Great managers do 5 things and we are considering them one at a time: 1) great managers keep expectations clear, 2) they communicate well and 3) they include their people in the right meeting pulse. I’ll talk about 4 and 5 in future entries.
How often should you meet with your people? What’s appropriate? There’s a great illustration that provides the answer.
Too often, or constantly looking over their shoulder, is smothering and detrimental to the personal growth of your direct reports. Micromanagement is ineffective management.
Not meeting with your direct reports results in a disconnection that can again be detrimental to the personal growth of your people and your company. Your lack of connection implies disinterest that can lead to poor performance or worse, good people leaving your company.
Just the right connection or meeting pulse leads to better performance, continual personal growth and improved employee retention.
If you are implementing EOS in your organization, you should be meeting with your direct reports together as a team each week. In those meetings, you want to make sure there is an even exchange of dialogue – that all of your direct reports are engaged and communicating, especially in addressing and solving issues that affect the team. It is also important in the meetings to have each member of your team report their specific measurables – their numbers for the week.
Individuals on your team may also need some one-on-one attention from you for extra training or support. The key is to find just the right amount of interaction with each direct report to maximize performance, growth and retention.
Takeaway point for this week:
- Answer this question: I am meeting effectively with every one of my direct reports – yes or no? If your answer is yes to 6 out of 7, it’s no. To be a great manager you need to be connecting with all your people with the right frequency to help them become their best.
Encouragement: Again, if you haven’t been meeting, get started now. Start with the Level 10 Meeting in the downloadable tools area of this site and contact me if you get stuck or have questions.
