Individual Supervision Meetings with Direct Reports

Supervisors are more effective when they hold regularly-scheduled, individual meetings with all direct reports. I don’t just mean the usual day-to-day contact about active projects, but rather 30-60 minute meetings held monthly (or biweekly) on a planned schedule (for example, every third Wednesday at 2 pm).  Such meetings are a powerful way to develop deeper relationships with your staff and discuss important work issues. Meetings can include manager and staff expectations, past annual reviews, goal setting and achievement, feedback on performance issues, collaborative problem solving, coaching/mentoring, and staff development needs. Invite your staff to bring issues to these meetings, and this is also a great opportunity to get feedback on your work as a leader!

 Some good questions to ask might include:

     - What are you working on and how is it going? (Then apply good listening skills by asking follow-up

“what?” questions to get more details)

     - How can I help you do your job better?

     - Tell me about your career goals and aspirations. Where would you like to be in 5 or 10 years?   

     - Is there anything you want to discuss?

     - Do you have any feedback for me, including suggestions on how I can be more effective as your

       supervisor?

Staff may be hesitant at first to answer the last question, but, once these meetings become established and you develop trust, you will learn some interesting things to help you become a better leader!

For further thought:  Reflect on your workplace and whether these kinds of meetings would increase your effectiveness. If you are not in a formal leadership role (or recall back before you were), consider how this might make your work experience more satisfying and productive.

If you would like a copy of a general script for conducting these meetings as well as ideas on how to introduce the concept at your workplace, email me at dteschner@GrowingLeadershipLLC.com.