Our calendars are often filled to the brim with meetings, but one meeting that should have a steadfast place on your calendar is the one-on-one or 1:1 for short. This is a meeting between you and your manager and provides numerous benefits to both of you. This meeting occurs on a regular cadence, often once a week, but depending upon your job role and duties, might be spaced further out such as every other week or even once a month.
The first reason why 1:1s are important is that they give you dedicated time to talk with your boss about various topics. Rather than always needing to address something in an ad-hoc manner, various topics can be queued up for your 1:1 meeting. Not only will this give you time to think further about a topic before having a conversation on it, the 1:1 should also give you ample time to cover the subject matter without needing to rush. 1:1s will give your discussions room to breathe and the ability to expand on things.
Next a 1:1 will provide you an opportunity to provide status updates to your boss as well as time to plot out future endeavors. Of course some folks might have a weekly status report that overlaps, but there's nothing more powerful that a one-on-one exchange of ideas and thoughts with your boss. And having regularly scheduled time for these discussions will help both you and your boss stay in sync with work activities. As time allows, a 1:1 can be extremely helpful not just for past endeavors but also for discussions on up and coming future efforts.
Finally a 1:1 will provide an outlet to discuss your career with your manager. Rather than address your career trajectory in an ad-hoc manner, instead take charge of where you want to go in your work life through regular discussions with your supervisor. Not only will this help raise visibility to your manager for when opportunities arise, this will also give you a chance to discuss your next career steps and create alignment with your boss and the overall organization.
One-on-ones are powerful meetings that everyone should have with their manager. Today we just touched the surface on why they're important and in future blog posts we'll be going into further details on what goes into making a great 1:1.