Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Welcome to the Leader By Design podcast. Today I'm going to share with you how mastering one on one meetings is the single biggest game changer for business owners. So stay tuned.
[00:00:14] G'. Day. I'm Brendan Rogers. I've built a thriving business creating confident leaders who achieve the results they always wanted along with the lifestyle they always dreamed of.
[00:00:26] How do you become a confident leader? By focusing on three key developing character, building competence and creating connection. This is the Leader by Design podcast.
[00:00:38] Thanks for tuning in. I'm your host, Brendan Rogers. Before we take a deep dive into our topic today, I want to highlight the undisputable benefits of mastering one on one meetings.
[00:00:49] Increased employee engagement, enhanced communication, personalised support and development, increased productivity and performance, stronger relationships, early identification of issues, enhanced accountability and their adaptability in all working environments.
[00:01:11] These benefits form the cornerstone of why one on one meetings are a critical tool for every leader.
[00:01:18] Now make sure you stick around until the end of the episode as I'm going to share with you my top three do's and don'ts so you can get the most out of your one on one meetings. But firstly, I want you to think about this question.
[00:01:32] How do you ever expect to maximize the performance of your employees and deliver consistent results without spending deliberate and focused time with them? Each week, as I move through a variety of leadership roles in my own corporate life, this is a question I should have asked myself much more often.
[00:01:52] Talking about my corporate life for a second, I want to share a personal story that highlights just how important one on one meetings can be.
[00:02:00] Back in the year 2000, after the hysteria of the Y2K bug had been squashed, I was seconded to the largest project undertaken in the company I was working for.
[00:02:11] The goal was to centralise all customer service and back office functions from around Australia into a single location. My role was to run a series of workshops with senior staff to learn and document the various processes within marketing, sales, customer service and the documentation functions. On one hand I was super excited to get this opportunity and on the other I was crapping myself as I felt way out of my depth. I'd never run workshops before, let alone a series of workshops over several months containing many senior people in the organization.
[00:02:46] There was also the extra pressure that some of these people would likely be out of a job at some point in the future, so you weren't really sure the mindset they would be in attending something like this.
[00:02:56] What got me through these three months of personal growth on steroids?
[00:03:01] It was the one on one meetings I had with The Project manager through the one on one meetings, he coached me, listened to me, provided support, helped me develop, challenged me, and overall built my confidence to the point where I knew I could do a great job. In fact, he made it clear that he knew I would do a great job, which is why he wanted me on the project team. All this combined created the level of trust that ensured I felt comfortable going to him for help and advice at any time.
[00:03:33] So how did I go? Well, I delivered within the timeframes, got everything documented and the information was used as the basis for the training moving forward. And I continued to get offered fantastic opportunities within the company. So I guess I did something right.
[00:03:49] This experience taught me so much about the power of spending deliberate and focused time with employees through one on one meetings. In fact, the lesson that has stayed with me to this day is that the best outcome is always on the other side of a genuine conversation. It's a vivid reminder for me of why the personal, focused time we spend in one on one meetings is invaluable. Now for some background. I've attended several leadership development courses at the Australian Institute of Management and the Australian Graduate School of Management.
[00:04:23] I've completed a Diploma in Project management.
[00:04:26] I completed 75% of the subjects required to get a business degree. Why didn't I finish? Well, as I had the opportunity to gain fantastic business and leadership experience in the real world, I saw less and less value within the theoretical world of academia. I even had the fantastic opportunity to attend an intensive on campus two week Business Leadership Program A at one of the leading business schools in the world, the INSEAD Business School in Singapore. With all of this formal training in business and leadership, not one of these business leadership programs had any focus on the importance of mastering one on one meetings.
[00:05:04] So let me ask the question again.
[00:05:06] How do you ever expect to maximise the performance of your employees and deliver consistent results without spending deliberate and focus time with them each week? The best and most effective way is to master one on one meetings. This answer is the same whether you're a small business owner or leader in a corporate organization.
[00:05:29] Over the course of 23 years working in global companies, I had the privilege of learning about business and leadership from many great people at all levels. Now when I refer to learning, I have to say I learnt a mixed bag of what worked well and what didn't work well. But the great thing is there was learning in all of it, even if I didn't know it at the time. I also had countless opportunities to be involved in internal leadership training sessions as an attendee and as a facilitator. And unfortunately there was never a focus on the power of one on one meetings as a critical leadership tool to improve employee performance.
[00:06:08] In my journey of leading teams, I'm pleased to say I did hold many one on one meetings with my team members. But was I consistent in having them? No. Was I clear on the intent for each one?
[00:06:23] No.
[00:06:23] Was I deliberate about what I focused on in the conversation?
[00:06:27] No.
[00:06:29] Did I have structure to my approach and how I prepared?
[00:06:32] No.
[00:06:34] Did I have a systemic approach to track progress?
[00:06:38] No.
[00:06:39] Did I know how to be clear on performance expectations?
[00:06:42] Sort of.
[00:06:44] Did I know how to deliver feedback? Sort of. And did I know how to have difficult conversations?
[00:06:50] Again, sort of. The things I was sort of doing. I credit more to what I learned from my football coaches and captaining semi professional sporting teams. I guess the problem was for me, I wasn't smart enough to link what I learned in sport and how I could apply it to the business world and specifically leading people in business teams.
[00:07:12] Now don't get me wrong, all of these experiences taught me so much about who I am, what I can achieve and how I develop my character, build my competence and create human connection.
[00:07:24] And every experience I've had on my journey so far has enabled me to get where I am today.
[00:07:30] But never during my journey did I seem to ever meet someone who really understood the power of one on one meetings and how they're explicitly linked to improving performance.
[00:07:42] The only thing that seemed to come close to understanding the importance of one on ones was the yearly performance review.
[00:07:49] Although the importance was placed on just getting them done and making sure you completed the form correctly as opposed to the quality of the conversation and how it set up improved performance for the future.
[00:08:02] Let me ask the question again.
[00:08:04] How do you ever expect to maximise the performance of your employees and deliver consistent results without spending deliberate and focused time with them each week?
[00:08:18] The short answer is you can't.
[00:08:21] So what's the best way to spend deliberate and focus time with your employees each week? The answer One on one meetings.
[00:08:29] One on one meetings is the most effective way to maximise the performance of your employees and deliver consistent results.
[00:08:38] It doesn't matter if you have your employees back in the office, working from home, or you've got a hybrid working environment.
[00:08:44] One on one meetings are the most powerful leadership tool you have as a business owner to maximize the performance of your employees and your business.
[00:08:54] Actually, in my own experience and the experiences of my clients, one on one meetings are even more important in work from home and hybrid office environments.
[00:09:05] You can't achieve the results you really want without mastering one on one meetings.
[00:09:10] Now I've talked to you a lot today about my own experiences and reflections that brought me to the realisation of of the importance of one on one meetings. What I haven't shared is what case studies and data is out there to substantiate what a game changer one on one meetings are. If you aren't already convinced of how important they are, maybe the data will bring you across from the dark side.
[00:09:34] Gallup, a global analytics and advisory firm, found in their research across millions of employees that employees who have regular one on one meetings with their managers are three times more likely to be engaged at work, three times more likely to be engaged at work, three times more likely to be engaged at work.
[00:09:57] A more engaged employee equals a higher performing employee. The same research found doing regular one on one meetings increased productivity and profitability by 20%, lowered turnover, reduced surprise days off and there were half as many safety issues.
[00:10:16] There was another study done by the Microsoft Workplace analytics team and reported in Harvard Business Review.
[00:10:23] It found perhaps unsurprisingly, employees who got little to no one on one time with their manager were more likely to be disengaged.
[00:10:33] On the flip side, those who got twice the number of one on ones with their manager or relative to their peers are 67% less likely to be disengaged.
[00:10:44] And in the same study they identified what happens when a manager doesn't meet with employees one on one at all. They found employees in this situation are four times as likely to be disengaged as individual contributors as a whole, and are two times as likely to view leadership more unfavorably than compared to those who meet with their managers regularly.
[00:11:08] So in very simple terms, the study revealed not only does a lack of one on one meetings cause disengagement, it also makes employees think all the company's leaders are poor. With all this said, any business owner would be crazy to not have one on one meetings. All the business owners I've met are very smart people.
[00:11:30] It's likely they just didn't realise the extraordinary value one on one meetings bring. No different to me or the many people I learnt from over the years.
[00:11:40] A couple of large companies you may have heard of Adobe and GE.
[00:11:44] Both of them implemented having their managers do fortnightly one on one meetings. Adobe saw a 30% reduction in voluntary turnover and GE was able to drive a five fold productivity increase within 12 months.
[00:11:59] Now I don't know a business owner on this earth who wouldn't be happy with that sort of improvement in their own business.
[00:12:05] As I've said before, one on one meetings is the most effective way to maximise the performance of your employees and deliver consistent results.
[00:12:16] Do you believe me yet?
[00:12:18] If you do, how about you join our wait list and be the first notified when the doors open to our inaugural master one on one meetings program.
[00:12:27] I'll teach you the complete 8A to Z system of how to use one on one meetings to maximise the performance of your employees and to deliver consistent results.
[00:12:36] So go to LeaderByDesign AU waitlist and sign up today.
[00:12:43] Now you might be thinking why is our inaugural program Master one on one meetings? Because mastering them is the single biggest skill you can develop as a business owner. It's the greatest lever to give you maximum impact.
[00:12:57] Without mastering this skill, your employees and your business will underperform. As we know, becoming a confident leader by design requires focus on three key developing character, building competence and creating connection.
[00:13:13] Learning to master one on one meetings is the ultimate skill to continuously develop in all three areas.
[00:13:20] I hope that today's episode has made it clear that the value of one on one meetings extends far beyond a conversation.
[00:13:27] They're a cornerstone of confident leadership and the single biggest driver for creating a business where engagement, productivity and satisfaction thrive. Embracing the practice of one on one meetings will maximize the performance of your employees and deliver consistent results for your business.
[00:13:47] Now, as we wrap up today's episode on how one on one meetings are a game changer, it's time for me to fulfill my promise from the start of the episode. Here are my top three do's and don'ts to help you get the most out of your one on one meetings. The first do Be consistent.
[00:14:04] Schedule regular meetings whether weekly or fortnightly and stick to them. The second one Be prepared.
[00:14:11] Come prepared with topics to discuss, but also be flexible to address what your employee needs from the meeting.
[00:14:18] And the do number three is listen. This is your chance to really hear what your employees have to say, understand their challenges and celebrate their success.
[00:14:30] Now for the don'ts.
[00:14:31] First one don't treat it like a tick box exercise. The focus should be on quality of conversation, not just going through the motions.
[00:14:40] Don't avoid difficult conversations.
[00:14:44] Use these meetings as an opportunity to tackle tough topics in a supportive environment.
[00:14:50] Don't forget the follow up always recap action items and follow up on them in subsequent meetings to show progress and accountability.
[00:14:59] Now I've chosen these do's and don'ts based on my own experiences. If you have personal stories about one on one meetings, any tips or pitfalls you've experienced, I'd love to hear from you.
[00:15:10] Also, if there's a particular topic you're interested in learning more about, let me know. You can contact me via my socials, send me your feedback and suggestions, and you can help shape the topics of our future episodes.
[00:15:23] So as we close out this episode, let's recap on some key points.
[00:15:27] One on one meetings are a foundation of confident leadership and business success.
[00:15:33] They increase employee engagement, encourage open communication, and build an environment where personalized support and development thrive. And they position you as a leader who helps bring out the best in your team and drive consistent results.
[00:15:48] The journey to become a leader by design is ongoing and mastering one on one meetings is a critical step in the journey. Whether you're just starting or looking to refine your approach, the time to act is now. Schedule the meetings, prepare with intent and listen with care.
[00:16:07] Your leadership and your business will be all the better for it.
[00:16:12] So what action should you take from this episode? Well, the obvious one is if you aren't already having one on one meetings with your employees, schedule them in your calendar now.
[00:16:23] Weekly or fortnightly, it's up to you. The key is to start.
[00:16:27] If you're already doing one on ones, think about one thing you can do to make them more effective and then implement the change. My list of do's and don'ts might help you out. In our next episode. I'll give you a simple three question structure for your one on ones that will help you lead a genuine conversation with clear performance outcomes. Check it out and until then, always remember, leaders aren't born, they're designed by developing character, building competence and creating connection.
[00:17:00] Become a Leader by Design Today in the hybrid working world, I've seen too many business owners and their businesses suffer because of poor performing employees leading to below average results.
[00:17:16] If you want to improve your employees performance to deliver consistent results for your business, you have to master one on one meetings. The doors to our Master one on one Meetings training program are opening soon. I'll teach you how to improve employee performance and deliver consistent results using one on one meetings. To be one of the first people notified when the doors open, go to leaderbydesign AU waitlist.
[00:17:44] Don't wait. Sign up now.
