Let's Talk Teams

Who owns our 1:1? What makes the time valuable for the manager, or the team member? In this short podcast, Michael goes solo and gives a few tips on how to improve the quality of 1:1s for both people in the meeting.

Show Notes

"1:1s are a powerful tool to help improve trust, productivity, clarity, happiness..." We've all heard that, but is it true? Well, it CAN be true as long as both the manager and the team member are engaged in making it a meaningful meeting. A lot of people we chat with are unhappy with the current state of their 1:1s, so in this episode Michael shares some foundational tips that will help you start or reboot your 1:1s. 

Michael references some ways to reframe your 1:1s. Here are some conversation starters:

“I want this meeting to be a space where you’re able to bring up whatever is on your mind. Especially any blockers or questions that might be in your way. But I also want to be able to take the conversation to a higher level than just the updates. You’ll have ideas and inspiration as you’re talking with our customers and I’d love to hear those. I want to keep investing in your growth, but you’ll have better ideas of what those areas might be.

I want to make sure that these chats are meaningful for you. So now that we’ve been having 1:1s for a while, what would make this time really useful for you? Or what would make this a meeting that you want to show up for?”

Example topics you can cover:
  • Professional development. Where would you like to grow/develop? What skills are you lacking that you'd like to have?
  • Remote work. What's working? What could be improved? Do you have all the tools you need to be successful?
  • Team dynamics. Is our team healthy? How is our communication? Do you feel the freedom to speak your mind?
  • Productivity. Are there any obstacles to your productivity that I can help remove? When do you feel the most productive?
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Related resources:
You can follow Michael on Twitter at @jmichaelprobert
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Let’s Talk Teams is a podcast by Uptick the one-on-one tool that helps managers and their team members change vague meetings into meaningful conversations.

Give Uptick a try for free: Uptickapp.com

What is Let's Talk Teams?

We couldn’t find the podcast on building great teams so we made our own to document and share what we're learning along the way. Let’s Talk Teams is a weekly show where we talk about leading, building, and contributing to great teams at work. Some episodes are a peek behind the curtain at the conversations we’re having at Uptick as our teams grow and adapt. Others will be interviews with managers or discussions about a recent blog post.