Tired of Too Many Meetings? Get Rid of Them All Except for This One

Many of us have Outlook calendars that look like checkerboards with colored squares showing meeting after meeting after meeting, to the point that meeting creep has gotten so bad that many organizations are experimenting with different ways to reduce or even get rid of meetings. 

Meetings expert and organizational psychologist Steven Rogelberg shared with me that one type of meeting cannot be an email and is arguably not happening often enough: the one-on-one.

If you are not conducting regular weekly or biweekly one-on-one meetings with your directs, Rogelberg reminds us that we are neglecting our core responsibility as a manager.

In his highly acclaimed book Glad We Met: The Art and Science of 1:1 Meetings, Rogelberg outlines four key reasons why they are valuable.

1. Employee engagement

The link between one-on-ones and employee engagement has been found in various contexts and studies. Gallup, for example, studied the engagement levels of 2.5 million manager-led teams worldwide. They found that “on average, only 15 percent of employees who work for a manager who does not meet with them regularly are engaged; managers who regularly meet with their employees almost tripled that level of engagement.”

2. Team member success

One-on-ones are essential for promoting team member productivity and success. These meetings allow managers and team members to discuss the direct’s obstacles and roadblocks, engage in real-time decision-making, and enhance coordination, and let the manager provide support and resources when needed. Success is also promoted by ongoing feedback and coaching, which helps the employee grow and develop.

3. Manager success 

One-on-ones can also enhance your success in three ways. First, investing time and energy in regular one-on-ones decreases the need for you to answer ad hoc questions, limiting interruptions later. Second, they serve as a critical mechanism for acquiring needed information, gathering feedback, and communicating with your team members, enabling you to thrive and drive the team. And finally, as your investments in each team member lead to their growth, this contributes to team success, which is a reflection of you as a leader.

4. Employees want them!

Rogelberg has collected 1,000-plus surveys from multiple countries, and it is clear that employees want more one-on-one meetings with their managers, even if they are swamped. Unlike other types of meetings where employees indicate wanting less meeting activity, this is a meeting type they only want more of, even if they are higher up in the organization.

Now, assuming you are seeing the value in well-run one-on-ones, Rogelberg highlights some practical tips for how to get the most out of them.

Talk less, listen more 

Research suggests that the biggest predictor of one-on-one value is the direct report’s active participation, as measured by the amount of time they talk during the meeting, relative to the manager (stated differently, the biggest predictor of ineffectiveness was a manager talking more than the direct). The ideal balance appears to be the direct speaking 50 to 90 percent of the time.

Meet every week

The science is most aligned with a weekly or every-other-week approach to maximize positive gains such as engagement and performance and maintain momentum and alignment around development areas and desired outcomes.

Avoid the status update trap 

The status update trap is when one-on-ones take on a highly tactical, short-term orientation focusing on project updates and timelines — that is something that can be an email. When you fall into this trap, it becomes difficult to build rapport and trust.

Steven Rogelberg thinks that the potential of one-on-ones is not being reached. He has found that nearly 50 percent of employees indicate that their one-on-ones were “suboptimal” — clearly not the return on investment we desire. The problem will not resolve itself as managers generally believe they are good at running their one-one-ones, even when their directs don’t report the same positive feelings–a classic managerial blind spot.

And, to make matters worse, Rogelberg has found that hardly any organizations provide training on one-on-ones to leaders despite this meeting’s incredible importance, so we have an organizational blind spot as well.

Fortunately, these blind spots can be addressed with focused training and support designed to increase managerial self-awareness and skill-building.