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.

When we ask leaders “What talent concern frequently keeps you up at night?”, one of the most common answers is they are concerned they will lose their superstar.  No one wants their key producer to leave, but hoping they stay or showering them with pleasures won’t make you feel less exposed.

Every key position should have a succession plan.  An effective plan brings peace of mind to the leader as well as the incumbent.  The leader can rest easy knowing if their superstar leaves, for whatever reason, they have a plan to fill the role.  The leader also feels less trapped knowing they have a plan (this applies to positions with poor performers as well).

The direct report feels better knowing the organization is not stuck should they move on and allows them to pursue growth opportunities — even within the organization.  A direct reports feels completely trapped when they hear “You are so wonderful at your work, we could never have anyone else in your role” which essentially tells them their career is over.

An effective succession plan should include:

• sources for filling the position,
• job accountabilities,
• job function documentation.

Empower yourself and your superstars by putting in place a succession plan, and you both become more successful.

Habit #7 in Steve Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is called “Sharpen the Saw.” Covey uses the common analogy of a woodcutter who is sawing for several days straight and is becoming less and less productive. The process of cutting dulls the blade. So the solution is to periodically sharpen the saw.

We’ve found that in practice, however, most people fail to understand what sharpening the saw really means. If you’re overworking yourself and your productivity begins to fall off, common wisdom says to take a break, maybe even go on vacation. However, that isn’t sharpening the saw — that’s putting the saw down. When you put down a dull blade for a while, the blade will still be dull when you pick it up again.

Sharpening the saw is actually an activity, just as the analogy suggests. Think about what it would mean to sharpen the saw of your life. Here are some saw-sharpening ideas:

• Exercise
• Improve your diet
• Educate yourself (read, listen to audio programs, attend a seminar)
• Learn a new skill
• Set some new goals or review/update your old goals
• Organize your home or office
• Clear out a bunch of little tasks that you’ve been putting off

Now the woodcutter can’t just alternate between cutting wood and sharpening the saw indefinitely. Downtime is needed too, but it isn’t the same as sharpening the saw. The woodcutter can become even more productive by sharpening the blade, studying new woodcutting techniques, working out to become stronger, and learning from other woodcutters.

Forgetting to intentionally sharpen the saw can lead to a feeling of burnout. If you merely alternate between productive work and downtime, your production capacity will drop off. You’re still working hard, but you don’t feel as productive as you think you should be. When you sharpen yourself regularly, you’ll find that you can flow along at a steady pace week after week without getting burnt out.

Empower yourself to sharpen your saw, and you’ll be even more successful.

Source: StevePavlina.com

When asked “what’s the one thing you most admire about your best boss?”, most people answer something about communication and feedback.  When we ask people “what’s the one thing you’d like more from your boss?”, most people answer something about more communication and feedback.

So if communication and feedback is most admirable from leaders AND most people feel they don’t get enough from their boss, what are the chances your direct reports are getting all the communication and feedback they want/need?  In the same way you want more feedback from your boss, your directs want more feedback from you.

When giving feedback keep these basics in mind

• Feedback should on-going and delivered frequently;
• Feedback should be delivered timely, immediately after the demonstrated behavior;
• The feedback should describe the observed behavior not be personal or an opinion;
• Tailor the feedback to the direct report’s personality style;
• Keep the feedback productive, corrections should focus on future behaviors;
• Deliver both positive and course correction feedback (positive should out-weigh corrective).

Empower your direct reports with feedback and communication and you’ll both be more successful.

When our kids were growing up, we took them out to breakfast every Friday morning before school.  We rarely missed these routine times together.  During each breakfast we would ask “How’s school going?” and almost every time the answer was “good, okay.”  The important point is almost every time.  One time the answer was a mumbled “fine” followed by a shoulder shrug.  Not the usual “good, okay;” after further questioning, we found out there was an issue in science class.  If it were not for the regular breakfast meetings and the consistent questioning, science class would have been a big problem.

Be consistent with your direct report’s one-on-ones.  Hold them at the same time each week, and ask the same check-in questions.  When your direct report has challenges, knowing they’ll have your attention regularly gives them a built-in forum for dealing with the problem.

Asking the same check-in questions during each session will yield the same responses most of the time.  That gives you a basis for measuring unusual answers that may indicate underlying issues.

One-on-ones are one of the most powerful leadership tools in your toolkit.  Exercising consistency will make them even more successful.

What’s more important:

• Making 20 sales calls or closing $500,000 in new sales?
• Conducting weekly cycle inventories or .5% inventory shrink?
• Publishing regular newsletters or 97% customer retention?
• Creating weekly collections reports or receivables less than 30 days?
• Attending safety classes or zero days lost to workplace injury?

All too often leaders and direct report are so focused on the activities, they loose sight of the ultimate objective.  Leaders should make sure their direct reports understand their objective, have the resources available to achieve that objective, and then get out of the way.  Does it really matter that the sales associate made only 7 sales calls but still achieved the $500,000 sales objective?  Our tendency is to micro-manage the day-to-day activities because they are the easiest to affect.  Instead, clearly define your expectation – objective, time-frame, resources, and restraints – and hold your direct report accountable for the results without emerging yourself in the details.

Empower your direct reports with the ultimate expectation, make suggestions as to how it might be achieved, provide the resources for accomplishment, and you’ll both be more successful.