Read

Developing Your Team – How Consistent One-to-One’s Increase Employee Retention

by Wendy Beecham, Advisory Board Member

Marcus Buckingham is the leader of The Gallup Organization’s twenty-year effort to identify the core characteristics of great managers and great workplaces. In his book, “First Break All the Rules,” he gives details of a study of 105,680 individuals in 2,528 business units. The study identified four key attributes of working at a company that cause employees to feel most engaged with their leader, in their work, and with the company.

The key attributes are:

1. I have a best friend at work.
2. At work, I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day.
3. I know what is expected of me at work.
4. My supervisor, or someone at work, seems to care about me as a person.

So, what are the tangible benefits of having an engaged workforce? Buckingham’s study shows the link between people and performance was vivid. The most "engaged" workplaces were 50% more likely to have lower turnover, 56% more likely to have higher-than-average customer loyalty, 38% more likely to have above-average productivity, and 27% more likely to report higher profitability.

As a leader of your team, it is important that you

1. Establish a vision for where you are taking the business.
2. Set clear goals so people understand their role in helping get there.
3. Set clear accountability systems to measure the progress so that your people know when they have been successful.

One of the most important mechanisms for ensuring that the individuals on your team are engaged is to hold consistent one-to-one meetings with them. As a coach, some of the more common reasons I hear from my clients for not holding one-to-one meetings with their direct reports are:

1. I meet with them several times a day on many topics so we have enough interaction as it is.
2. I’m not sure what to talk about.
3. I don’t have time. I already have enough meetings as it is.

The reality is that the one-to-one meeting is the most powerful development tool you have in your toolkit for developing the individuals on your team, increasing employee retention, and it is probably the most underutilized.

So, what is the real value of a one-to-one meeting to you, the leader, and the employee? If it is held consistently, it will demonstrate to your employee that you care about them and their development as an individual (read about employee engagement above), it will enable you to verify that they are clear on the goals that have been set for them, and that they have the skills and tools they need to perform their job successfully. It is also another method for you to use as an accountability tool to make sure deliverables are on track.

Tips for Effective One-to-Ones:

1. Be consistent – One of the biggest complaints I hear from employees is that their manager continually changes or cancels their one-to-one time. This is an important meeting to the employee as it is valuable face time with their leader and they want to sense that you feel that same value. The key is to set the meeting up for a ½ hour or 1 hour time period every week, bi-weekly or once a month and stick to it! You determine the length and frequency based on the needs of the employee and yourself.
2. Set some ground rules to get you both started – It’s helpful to consider this to be their meeting with you and not your chance to grill them on the deliverables you’ve been wondering about. In general, you can use a format that covers the following material:
1. What have you accomplished since we last met – be sure to celebrate the successes.
2. What are your goals for the next week (or 2 weeks or month – whenever you will meet with them again)?
3. What do you need from me to help you be successful?
4. What else is happening that you’d like to talk about?


This last open-ended question is the real gem. It opens the door for the employee to bring up personnel issues they might have with their team, personal issues they might be dealing with that could be impacting their work, or questions about your strategies or what’s been happening at the company that they’ve been wondering about.


3. Another key point is that the employee should do most of the talking during the meeting. This is their time with you. Some statements for you to use to show you are listening are:
1. It sounds like...
2. What I hear is...
3. Do I understand you correctly that...
4. Am I hearing you that...


It is also to show empathy if your employee is discussing a personal issue with you. Some examples of empathy statements are:


1. a. If I were in your situation, I would be feeling...
2. b. You must really be...
3. c. That would make me...

You will find that after a few of these meetings, you and the employee will develop your own flow for the meetings.

Next Steps

If you are not currently holding regular one-to-ones with your direct reports, I encourage you to set start setting them up! Just give it a try and you’ll be amazed at the response you get from your team.

If you are holding regular one-to-ones, I encourage you to discuss with your employee how effective they are for them and perhaps institute some of the tips you’ve read in the article.

The result will be a more engaged workforce who feel more empowered and become more loyal to you!

In Partnership,

Wendy Beecham
Advisory Board Member
June 2007

More articles...