You’ve probably seen enough business books, junk mail, spam and other media touting the latest tools and techniques to help you become a more effective manager. Indeed, most business books out there today fill most or all of their pages with suggestions on how to get the most out of your people. In this age of information, we have access to all manner of charts, graphs, software, scheduling systems, disciplinary systems, time management systems, motivational systems, and too many others to list here.
And yet, your most powerful management tool requires no technology beyond a chair, a pen and paper. You don’t have to buy anything to use it. You don’t have to hire a consultant to understand it. You don’t have to find an engineer to install it. You don’t have to read the latest bestselling business book to figure it out.
All you need is some time – one or two hours per week.
“What?” you say to yourself. “How could it be that simple?”
It really is that simple. Use an hour per week to sit down with an employee who reports directly to you, one on one, no other distractions, no other employees, spouses, customers, vendors, children, pets, phone interruptions, or anyone else. Have a standing meeting to talk about what is going on at work with that employee.
Think about it; all of the management tools and technology on the planet won’t help you if you don’t have a productive relationship with the people who report to you. Businesses depend on people to run them. And in order for the business to run smoothly, the people who work in that business must be able to interact effectively with each other and with customers. Without regular, scheduled, purposeful meetings with your direct reports, you’ll have a difficult time building and strengthening these relationships.
Every meeting needs a written agenda and a clear statement of the desired outcome. Without these two components, it’s likely that your meetings will wander without any real direction. And you won’t get the results you want. So spend some time (15-30 minutes) preparing an agenda for the meeting.
What do you put on that agenda? For your first meeting, find out what your employee expects from you and needs from you as their manager. Also, spell out exactly what it is you expect from them. Work rules, schedules, attitudes, the way they dress, and the way they interact with employees and customers are all fair game.
Start every meeting on a positive note. Ask your people about the good things that happened for them in the past week. Too often, business owners and managers spend so much of their time trying to fix problems that they forget to celebrate the victories along the way.
After you take time to acknowledge what is working well, talk about their current work. What kind of progress are they making? What problems and obstacles are coming up? This is the place where you can strategize together and come up with a plan to overcome any obstacles they may be experiencing. When they have a hand in creating the plan, they are more likely to follow through with the implementation of that plan.
If you have specific performance or behavioral issues you need to address with the employee, this is the place to do it. With no distractions or other employees, you can take the time to dig into the issue, get agreement that the behavior or performance needs to change, and work together to create a plan that will produce the desired results. Take good notes here, especially about the specific actions they agree to take before the next meeting. If necessary, take some time after the meeting to complete your notes for future reference. Store these notes in the employee’s file. At that next meeting, check in with them to find out about their progress and re-direct them as necessary. Holding employees to this level of accountability is not always easy, but it’s worth it. They’ll feel confident in knowing exactly what you expect from them. You’ll have immediate feedback on how effective your coaching and mentoring is working for them. And any undesirable patterns of behavior will become visible in your notes from week to week.
If you are wondering how you are going to meet one-on-one with 15 or 20 employees every week, you’re trying to manage too many people. It’s very difficult for a manager to effectively manage more than five or six reporting employees.
Meeting with your reporting employees one-on-one every week requires an investment of time. It’s time well spent. Like regular deposits in a savings account, you’ll build up good will and closer relationships over time, and you’ll have employees who produce better and better results. Isn’t that what effective management is all about?
Michael Lloyd is a Certified E-Myth Senior Coach at E-Myth Worldwide. He can be contacted at 707.569.5673, or by email atmlloyd@e-myth.com, or visit www.e-myth.com.
