In this episode of the Transform Your Workplace podcast, host Brandon Laws interviews Steven Rogelberg, Chancellor’s Professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Dr. Rogelberg highlights key insights from his book, Glad We Met: The Art and Science of 1:1 Meetings. The episode covers topics such as the role of managers in facilitating effective 1:1s, the far-reaching benefits of these meetings, and best practices for implementing them. After all, these 1:1 meetings, according to our guest, are foundational to effective leadership.
GUEST AT A GLANCE
Steven G. Rogelberg, Chancellor’s Professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, teaches Organizational Science, Management, and Psychology, and is the founding Director of Organizational Science at UNC, Charlotte. With over 100 publications, he covers topics including team effectiveness, leadership, engagement, health, employee well-being, meetings at work, and organizational research methods.
A QUICK GLIMPSE INTO OUR PODCAST
🔊 Podcast: Transform Your Workplace, sponsored by Xenium HR
🎙️ Host: Brandon Laws
📋 In his own words: “The Transform Your Workplace podcast is your go-to source for the latest workplace trends, big ideas, and time-tested methods straight from the mouths of industry experts and respected thought-leaders.”
BEHIND THE BOOK
As an organizational psychologist, Dr. Steven Rogelberg is drawn to study topics of practical importance, specifically areas where managers aren’t getting right, and this pursuit “brought [him] squarely to one-on-ones.” The 1:1 meeting could be this transformative activity in organizations and for leaders, but the data suggests “it’s just not panning out.”
Unlike the other meetings that we all attend — the ones we wish we could just forego and get in email form — the 1:1 meeting “really matters” to both the manager and the direct report, and that means we’ve got to get this right. That’s where Dr. Rogelberg’s book, Glad We Met: The Art and Science of 1:1 Meetings, comes in. Just because the 1:1 meeting isn’t always working as it should, that doesn’t mean we should give up on the idea. Instead, it’s time to lean in and learn what works.
PODCAST EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
To Be Seen
“Obviously, people gather for lots of different reasons — it could be solving a problem, brainstorming, disseminating information — lots of different reasons. And in some regards, the fact that it can be used so often might help explain why it’s being overused and while people’s calendars are being tremendously taxed. But 1:1 meetings are a completely different entity. You know, 1:1 meetings are really about allowing the employee’s voice to come through strongly and allowing them to share what’s on their minds, their concerns, and where they need help and support. It’s a meeting […] that’s facilitated and orchestrated by the manager, but it is that opportunity for the employee to feel seen.”
The Manager’s Role
“The agenda should be driven by the employee, but the manager needs to create an infrastructure to make sure these things happen, right? So they have to be committed to a cadence, right? They have to say, ‘Listen, we’re gonna do it at this cadence, and I’m all in.’ They have to provide the vision. They have to provide the signals that indeed […] the meeting is for the direct and not for them. And so the manager really provides the foundation for the safety that the employee needs to then drive the agenda.”
The Far-Reaching Benefits
“The data is just so compelling. These 1:1s are absolutely tied to employee engagement. In fact, you know, 1:1 meetings are associated with so many positive outcomes. It’s clear that there’s a strong connection with employee thriving. This is where they truly engage with their leader. It’s tied to retention. We all know the adage that employees don’t leave bad jobs — they leave bad bosses. And so this is the opportunity for that manager to truly be a good boss. So from an employee thriving perspective, the engagement perspective, we absolutely see very strong positive linear gains. And then the data also suggests that teams perform better, right? […] It’s critical to your inclusion efforts, right? Because this is an opportunity for that employee to feel valued. And when you put those together, it’s fully related to managerial success, right? Managers are evaluated based on the success of their people and their teams. So these 1:1s are that mechanism for elevating all those performances.”
The Effective 1:1
“The blueprint really is building the agenda, making sure you’re involving the direct, looking at your notes to make sure that there’s some continuity amongst these 1:1s because these one-on-ones will tell a story, right? It’s gonna tell the story of this employee. […] One of the key mistakes that many managers make is they talk too much and the data is really pretty powerful — the more the manager talks, the lower the ratings of effectiveness. The more the direct talks, the higher the ratings of effectiveness.”
We People Want
“If you ask people, ‘How many meetings do you want?’ Everyone’s like, ‘I want less meetings.’ But when it comes to 1:1s, people want these things, and the most desired cadence was once a week. And counter to generational stereotypes, your more senior employees, they actually wanted them even more than the junior employees. […] I think it’s a statement […] that they know how critical facetime is, right? They know having their manager truly listen to them and where they can share where they’re facing obstacles and ask for help — they know this is critical to their ability to be successful.”
If You’re Overwhelmed
“If you have a lot of employees, you probably need to [meet] every other week to manage the load, and that’s fine. You probably need to reduce the amount of time in each and every one of the 1:1s, and that’s fine. You know, it’s all about quality. So if you have 20 minutes with your folks every other week, but it’s a really good 20 minutes, it’s still gonna serve a very positive gain. So play with the amount of time, play with cadence to help manage this, and leverage asynchronous documents to help follow through on things, right? So it could be the case that something is tee’d up on the 1:1, and then it can be explored in the asynchronous document where people can have another dialogue that way. […] Another thing that some managers do is they actually will ask some of the senior team members to do 1:1s with the more junior team members in between the ones that the manager does, and that’s a nice approach.”
Shifting Your Mindset
“I wanna stress that these 1:1s will ultimately save you time as a manager. If you constantly think, ‘I don’t have time to do this,’ you actually have the completely wrong mindset. That is analogous to saying, ‘I don’t have time to brush my teeth,’ and ‘I don’t have time to go exercise.’ Those are not negotiable items. We have to do this. We have to brush our teeth. We have to exercise to be healthy. 1:1s are just like that. 1:1s are not optional. These are foundational to being a leader.”
LEARN MORE
Find Steven Rogelberg’s new book, Glad We Met: The Art and Science of 1:1 Meetings, and more valuable resources here.