The Metiss Group's Blog

A leader’s regular one-on-one meetings with their direct reports is the most effective leadership tool available to bosses.  We recommend having these sessions at least bi-weekly and every week if possible.

The leader should take careful notes during and after each session, including:

• Did the direct report accomplish what they said they were going to?
• What are they planning to accomplish by next meeting?
• How did the direct report handle obstacles?
• How are their development plans coming along?

A performance review is just that – a review of performance.  Nothing new should be discussed.  It doesn’t have to be elaborate or formal; just a simple review of performance over a period of time.  We suggest leaders conduct these sessions quarterly and even annually in lieu of formal performance appraisals.

If leaders have their one-on-one sessions documented, conducting performance reviews requires little preparation as most of the work is already done.  Simply review all the notes and discuss the outcomes with the direct report.  There should be no surprises and you’ll both benefit from a focus for the whole time period not just the last few weeks each remembers.

Empower your direct reports to meet with you regularly in one-on-one meetings, document the conversations, and you’ll experience more success.

This entry was posted on October 14, 2011 at 11:01 am and is filed under Leadership, Performance Acceleration. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.