How can direct reports and employees be prepared for one-to-one meetings?

Various measures and approaches are possible if your direct report or employee does not come prepared to the regular (usually bi-weekly) one-to-one meeting with you as a manager.

Here is the effectiveness of approaches or measures, based on my personal experience and knowledge as a manager, Scrum Master and psychologist, ranked in order - which measures work best?

Action item	Rating	Context
Writing regular reminders	1: Low effectiveness	If employees are unmotivated and unimaginative, reminders have little effect
Clarify the purpose of 1-to-1	2: Medium effectiveness	Clarifying the actual goal of one-to-one discussions together can be helpful and reduce pressure or anxiety among employees.
Focus on what works well	3: High effectiveness	Talking about things where a natural conversation simply arises can be very good for developing a trusting relationship.
Setting a good example	2: Medium effectiveness	Taking sufficient time for good preparation is a prerequisite for being able to expect the same from the employee.
Talking about non-work topics	3: High effectiveness	Non-work topics can be great for building mutual trust - and this makes it easier to open up.
Clarify motivation	2: Medium effectiveness	Direct confrontation with the fact that employees seem less motivated to bring up topics? Suboptimal, better to clarify general expectations of the appointment
Focus on learnings	2: Medium effectiveness	Focusing on reflecting on what employees have learned recently can be quite effective.
Change the rhythm	1: Low effectiveness	This should be one of the last measures to be taken and should only be done if both sides have no need for it, the collaboration is well established and there is little focus on employee development.
Use 1-to-1 tools	2: Medium effectiveness	Using specially developed one-to-one meeting software such as Echometer can help you to prepare quickly, document meetings and ask good reflection questions as a leader.

Hopefully the context will help you to understand where I get my assessment of effectiveness from.

Step-by-step guide: Better preparation of direct reports in 1-to-1 meetings

Would you like your software developers to be better prepared for one-to-one meetings with you as a manager and bring topics to the table more often? Based on the table above with the estimated effectiveness of measures, I would recommend the following step-by-step guide:

1. Relationship buildingIf you don’t know each other that well yet or you don’t have a good relationship with the employee, talk about informal topics to build more trust. 

2. Clarify expectationsDefine together why you are holding the 1-to-1 meetings in the first place (e.g. employee development, resolving blockages, etc.). Some employees may fear that certain statements made in the 1-to-1 meeting could be used against them in the annual performance review.

3. Ask good questionsAs a manager, you should have a plan for how you want to coach your employee, regardless of the employee. In this respect, you should regularly review various topics and reflect on them together with the employee, for example:

   1. Employee satisfaction with feedback
   2. Employee satisfaction with work in general
   3. Employee satisfaction with meetings

4. Try out toolsA trick for more employee participation can also be the use of dedicated 1-to-1 meeting software such as Echometer. Echometer helps both sides to prepare well with the help of templates, but also reminders and automated documentation.

Once you have completed these four steps, the likelihood of a well-prepared employee in the one-to-one meeting should be significantly increased.

FAQs: Frequently asked questions

Here are some frequently asked questions in this context.

Why don’t Direct Reports come prepared in 1-to-1 meetings?

There can be many reasons why your employees or direct reports are not so well prepared for the performance review or regular one-to-one meeting. Here are the three most important reasons that you should check out:

• Psychological safetyEmployees do not trust themselves or do not feel psychologically safe.
• IgnoranceEmployees do not know which topics they should bring with them or do not know the expectations of the 1-1 meeting.
• motivationEmployees are not interested in developing themselves further or actively participating in improvements.
• ToolsPoor 1-to-1 meeting tools or video software can also reduce employee motivation, while dedicated 1-to-1 meeting tools such as Echometer can increase it.

Why do some Direct Reports seem so unmotivated and take little part in meetings?

There can be many reasons why some employees or direct reports don’t take part in meetings and 1-to-1 conversations with managers. Here are some fundamental reasons that you should look into.

• Psychological safetyEmployees do not trust themselves or do not feel psychologically safe.
• ExpectationsEmployees do not know that a high level of meeting participation is expected of them.
• IncompetenceEmployees may simply have little to contribute in terms of content for some topics.
• Unclear, unattractive goalsA simple reason for low motivation can be that the current team goal is unclear or does not seem attractive to the employee.

If you want to learn more about the psychology of motivation, I can also recommend this eBook: 12 workshops for more team motivation .

What can I do as a software engineering manager to help software developers and engineers prepare better for 1-to-1 meetings with me as a manager?

Based on the table and the step-by-step process above, there are four simple steps:

1. Build a good relationship with employees so that they really open up.
2. Make it clear what you expect from employees in 1-to-1 meetings. Possibly set a development goal for the employee
3. Prepare for the 1-to-1 meeting with good questions
4. Try out dedicated 1-to-1 meeting software such as Echometer, which has various features to help you increase employee engagement in one-to-one meetings.