By Chad Kearns
Sparked, Fired Up! Culture’s every-other-week newsletter, is focused on what drives culture and engagement in the workplace. This newsletter is for leaders who are ready to get intentional about bringing their team together, building engagement, and harnessing the power of culture to build high-performing teams. Sign up here to get every edition of Sparked delivered straight to your inbox.
Engage your Team by Honoring 1:1 Meeting Time
Merriam-Webster defines honoring as a means to “regard or treat (someone) with admiration and respect.”
Honoring individual moments with your team members is an impactful way leaders can show their care and respect for those on their team.
Unfortunately, 1:1 meeting time with team members doesn’t happen as often as it should and it’s common for team members to feel like they do not have meaningful 1:1 time with their leader.
Honoring the 1:1 opportunities leaders have with their team members is incredibly important to building engagement and buy-in.
Looking for ways to fire up your team members and build a high-performing team?
Honor 1:1 meeting time.
Take Action to Honor 1:1 Meeting Time
Still trying to figure out where to start? Here’s how to take action today:
- Schedule Time Proactively: The easiest way to show that 1:1 time with a team member is important to you is to get time on the calendar proactively. Too many people leaders are reactive here. They wait for a team member to raise their hand and ask for time. Be proactive. Take ownership to get that 1:1 time on the calendar.
- Make it Recurring: One-and-done, or sporadically scheduled 1:1s with your team members miss the mark. Make these meetings recurring. At the very least, you should be meeting 1:1 with each of your direct reports every other week. Weekly is ideal. Thirty minutes of meaningful, dedicated time together every week can make a world of difference for a team member.
- Avoid Cancellations and Reschedules: Here is where we can start digging into the concept of honoring this 1:1 time. Cancellations and reschedules indicate how important 1:1 time is to you. Are cancellations and reschedules going to happen? Certainly, but many leaders cancel and reschedule far too often. Honoring the time shows it’s important to you. Canceling and rescheduling show that there are more important items on your list.
- Be on Time: Perfection isn’t expected. Consistently showing up on time is.
- Come Prepared: Showing honor for your 1:1 meeting and the team member on the other end means coming to that meeting prepared. Have a shared meeting sheet. Make notes beforehand. Meeting preparation shows your investment.
- Be Present: With screens around you, a full calendar, a long list of to-dos, and competing priorities for your time and attention, distraction can come quickly during 1:1s. Be present and focus on staying present. It’s easy to tell when the person on the other end of your 1:1 isn’t really there. Honor the time by avoiding distraction. Honor the person on the other end by avoiding distraction.
Destinations International Members: Register for May’s BizOps Virtual Roundtable!
What’s Next? Shaping Successful Career Pathing and Succession Planning
Effective workforce development is vital to the present and future success of any destination. Join us for the next BizOps virtual roundtable session, which will feature a panel of three organizational development experts from the Fired Up! Culture team, to learn how destinations can successfully navigate career pathing and succession planning to lead their workforces forward.
Please Note: This opportunity is only available for Destinations International members.
Further Exploration on Honoring 1:1 Meeting Time
- Make the Most of Your One-on-One Meetings
- A Guide to Creating Great 1:1 Meeting Agendas
- 7 Things to Know About 1:1 Meetings that Will Make You a Better Manager
Need help developing actionable plans for creating a culture of excellence in your organization?
Check out our Fired-Up! Culture Index today
