Remote 1-1s
No matter how you feel about remote vs. in-person work, if you are on a position that you are responsible for some peope you would recognise that doing remote 1-1s is challenging. Some companies force employees to come back to the office while others have a hybrid mode. Nevertheless, learning how to do remote 1:1s well is a skill every one needs to develop, because it will be part of the future. I’ll share some tips from my experience.
Key goals for 1:1s
The main goals for a regular 1:1 should be to build trust and empathy. Trust lays the groundwork for more difficult conversations about growth opportunities later. Empathy helps you understand how your team is doing: Are you pushing them too hard? Changing directions too often? Not making tough decisions in time? Communicating poorly?
1:1s are not optional
No matter how long is the 1-1, or how often you have it, try to never skip it and always give it your full attention, otherwise you signalise that is not important. Unless there’s something tough to discuss, kick off with some small talk and mostly just listen to what they have to say. Try to connect by understanding their work style and whatever they’re open to sharing about their interests. Usually it takes take a few meetings before you feel comfortable with each other.
1:1s are not status updates
Keep status updates for Jira, Slack or standups. Try to not treat 1-1s as a way to get status updates for a project, unless you want to dig deeper to understand why something is not going according to a plan and you want to hear the feelings/thoughts of the person.
Keep notes
During or right after the meeting, note any non-sensitive topics and action items. And then actually follow up. Building trust starts with addressing small issues.
Prepare Some Open-Ended Questions
Always have something to ask to foster discussion. What part of our current project do you find most challenging or exciting? How do you feel about the current balance between technical debt and new feature development? Are there any areas in our documentation that you think need more clarity or detail? What blockers are you currently facing, and how can I help remove them?