Tips to Build Trust in the New Normal with Regular one on one Meeting and Check-ins
Who wants a boss?
Noone.
But everyone has a boss.
Who wants a leader?
Everyone.
But a very few have a leader guiding them.
In Narnia, Aslan is the North Star that leads the four kids toward their goal. In Harry Potter, Dumbledore says to Harry that help will be given to those who ask for it at Hogwarts. Similarly, a workplace should be like Hogwarts and a manager should be like Aslan or Dumbledore. Building trust and loyalty within the employees should also be considered a top priority by the managers to increase the employee retention rate and productivity by engaging the employees.
In today’s reality, is it possible for managers to act as leaders and build trust within the employees? It is really hard because employees are working from their homes and managers do not have enough training to manage employees during these uncertain times.
Though employees are happy about having a work-life balance, they still feel isolated during work hours and they have no colleague dropping by their desks, no coffee time, and no watercooler conversations.
Even the work-life balance myth in this period of remote working has become a myth as the thin fine line between personal and professional lives has disappeared. But why has that happened? Because employers don’t trust their employees and overload them with work and call even out of work hours.
What can companies do to stop them?
Frequent one-on-one meetings or Continuous check-ins.
How frequent should these one-on-one meetings be?
One-on-one meetings usually happen weekly, monthly, quarterly, half-yearly, or annually, depending upon the needs of the business. In this new normal, all the companies should conduct continuous check-ins weekly or biweekly to promote collaboration and also maintain the employee experience while working remotely.
Here are a few tips on how to build trust leveraging the strength of one-on-one meetings in this age of remote working.
Consistency is the Key to 10X ROI
Andy Grove, the father of Objectives and Key Results (OKR), asserts that effective one-on-one meetings produce 10X return on investment for the managers. Managers have difficulty in conducting continuous check-ins for every employee every week amidst their busy schedule. But managers should understand that these one-on-one meetings are not extra work but a mandatory session that should be placed in their busy calendar. Consistency of meetings can be maintained if both the manager and employee free their schedule every week on the same day and time.
Only happy and engaged employees can increase productivity and the quality of work.
As employees, it is important for you to attend the one-on-one meetings to share your concerns and let your manager know what bothers you. If there happens to be some occasion where your manager cancels the 1:1 meeting, you can talk to your manager or send an email to him requesting to reschedule the meeting as you feel isolated or demotivated. These meetings are important to strengthen the manager-employee relations.
Prepare a Few Pointers Before You Go to The Meeting
This always happens. Entering the meeting and both manager and employee do not know what to discuss, and so they end up discussing something irrelevant or unimportant. Therefore, before you go to the meeting, prepare the questions that you must ask the employee. The questions should reflect your care for the well-being of your team members. Make your team members believe in your empathetic approach and build a rapport with them.
Here are a few questions to ask your team members.
- How is your work going? Do you have anything that’s bothering you?
- Are you able to maintain your work-life balance?
- Are you engaged or do you feel isolated working from home?
- Do you want me to conduct any additional activity to promote teamwork?
- How are things between you and other team members?
The questions should be less formal and the conversation should be very casual. Since it is not possible to have a chat over a cup of coffee, you can use some innovative tech solutions with a waiting room or virtual coffee breaks to speak with your team members.
Do Not Talk About Projects
An effective one-on-one meeting will avoid status updates and will be more about how work life is. You and your team can discuss the status of the projects or daily tasks in team meetings or even can send them via emails. The employee should be comfortable enough with you to speak about his personal life and its impact on the work. You should be a great listener and should not interrupt while the employee speaks even if you feel something is wrong. You should just listen and give your suggestions to help them find solutions.
Even if the employee has got something negative about you (manager), you should be open to receive it in a constructive way and work on it to give a better employee experience to your team members.
Take notes of the points you discuss in the meeting and the actions that you both have decided to take on the discussed issues. Later, you can draft a mail and send it to the employee as a reminder.
Take Your Employees’ Input
Sometimes, if it is a weekly meeting, you might not have anything to discuss. In those cases, do not expect only the employees to speak, you can also speak about your experiences or any work problems. If you have any trouble with any project or work, you can ask for inputs from the employees. As they are on the frontline, they would know more about how the business is doing and the demands of the market. You can casually discuss those issues with your team members and have a chat over them.
Sometimes they may even give you the solution you were waiting for or it could become a chat that has relieved you a bit from your stress. Either way, it would be beneficial to you as well as your employee. Your employee will learn the responsibilities that come along with your role.
If you follow these tips, you will see the difference in your team in terms of productivity, collaboration, and communication. Good luck!
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