One of the primary components of 1-on-1 Management™ is a weekly 1-on-1 Meeting™ with your direct reports; a planned 30-45 minute, face-to-face session that provides the opportunity to communicate objectives, set expectations, review progress, coach, and – most importantly - listen.

I ventured across an excellent Blog this week called The Slacker Manager, written by David Zinger and Phil Gerbyshak (don’t be confused by the title – it’s not what you might think at first!). As I reviewed the last several Blog posts, I eventually found one by Phil entitled “You Are Your Only Competition.” His point is that each employee brings a different set of talents to the workplace and comparing one’s productivity with someone else is misguided. He starts the post with the following statement:

“As a manager, I have weekly reviews with each member of my team. We talk about 3 things:

1. What’s gone well (and how can we do more of that)
2. What needs improvement (and how can we improve faster)
3. What’s the general feeling of how things are going in relation to your goals and the rest of the team.

3 simple questions, but they get right to the heart of what we try to focus on, and that is living our strengths, shoring up the weaknesses enough that they don’t bring our strengths down, and how do we FEEL things are going.”

Weekly reviews – a page straight out of the 1-on-1 Management™ handbook! Savvy managers understand that employees engage in the workplace in direct proportion to the engagement skills of the manager. In this case, Phil outlines a process (weekly reviews) and a methodology (three questions) that will necessarily lead to a productive dialogue with an employee, the first step in employee engagement.

These questions are similar in nature to three others that can be used to initiate some very productive dialogue with an employee:

1. As a manager, what am I doing that I need to stop doing – that may be a hindrance to your effectiveness at work? (Stop.)
2. What do I need to start doing to help you be more effective in your work? (Start.)
3. What am I doing that that I need to continue because it’s working – it helps you to be effective in your work? (Continue.)

Again, employee engagement is mostly a manager’s responsibility, and it begins with strong communication. However, communication doesn’t just “happen.” It has to be a planned part of your management practices.

Weekly review sessions are a perfect place to start.