Your 1:1 is a chance for you to have your voice heard. It’s in the ongoing performance conversations where you get time directly with your manager so use it wisely. With the year everyone has had, these meetings have become all the more crucial. Research from Gallup shows that the frequency of conversations has a direct impact on employee engagement. You can’t rely on any other way but your scheduled 1:1 to get the designated time you need to share your experience and get the support you require. Here are actions we suggest you take in advance of the session as well as during it to ensure you get the most out of it.

1. Take Time to Reflect

There is no point going into these ongoing performance conversations unprepared. It’s about you, so make sure you give yourself a chance to take stock beforehand. What is the focus of this meeting? Is there a specific update on the agenda? What has gone well that you’d like to report? What has not? Where to next?

If you find you’ve met an obstacle in your work, reflect on whether you are frustrated with yourself or the process. If the former, then maybe training is the answer. If it’s operational, perhaps something could be improved. Bring a solution if you have one. These are the kinds of things you need to ask yourself in advance of these ongoing performance conversations and give enough time to answer.

2. Take Ownership

This is your meeting. The advice we go by is that in these ongoing performance conversations you should be you speaking for 80% of it, while your manager talks for the other 20%. Be sure to use this opportunity to raise what you need. No one else will.

3. Listen

We can’t stress the importance of active listening enough. It’s vital. There is no point in you talking if your manager doesn’t listen and vice versa. What they have to say often holds the key to your progression, whether on a project or your career. Make sure you absorb it.

4. Ask for Support

If you need help, ask for it. Take 2020 as an example. Some simple addition or change in a process may make your newfound working from home life a lot easier. If you don’t ask, you won’t get. And your people leader is there to help you but they can’t if they don’t know what you need.Use these ongoing performance conversations to ask for support.

5. Show Aspiration and Appreciation

What do you want to do next? These ongoing performance conversations might be anything from a brief project update to a quarterly review. Either way, don’t assume your enthusiasm for wanting to succeed is obvious to anyone, especially not your manager. Make your aspirations clear. Also, acknowledge anything positive your manager has to say, the relevant support they have provided as well as your team. Show gratitude for kind words and group efforts.

6. Manage Your Expectations

This goes both ways, but you are responsible for your end of the deal. There is only so much you and your manager can do as individuals and as a team. Be clear on your goals going into the meeting and crystal clear leaving it on what can be achieved by each of you, by when and what supports are needed if any.

Every regular 1:1 meeting you have is an opportunity for growth, so seize it. It can come in the form of informing your manager, updating them or receiving praise, recognition or constructive feedback. Each one is a step forward, so it’s important to prepare so each time, you are taking the biggest step possible. That’s in your hands and worth doing so that your career aspirations and working experience can be as successful and fulfilling as possible.

At Frankli, we’re on a mission to help people optimise these ongoing performance conversations. We bring simplicity and transparency to your experience through goal-setting, real-time feedback, 1:1s, pulse surveys and review cycles.

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