Thirty Minutes to Better Employee Relations

MEET ONE-TO-ONE WEEKLY

Do you spend considerable time:

- putting out fires?
- chatting with staff who drop in?
- attending long staff meetings that seem to go round and round?
- wondering why you never have enough time?

There is a simple management tool that will create more time, build trust, enhance communication and, improve performance. And it
only takes 30 minutes each week.

A weekly one-to-one meeting with your employee will allow you to:

- boost communication and trust in the workplace
- reduce the number of unscheduled interruptions throughout the
week
- communicate, provide feedback, coach, and delegate on a regular
basis
- listen and respond to individual needs
- influence performance incrementally rather than dumping issues on
the employee all at once

Your weekly one-to-ones with employees don't have to be elaborate productions. Use the first fifteen minutes for the employee to share what's on their mind. This usually includes updates on projects and a discussion of issues they are facing. Your job as the manager is to listen, ask questions, and learn. The remaining fifteen minutes allows you to share feedback, offer resources, and to recognize the employee's progress. In fact, you may not even need the full 30 minutes.

Remember, one-to-one meetings can be held face to face, via telephone, or video conference. They can easily be re-scheduled and should be rescheduled when the inevitable conflict arises. They are easy to begin and cost nothing to continue. A regularly scheduled touch-base with your employee indicates to them that their work is valued, and it allows you to make sure you are getting the performance you expect. If you aren't consistently having one-to-one meetings with your employees to drive results, you should. This is the easiest, most effective tool you'll ever use.

"A Painless Read"
RAVE REVIEWS FOR PAINLESS PERFORMANCE CONVERSATIONS

Reviews are like currency in the book world. If you have already read Painless Performance Conversations, I would greatly appreciate your review posted on Amazon. Here's what others are saying about my newest book:

Helps make a difficult task a bit easier
I sometimes think the negative feedback part of being a manager is a bit like being an executioner. If you like it, you are a sociopath and in the wrong job. If you do it well it is painless and effective... This book (sic) has a lot of "do's" - many scripts which cover a lot of situations, all of which are aimed at delivering the necessary message in such a way that is helpful to the recipient and won't shut them down or confuse them more. --JJ

Straightforward instructions for dealing with employees
Easy to understand and a quick read. It has non-threatening ways to get the most out of employees. Bought additional copies for all my managers. --Bill Haddock

Painless Performance Conversations
Marnie's latest book on performance management is by far one of the most practical and cohesive books I have read. --VG

Read all of the reviews on our blog.

Final Footnotes
NEWS & EVENTS FROM MARNIE

I'm getting more and more requests from organizations to license the Painless Performance Evaluations and Painless Performance Conversations content. It seems the need for effective performance management practices just continues to grow. In response, I'm creating a training system that will be available later this year. If you are interested in learning more, please send me an inquiry and I'll fill you in.