Authentic Leaders™ Start with Commitment
Authentic Leaders™ start with a simple commitment to their team. That commitment is to build a working relationship with everyone on the team. * Don’t Stop Reading Now! *
Don’t say, “Yea, but I don’t need to worry about that” as some leaders do. Many leaders don’t place enough value on creating working relationships with their team.
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It’s a Tough Choice
I get it. We only have so much time and it can be hard to carve out that time. In our highly competitive industries, when it comes to producing results vs. developing relationships, you’re going to choose to produce results. But building relationships is the proactive investment that produces greater results later.
Think back to one of the best leaders you have ever worked for. I bet you would say that you had a good working relationship with them.
Building relationships through 1:1 meetings is the very best way to increase performance, build trust, and engage your team. Which is what Authentic Leaders™ do.
Increase Performance
Performance increases when you commit to 1:1 meetings because it’s an investment to consistently show how much you care about the success of the individuals on your team.
Theodore Roosevelt once said, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” 1:1 meetings are the best way to show that you care by identifying your team’s skills, uncovering obstacles to their performance, and planning for achieving their aspirations.
Performance improves because you know more about your team personally and you can make better decisions based on what you learn from your team in your 1:1 meetings.
Build Trust
Trust does not happen overnight. It is also not automatic with your leadership title or just because you are “The Boss”.
Trust is earned over time. Demonstrating to your team that you are committed to consistently spending dedicated 1:1 time with your team without fail earns trust over time.
The more productive time you spend with people, an increase in trust is an automatic byproduct. Think about who you spend the most time with. In most cases, I bet you would say that these are the same people you trust the most.
Engage Your Team
Engagement from your team also increases with how your 1:1 meetings are conducted. Because you give room to learn about them and you work together to help them to be more successful, engagement automatically increases.
Leaders have argued with me that they simply don’t have time to meet 1:1 with their team. By not making time for your team, you are telling your team that spending time with them and their individual success is not a priority for you.
It must become one of your highest priorities because your highest priorities have a way of happening. When rightly prioritized and scheduled as recurring meetings all other priorities fall around your 1:1 meetings.
Think about how engaged you are to do a great job for anyone who demonstrates that spending time with you is important to them.
Accept This Challenge
My challenge to you is to commit to two months of recurring scheduled 1:1 meetings with your team and see what happens. You can do anything for two months.
These 1:1 meetings (when done right) don’t have to take a lot of time. If you don’t see increased performance, building trust, or better engagement from your team, you can always go back to not having 1:1 meetings with your team.
Let Me Help You for Free
Do you want some suggested guidelines and even a template to help you successfully implement 1:1 meetings? I believe in the importance and value to leaders to implement 1:1 meetings, I’m giving it to you for free. Download a free comprehensive guide that gives you all that you need to successfully implement 1:1 meetings with your team.
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If you still aren’t convinced and need more, check out this article that gives you even more details.
Tell us what you think
- Have you implemented 1:1 meetings with your team?
- If you have, what has been your experience?
- If you haven’t yet, what do you expect to get from implementing 1:1 meetings?