Because of the hybrid work models due to the pandemic, one-on-one meetings have increased significantly. Yet 92% of employees consider meetings costly and unproductive, according to the Harvard Business Review. There are many reasons as to why employees think this way, but the three that stick out are lack of preparation, lack of clear goals, and lack of follow-up.
Here’s one scenario. A manager contacts the employee, asking if they want to meet in five minutes. The employee is not prepared. So naturally, if one or both parties come unprepared, the meeting can devolve into a directionless conversation with no clear goals. Without clear goals, the meeting can wander off-topic or get bogged down in details that aren't relevant to the bigger picture.
Another scenario: If the meeting does include clear goals, both parties leave happy and accomplished. However, there needs to be a follow-up meeting to discuss progress or decisions made previously. If a lull happens, the employee feels like the meeting was a waste of time. Not a good sign.
That is why businesses need solutions to assist them in making one-on-one meetings consistent, meaningful and productive.
With Betterworks’ new one-on-one meeting module, Betterworks 1:1s, employees can easily and consistently manage one-on-ones where both parties can view each other's goals and action items adjacent to the meeting agenda. Employees can create and manage one-on-one meetings with anyone in the company, including cross-functional team members, mentors, and skip-level managers.
The shared visibility provides context to help align the conversation with what each person is trying to accomplish. With advanced visibility of the agenda — along with reminders encouraging preparation — meetings are more productive and valuable. When agenda topics (or action items) aren’t addressed or resolved, they automatically roll over to the next one-on-one occurrence to ensure that these items don’t fall through the cracks.
“Our customers’ HR leaders have asked whether Betterworks could help ensure managers have the tools to continuously guide their team members and foster stronger connections among peers,” said Betterworks Chief Product Officer Arnaud Grunwald. “That’s why we decided to add this new one-on-one module. We want to facilitate the kind of meetings that leave individuals feeling more connected, energized and supported, and that helps work get done better and faster.”
The module, which can be managed from employees’ calendars and emails, promotes meeting best practices such as establishing clear meeting goals and documenting decisions, commitments and next steps. These become part of the organization’s meeting culture and everyone’s meeting habits improve.
Edited by
Alex Passett
