A simple approach to 1:1s

The prime opportunity you have to coach your people

Effective 1:1s has come up several times in the last week, so I wanted to revisit a simple model for this prime opportunity to coach your people:

1️⃣ They drive the agenda: your coachee should set most (70%) of the agenda items. You are primarily there to be a resource supporting them. They need to show up prepared to make the most of your time together.

2️⃣ Generally, you'll end up covering three main topic categories:

• Operations: working through the issues of the day—not getting status updates

• Skill practice: in business, every day feels like game day. Where do we have space to practice? 1:1s are one of the few regular, developmental environments to practice skills in lower stakes environments.

• Career development: regular conversations to understand and support your people's career aspirations goes a long way. You'll find non-obvious ways to support their growth trajectory by doing this.