They hate one-on-ones…

They hate them. Hate is a very strong word. But famous leaders like Aditya Agarwal and DHH have said it. They openly expressed their despise for one-on-ones.

In one repost of that thread, DHH, shared the same thought.

I believe that for senior leadership, they are mostly right. The importance of one-on-ones diminishes as you go up in the hierarchy. For exec, like Aditya Agarwal and DHH, one-on-ones might feel like an unnecessary use of time because they prioritize macro-level strategies over micro-level check-ins. Senior leadership are more resilient, they are aware of the company's goals and what they should be doing to achieve them.

But is that always the case?

When are one-on-ones useful on a senior leadership level?

There are some situations I believe one could benefit from having one-on-ones, even on a senior leadership level.

• New to the company. When you have a new employee, it's very useful to have more regular one-on-ones to align visions and create rapport and trust that are essential for future autonomy.
• Navigating uncertainty: There can be a lot of uncertainty even for senior leadership roles. Market shifts, company re-org, and role pivots can create this uncertainty, and having regular conversations during these times can be essential to the company’s success.
• Keep up with the good work: The trust and the alignment are something to be nourished and one-on-ones can help with that.

When should we stop having one-on-ones?

Tom Hunt, CEO and Founder of Fame, wrote on his LinkedIn that he cancelled a weekly one-on-one with a direct report. Why?

Their OKRs were on track, they were happy in their role, and there was no additional value he could add. He saw no reason to waste either person’s time.

Time is the most valuable resource everyone has and we should treat it as such. So, perhaps there are situations where you can stop doing weekly one-on-ones?

• Exec maybe? I don’t know, I've never been one. Can’t talk about it. But I understand that time is even more limited at this level and you have to make sure your time is invested in the right activities. Having one-on-ones when everything is perfect may not be a good investment - just don’t forget to drop a message saying “keep up with the good work”. And don’t forget that eventually, you will need to invest time even when everything is OK.
• Maybe move from a weekly to bi-weekly?

When do I rethink the one-on-ones?

Let’s be honest, we've all had that feeling at one those one-on-ones that it was just a waste of time. IT'S OK to feel that way. Sometimes one-on-ones are time inefficient. What’s important is identifying and addressing why they feel that way.

When I start to feel this at the end of a one-on-one, I try to understand why.

• Are things going well and we just spent the one-on-one chitchatting? If everything is on track, I usually consider changing the cadence of the one-on-one.
• Are things not going well and I don’t have enough energy to address it? If the real conversation is being avoided, I usually prepare my time to address it and think about how to help this person grow.
• Are we talking about the same topics as before? This may be related to point 1 or point 2. But more often than not, something is not right and I may need to help this person unblock something.
• Are our goals aligned in the one-on-ones? When this is not the case, I try to prepare an agenda about the topics I’d like to discuss during the one-on-one.

One-on-ones should be an investment. You should feel like you shared something important and/or helped the other person. It should contribute to the company's goal.

Conclusion

This article started as an attempt to understand why some leaders dislike one-on-ones. My perspective is that time spent on one-on-ones is actually time invested in people.

Think of one-on-ones as compounding investments in relationships and clarity. Over time, they save you from firefighting.

Quoting a colleague of mine: That made me think that if I could only keep one type of meeting, I would definitely keep one-on-ones. - Pedro Torres.

Pedro Gustavo Torres on LinkedIn: #leadership #engineering | 20 comments

I've been reading about how busy everyone is and how (eventually) one could delete all meetings from the calendar to become more productive. That made me… | 20 comments on LinkedIn

LinkedInPedro Gustavo Torres