing, they may also require more ownership on behalf of the leader. Otherwise, most of the ownership should lie with the direct report.

For instance, the employee who contributes to the agenda and prioritization of the topics discussed is more apt to feel heard and valued for their insight and planning. When they are also accountable for action items, and articulating key takeaways, they are more likely to follow through on what is discussed. Frequently, I learn that leaders drive the content and the follow up for these meetings. This reduces ownership on behalf of the direct report.

When you consider these meetings as proactive interactions where challenges are discussed and solutions are explored, your direct report knows they can count on this time to gain alignment. When they take notes in a shared file, and recap what they heard and how this meeting informs their next steps, real proactive progress is made. Leaders spin their wheels and gain traction slowly when they drive the follow up, even when they expertly clarify expectations. This action implies that expectations are all the leader’s and not shared. The main objective of an effective 1:1 meeting is alignment of goals and related actions. If this is not the case for you, please assess the true objectives of your 1:1 meetings.

Consider the 1:1 meetings that you participate in, and the percentage of ownership you hold in the following. Underline your current percentage of ownership and circle the percentage you will move toward. Remember that tenure and performance may change this for certain individuals.

Pre-Meeting (including setting time on the calendar, agenda, and prioritization of content) –

0% – 10% – 25% – 50% – 75% – 100%

The meeting (what is shared, what is solved for, what is the main focus) –

0% – 10% – 25% – 50% – 75% – 100%

Post-Meeting (key takeaways, action items, expectations of timing for deliverables, what will be done before the next meeting) –

0% – 10% – 25% – 50% – 75% – 100%

Now, imagine your job when all of your direct reports are setting the agenda with limited input from you (perhaps some minimal prioritization), driving the dialogue based on their needs (minimal coaching from you to remove barriers to their solutions), and summarizing all follow up in a manner that aligns with your expectations and the team goals. This is how proactive leaders, who are also great coaches, hold 1:1 meetings. Is this you? It can be!