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1:1s

Engineering for the Rest of Us by Sarah Drasner​

1:1's provide a great opportunity for a manager to reduce uncertainty and provide clarity. Some ways to do that are as follows:

  • Prioritize: If there's too much work, spend time talking through the most important pieces, and even perhaps offer yourself as a shield from some of the work.
  • Make action items: Sometimes a task is too large, and the employee needs help breaking it down into organized pieces. This makes it easier to know where to start on a task and how to move forward.
  • Clarify vision: People might feel overwhelmed because they don't know why they're doing something. If you can communicate the necessary of the work at hand, then the employee can align with the goal of the project and the work can start to feel more rewarding and valuable. [12]

It can be helpful to address the listening mode transparently, I say to people, "I am a 'fix it' person and will default to trying to fix your problem. If you want to vent, that's absolutely fine by me. But you may have to let me know that's what you want, because otherwise I will try to problem solve, and that can be frustrating. Just tell me what you need" [13]

Joy of Agility by Joshua Kerievsky​

Great coaches provide a more accurate view of reality to help improve performance.