Running One-on-One meetings remotely

#leadership #remote #management #productivity

With the recent events worldwide, many have been put in a position that was potentially not even an option before, working remotely from home (WFH).

Some of us are lucky enough that WFH was already a reality, part or full time. So we already have mechanism and processes put in place to enable a good performance. But for those whom this is an out of the blue, brand new experience, things might not run so smoothly.

As a leader in my organization, it is one of my responsibilities to run frequent One-on-One (1on1) meetings with my team members. In them we discuss matters like current projects, career prospects, growth and learning opportunities, etc.

I still prefer, when possible, to run these kind of meetings in person. However, in our current situation, that might not be possible. What's important is that we don't disrupt or stop the flow of these very important interactions with our team members.

The way I approach running 1on1s remotely is by relying on good technology. Here are the different aspects, and associated products, I use to run mine.

Videoconferencing

It is very important that we can talk and see each other. We use a Google Meet, part of the Enterprise GSuite but now promised to all.

We also have a paid Slack account that allows us to have video conferencing and screen sharing capabilities. This is very helpful too for other types of activities, like collaboration on tasks and projects.

Meeting Notes

As part of your 1on1s you should be sharing an agenda, the notes taking during the meeting, and track the actions that came of it.

We use 15five and I'm very happy with it. Besides the above mentioned needs to run 1on1s, it also offers all other manner of features regarding employee empowerment. Like 360 reviews, OKRs, etc.

But sometimes a simple shared document could be all that is needed. I recommend it to be in a format that can not only be shared, but co-authored as well. A 1on1 is a two-way communication process.

Conclusion

There is no one way to approach this, but it is good to share ideas and experiences.

This is how I'm managing mine, what are you doing on yours?