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Ask HN: What agenda do you have for 1:1 meetings with your supervisor?

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Re: Ask HN: What agenda do you have for 1:1 meetings with your supervisor?

#11

Post by jerome-jh »

Every company has its own template, but basically:

- the most important: prepare in advance! Summarize all what you have done during the year.

- if the template has graded items, think of a realistic grade, then add one, everywhere. Usually in my copy of the template I also answer some of the questions that were for my manager :) I do that completely naively. Sometimes your manager had no time time to prepare, so you are actually helping.

- during the interview be positive: you are fine, work is fine, ... prepare a few points where improvement is needed, but nothing really serious.

- usually your manager has limited freedom when it comes to your salary (contrary to HR), so do not annoy him with this. In my company I do not even talk about money with my manager. Keep your discontent for HR and your manager on your side.

With that method in my current company I got good raises.

The golden rule is: say positive things about yourself and your work. If you do not, nobody will.

Re: Ask HN: What agenda do you have for 1:1 meetings with your supervisor?

#12

Post by dsr_ »

Various commenters have interpreted this in two different ways:

a) this is a performance/compensation review meeting

b) this is a weekly/biweekly/whatever infinitely repeating meeting

I think most managers who ask for 1:1 meetings are talking about case (b). I do.

I don't schedule 1:1 meetings for local employees unless they ask; I do schedule 1:1 meetings for remote employees. My feeling (which I have mentioned to everyone) is that people I see most days have the opportunity to ask questions and bring up concerns any time they feel like it, but a person I can't bump into in the corridor deserves extra time for that.

My 1:1 agenda is loose: tell me if anything isn't going the way you want. Concerns about your work, other employees, the strategic direction of the company... this is an excellent time to bring it up. I can help with technical problems, or discuss the issue and refer you to the right person. Want to go to a conference? Want to tell me about the conference you want to? Anything vaguely company-related in on-topic, and I don't mind diverting off-topic much, because we'll have another meeting next week.

Re: Ask HN: What agenda do you have for 1:1 meetings with your supervisor?

#13

Post by wozmirek »

werbel wrote: post #10

* Performance (e.g. challenges, obstacles, short/long term goals, feedback, productivity) * Professional development & engagement (e.g. professional goals, training, engagement, coaching) * Contribution to company growth (e.g. process improvement, supporting colleagues, training pilot/ buddy programs, any other activities) * Things done / achievements since last 1on1 * Feedback for the manager (e.g. what he/she could…

Good point about feedback for the manager, I forgot to mention it. Depends on how well you get along with your manager, but I went as far as to say "you were joking about thing X (usually hiring/firing/PTO/performance etc. topics) which I didn't like".

Re: Ask HN: What agenda do you have for 1:1 meetings with your supervisor?

#14

Post by calciphus »

wozmirek wrote: post #5

I prepare the agenda on my own, it's usually 2 to 5 points. My issues, worries, what I struggle with, what I plan to do in the long run, I ask for general feedback every few months. Sample agenda: * I did X in situation Y; could I have handled this better? * I have too many things to do, so which is the priority: A or B? * I'll do this big thing over the next month, wdyt? etc

Wdyt = what do you think

Re: Ask HN: What agenda do you have for 1:1 meetings with your supervisor?

#15

Post by davezatch »

dsr_ wrote: post #12

Various commenters have interpreted this in two different ways: a) this is a performance/compensation review meeting b) this is a weekly/biweekly/whatever infinitely repeating meeting I think most managers who ask for 1:1 meetings are talking about case (b). I do. I don't schedule 1:1 meetings for local employees unless they ask; I do schedule 1:1 meetings for remote employees. My feeling (which I have mentioned to e…

I understand your PoV, but I like to stronnnnnngly encourage 1:1s every week, with each team member. I think it's really easy to let that slip if it's not in the calendar, and I've learned so many important, small things from people in those meetings.

Especially since some people don't really feel comfortable coming to their manager out of band. That makes the structure of "I have a block scheduled you with every week, in perpetuity" super valuable.

Agree with the loose agenda. I try to follow-up on things that came up in previous weeklies, and to make sure we don't forget about commitments, but so much of the value comes from a simple "How are you doing?"

Re: Ask HN: What agenda do you have for 1:1 meetings with your supervisor?

#16

Post by werbel »

wozmirek wrote: post #13
werbel wrote: post #10

* Performance (e.g. challenges, obstacles, short/long term goals, feedback, productivity) * Professional development & engagement (e.g. professional goals, training, engagement, coaching) * Contribution to company growth (e.g. process improvement, supporting colleagues, training pilot/ buddy programs, any other activities) * Things done / achievements since last 1on1 * Feedback for the manager (e.g. what he/she could…

Good point about feedback for the manager, I forgot to mention it. Depends on how well you get along with your manager, but I went as far as to say "you were joking about thing X (usually hiring/firing/PTO/performance etc. topics) which I didn't like".

Yes, I realize not all of us have the luxury of being part of organization where direct, open, constructive feedback whether it's positive or negative is just a thing people do. (Many organizations will boast about values but not live them. If you live them there's no need to even talk about them.)

1:1 or not, good manager should not only make everyone safe with giving him/her and everyone feedback but also ask for it if he/she takes the responsibility of taking care of the people seriously.

Even if that's not a part of the culture then it seems to me it makes sense to try to be the leading example (with a clear, expressed explicitly if needed intent of doing this to make everyone's life and cooperation better) if it doesn't put your job at jeopardy.

However, if it is, maybe it's worth considering what future lies ahead for you in the company? This of course depends on personal goals.

Re: Ask HN: What agenda do you have for 1:1 meetings with your supervisor?

#17

Post by mabbo »

#1- calling out anything co-worker related. I try to always bring up some good things. Ie: this new guy is getting up to speed really fast and I'm super impressed, here's some quick examples. Or negative: the guy in the remote team and I keep having conflicts, not sure what to do about it, any thoughts?

#2- my career. I'm working towards promotion X, I've made these steps lately, what do you see that I can be doing?

#3- ask for feedback. Has anyone given you any feedback that I need to hear? I can't grow without it.

And then give half the 1:1 time to the manager for things they've brought. Their time is often even more limited than mine.

Re: Ask HN: What agenda do you have for 1:1 meetings with your supervisor?

#18

Post by swalsh »

dsr_ wrote: post #12

Various commenters have interpreted this in two different ways: a) this is a performance/compensation review meeting b) this is a weekly/biweekly/whatever infinitely repeating meeting I think most managers who ask for 1:1 meetings are talking about case (b). I do. I don't schedule 1:1 meetings for local employees unless they ask; I do schedule 1:1 meetings for remote employees. My feeling (which I have mentioned to e…

I dont know why this isn't a thing with developers, but a 1:1 is more than an opportunity to "bring up problems". Its a time when you can talk to the people who report to you and help them develop as professionals. My wife a business analyst every week talks with her boss about her career goals. Honestly I've been jealous. I tried asking my boss about career development, hes made it pretty clear he has no interest in helping me develop in any way that's not an additional technical skill.

Re: Ask HN: What agenda do you have for 1:1 meetings with your supervisor?

#19

Post by eru »

phenkdo wrote: post #7

shouldn't a 1:1 be more free-flowing than agenda-based? Let the chat go where the conversation takes you. I find structuring such conversations, confines and probably counter-productive.

You can do both. I like to have some points written down, and just make sure that at the end we covered everything. But eg the order is not always important.
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