The One-On-One: Make it Fun


Posted by The SA Team on 17 Apr 2012 / 13 Comments


Several years ago I was introduced to the podcasts over at Manager Tools.  Full disclosure I gain in absolutely no way from endorsing Manager Tools.  But we all collectively gain when our field is full of good, efficient and effective managers.

The folks at Manager Tools stress one tool more than any other: One-on-one meetings.  Sure – you may think – I talk to my team all the time.  This is a little different.  This is a structured, regularly scheduled (weekly is ideal) meeting with each one of your direct reports.

I have been performing structured one-on-one meetings as described by Manager Tools for 4-5 years and the time is well invested in the relationship with your direct reports.  On Thursday I asked my twitter stream “Interested in hearing from folks that have regularly scheduled 1on1s with their direct reports. Worth the time? Benefits?”  I got some great replies.

The first reply was from Gavin Henning, Senior Research Analyst in the Office of Institutional Research at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, U.S.  Gavin indicated that one-one-ones are absolutely worth the time and said the meetings are a great opportunity to give updates and get direction from your supervisor.  He also indicated how important it is to have a consistent time to connect and the importance of both direct and supervisor contributing agenda items.

I was very grateful to get replies from hall directors to vice-president student affairs.  Although I can’t share all the comments I received via twitter the overwhelming majority where in support of one-on-ones.  Rachel Barreca, a Canadian higher education professional who has for several years worked in the United Kingdom.  Rachel indicated that the one-on-one meetings were a great way to know your direct reports better and check-in with them personally.  Rachel also described one-on-one meetings as an opportunity to solve problems, discuss professional development opportunities as well as a provide feedback and direction.

You may be thinking to yourself – I have SO many staff.  I can’t possibly meet with all of them weekly.  Why not?  As a manager or supervisor it is your job to ensure your team performs.  If you work 35, 45, or even 55 hours per week – 30 minutes with each direct report is not very much time.  Think of it like this: 10 direct reports x 30 minutes would only be 5 hours.  Only 12% of a 40 hour work week.  If you don’t currently supervise full-time staff and you have a big team of part-time staff this may be more challenging.  It may make sense to meet bi-weekly or less frequently with part-timers.  However if you have 5-8 or less full-time staff you should have no trouble finding the time if you schedule it consistently from now till forever in your calendar.

I suggest you head on over to Manager Tools to the listen to their podcast on one-on-ones.

A little one-on-one summary

Absolutely worth the time invested!

Purpose: To develop and strengthen a professional relationship with your direct reports.

Format: 10 minutes for them, 10 minutes for you, 10 minutes for the future (coaching, professional development, growth, etc)

What are your thoughts on one-on-ones?  If you have tricks and tips for one-on-ones please leave them in the comments.

 Chad Nuttall is Manager, Student Housing Services (CHO) at Ryerson University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

 

Written by The SA Team


  • Matt Musgrave (@MDMusgrave)

    Chad, those are some great thoughts on one on ones! Here are some tips I have to supplement it:
    -at the beginning of the semester, I work with my student staff to set two goals related to the RA role, two goals related to their student role (academics), and one personal goal (for example, I had one staff member who wanted to learn how to play the guitar); over the course of the semester we check in on that progress in addition to talking about floor concerns
    -I try to do at least one “fun-on-one” per semester, where RAs teach me about some passion they have (e.g. teaching me how to juggle — I still can’t juggle to save my life, but it was fun trying to learn!)
    I’d love to hear other ideas for spicing up meetings, which can often appear tedious to student staff if you don’t know how to make them more interesting

    • Carter Roane

      I really like your fun-on-one idea! I need to remember that!

    • Megan MacKenzie

      Fun-on-ones are my favourite way to connect with my student staff!  I like to invite them to come up with anything fun they would like to do together, and I block out time to make that fun idea a reality.  They are incredibly time-consuming, but are wonderful tools for building rapport and staying connected with my staff outside the office.  Sometimes fun-on-ones are going for a walk on campus, and sometimes they are a trip to an amusement park – I especially like that each experience is unique to the relationship that I have with that staff member.

    • http://twitter.com/chadtweets Chad Nuttall

      Great tips!  I also did fun-on-ones when I supervised student-staff. 

  • Matt Musgrave (@MDMusgrave)

    Chad, those are some great thoughts on one on ones! Here are some tips I have to supplement it:
    -at the beginning of the semester, I work with my student staff to set two goals related to the RA role, two goals related to their student role (academics), and one personal goal (for example, I had one staff member who wanted to learn how to play the guitar); over the course of the semester we check in on that progress in addition to talking about floor concerns
    -I try to do at least one “fun-on-one” per semester, where RAs teach me about some passion they have (e.g. teaching me how to juggle — I still can’t juggle to save my life, but it was fun trying to learn!)
    I’d love to hear other ideas for spicing up meetings, which can often appear tedious to student staff if you don’t know how to make them more interesting

  • Carter Roane

    I really loved one-on-ones when I was an RD and it is definitely one of my favorite parts of the position. It is a great way to get to know an RA and find out what is going on with them.  I have found when I did one-on one’s away from the office, that seemed to work well whether it was going to the student center, maybe downtown or just walking around campus, it seemed to help the RA loosen up a bit and talk about what was on their mind. I learned that from my RD and it is something I have always tried to do!

  • Carter Roane

    I really loved one-on-ones when I was an RD and it is definitely one of my favorite parts of the position. It is a great way to get to know an RA and find out what is going on with them.  I have found when I did one-on one’s away from the office, that seemed to work well whether it was going to the student center, maybe downtown or just walking around campus, it seemed to help the RA loosen up a bit and talk about what was on their mind. I learned that from my RD and it is something I have always tried to do!

    • http://twitter.com/chadtweets Chad Nuttall

      Thanks for your comments Carter!

  • Chelsea O’Brien

    I really like the idea of one-on-ones with student workers. I did them as an RA but never thought about doing it in an office setting. It might be too late in this academic year to implement, but I’ll definitely consider starting it next year. My office has tried a few different ways to approach students so that they feel they can trust the office if they have a problem, and I think one-on-ones would be a great way to start that next year!

    • http://twitter.com/chadtweets Chad Nuttall

      I believe 1on1s are a great tool no matter who you supervise.  If it is office staff, cleaners, orientation teams, RAs, counsellors, etc.

  • http://twitter.com/SamEAustin Samuel Austin

    Thank you for sharing these ideas. What should be done about the student who doesn’t want to talk? What about the student you really don’t want to be talking to?

    • http://twitter.com/chadtweets Chad Nuttall

      Great thoughts and questions.  If these students are staff … then communication with their supervisor should be an expectation.  Make that very clear.  Manager Tools offers same great “trigger questions” to get conversation going.

      Staff not being forthcoming with information is not just restricted to students either.  Start asking lots of questions about their work and build a professional relationship with your directs.

      C

  • http://twitter.com/NikitaOConnor Nikita O’Connor

    I try to have “Make your own 1:1.” We tell our staff what to do and where to be all the time, so this is a time that they get to pick where it is and what we do. Some take advantage and we do new things all the time, some just like having lunch with me, and for the structured ones, I get a good old fashioned meeting with them. Similar to the “fun 1:1″ :)

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