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Key word: you. Key point: the agenda was employee-led, and it encouraged open and honest feedback.
Many managers focus on what ‘they’ want to discuss in 1:1 meetings, but the best people managers, in my experience, also ensure that the employee’s views are represented.
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Sure, would love to know what a change your actions would take with this mindset, thanks.
For example, we're changing some of our server infrastructure. This was supposed to be a huge project and was anticipated to take at least 6 months. I found and modified a script that will do it in ~30 seconds, took me a few hours. Instead of presenting it at our team meeting, I sent it to my manager and let her present it to her managers. Everyone was very impressed with her work writing it. I don't really care abou…
The best managers constantly are talking up people on THEIR team. They are responsible for creating an environment where people can excel. This makes them look good at a manager ("Everyone on my team consistently over-performs!"), everyone on the team looks great and it makes it easier for them to get recognition and promotions, and it makes it a very desirable team to work on which makes recruiting internally much easier.
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This is kind of ridiculous that a manager would take credit for something you wrote on your own initiative and present it as hers.
I've had a manager take credit for my work, gaslight, and fire me when he was getting in trouble for underpreforming. I had no relationship with his bosses; I kept my nose down and did my work. I documented the craziness, but it happened so fast I could not defend myself. I learned to toot my horn some too. But really I should have left that department/company sooner. Yrmv. I don't think a good manager will take full…
"When you're heads down in your work, some other asshole is running around behind you taking credit for your accomplishments"
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As a manager i would fight this approach because the 1:1's i schedule are for an exact flip of the relationship you describe. I certainly appreciate and encourage these feelings across all my teams, but unlike ICs it's my job and I'm given the time and resources to make these changes, it's not fair to expect someone to both execute well and put all the required effort into pushing for organizational improvement
The only reason I'm in the organization is to push for organizational improvements. That's why they hired me over somebody else. That's the source of momentum in my career path and the best thing for me as well as the org. If that isn't the case, then I'm a cog in a feature factory and that's not the job that I want to be in. I know that some companies/teams/managers approach work that way, but that's a very strong c…
doesn't pay the light bill
> a cog in a feature factory
pays the light bills.
YMMV
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 think you would miss a lot of important things with this approach. You’re basically asking other people to take the entire initiative to raise problems, which will only work for things they are 100% comfortable bringing up with you, and which they feel is in their interest for you to know about.
I'm going to try and add a different angle to this because most people here have covered what I wanted to say (performance, compensation etc.) I would use this time to find out how your manager is doing in his/her role. Find out how you can help them. Talk to them about their frustrations and how they are feeling. Just because they are your manager doesn't mean you need to treat them like a boss all the time. Show th…
Being a manager, especially mid level, can be really lonely. Your boss is often not very available, and then you have a team you're trying to help, but with little training on how to do your job (hence the Peter Principle: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_principle).
So with that in mind, having an employee that actually cares about what your perspective, and wants to help where appropriate will be very helpful.
And this all ties back to being good at managing up, which is a really good skill to develop in your career; if you find the right leader it will lead them to taking you with them as they level up in better and better roles.
I'm going to try and add a different angle to this because most people here have covered what I wanted to say (performance, compensation etc.) I would use this time to find out how your manager is doing in his/her role. Find out how you can help them. Talk to them about their frustrations and how they are feeling. Just because they are your manager doesn't mean you need to treat them like a boss all the time. Show th…
As a manager i would fight this approach because the 1:1's i schedule are for an exact flip of the relationship you describe. I certainly appreciate and encourage these feelings across all my teams, but unlike ICs it's my job and I'm given the time and resources to make these changes, it's not fair to expect someone to both execute well and put all the required effort into pushing for organizational improvement
However, if you mix up what you talk about a lot, then spending some of it on managing up would be pretty smart, just like you likely only talk about their long term career sometimes.
A lot of topics and ideas to discuss here https://getlighthouse.com/blog/one-on-one-meeting-questions-...
If I am joining a new team or company and therefore getting a new manager, my 1:1 meetings generally support my onboarding. I would ask about the team's current processes, how they got there, who to ask about learning the system architecture, etc. I also try to get a feel about what the new manager's style is. How does the manager want to stay apprised on my work, what is his/her approach to career development, etc.…
Measured, and with good variation.
Whatever bullshit comes up to justify the meeting. I’ve seriously never had 1:1s go anywhere useful. But that’s also because I believe that 75% or more of people are bad managers (it is hard to be a really good one).
Unfortunately though a lot of managers don't know what to do as you suggest, but some of them can be shown a better way.
Putting some things you want on the agenda is a great way to make that change. Then you can take the temperature to what they will be open to.
Working backwards though, this is why you should interview your future manager really hard before signing on to the job...to make sure you have one of those 25% that are good (based on your number)