The Managers’ Corner:

This is the first of two entries on this topic.  Both are addressed to anyone in a management position who has direct reports.  The first blog on this topic deals with the purpose of the one-on-one meetings; the second with the form of the meetings.

First, what do we mean by a “one-on-one” meeting with reports?  It is a regularly scheduled meeting between you and one of your reports or managers during which time you have focused sessions on items of importance to both of you.  I came upon the practice by accident when I was a principal of a large secondary school with two vice-principals, nine department heads, and my chief custodian and senior office coordinator (both of who I saw as “heads” of  departments).

I decided to begin scheduling the meetings when I felt I did not have enough of a handle on what was going on at the department level and I needed to know more about the departments if I wanted to get a handle on the school as a whole.  At the next heads’ meeting I informed the group that I would be scheduling a meeting with each of them for a full period (75 minutes) each month and that the meeting would be structured to ensure we dealt with their issues, ideas and responsibilities as well as mine. 

It turned out to be one of the best decisions I ever made.  Not only did I get a chance to develop a better understanding of the successes and challenges they were dealing with at the “local level” but it gave me a chance, over time, to build a more trusting, personal and productive relationship with each of my school leaders – and it became the vehicle for so much more.  Like the meeting itself, the purposes evolved into something I was able to use later in my career when, as a superintendent with 8 reports and a massive department (Program, Special Education, Quality Assurance and Staff Development), I needed the one-on-ones to be able to be in a position to handle questions and queries at the board level.

Initially, the one-on-one had these purposes:

1. To gather information from the department head on standing and emerging issues in the department he/she wanted to discuss,
2. To provide information to the department head on standing and emerging issues in the department I wanted to discuss,
3. To provide support and guidance as needed and requested,
4. To provide a forum for accountability – for both of us.

When I announced it, there was a kind of bifurcated reaction.  On the one hand, the heads indicated that they would be pleased to have a focused session with me because their past experience had been that they had only time “on the fly” with their past principals and would enjoy dealing with issues in a quieter session where things could be discussed at a more leisurely pace.  On the other hand, some felt the pressure of having to be prepared to deal with any and all issues raised at the meeting which was, to them, a bit daunting.

In the end, I realized that, very accidentally, I was engaging in what Michael Fullan calls “the genius balance of pressure and support” which is a leadership characteristic that he believes is very productive.

As the first year progressed, the meetings became less daunting and more meaningful to the heads. On more than one occasion, the individuals commented that they felt it was “the first time a principal really seemed to understand what was going on in their departments.”

It helped that I told them they did not need to prepare anything formally, just be in a position to answer questions I had e-mailed them entitled “For our next one-on-one”.   If I had a document or letter of relevance, I forwarded it to them with a post-it note stating “For information (or action) and discussion at our next one-on-one.”

I also made it as informal and as comfortable as I could by ensuring a hot cup of tea or coffee was waiting for them and perhaps a muffin from our very good cafeteria.  For them it was, in part an interlude in the midst of a day of classes, department interchanges and staff room buzz.  They needed the peacefulness of a closed door!

In later years, when I used it for my reports as a superintendent, I used the one-on-ones for another important purpose:  as a data source for evaluation of performance.  It became obvious to me that my notes on these meetings were a goldmine in terms of performance data.  Capacity to deal with deadlines, leadership in program and supervision, handling of budget etc. were all here.  It was not a difficult or time-consuming task to leaf through the pages and pull out information on which judgments could be based when the time came for the writing of appraisals.  Needless to say, I was very candid about this purpose (again, as always, following the principle of full disclosure) and while they were a little apprehensive at first, they came to trust in the fact that this was not the primary purpose but rather an attempt at keeping a running record of “what they were doing right.”  I believe it served all of us well.

Those purposes of the one-on-one meetings could not be realized, however, unless a formal (and efficient) system for recording and recalling information was built into it as a prelude to an informal but practical agenda.  That form is the subject matter of the next and last entry on this blog topic.

Dr. Dan

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