Lower level manager here for 20+ years, doing both with direct reports and my managers:
- with new hires, once a week. With experienced people, we align the frequency based on their interests and needs, but at least once a month
- agenda: by default the agenda is theirs. They put anything they want to discuss there and I have just a couple of small items.
My items are:
1. review of past period, work plan for the next few months with a focus on the period till our next discussion
2. formal feedback on what is going well and what not (informal feedback every time is needed or asked for)
3. every quarter only: career plans, training plans
It usually works, or at least it worked in this format for the past 10 years, never had any complaints, always had excellent relations with direct reports (this is what I believe and this is what they said, I cannot be 100% sure). I am in managerial positions for more than 20 years, in the first 10 I would rate myself as a poor manager.In the past 10 years all my direct reports were managers themselves and I treated them as such.
What did not work:
1. Focus on projects instead of the person. Project meetings, even with 2 people in the room, are not a 1 to 1 and not a replacement
2. Be very formal. I learned that by having 2 direct managers doing that, so I promised myself not to do with my team.
3. Focus on anything else than that person. The meeting is for that person, not for the manager.
4. Be political and evasive. It works for some people, but they will never be trusted by their teams, especially if there are lower lever managers in the team. I was always considered to be abrasive, it is a way to say "very direct and too honest". My team seems to like that, the others are not my problem.
My items are: 1. review of past period, work plan for the next few months with a focus on the period till our next discussion 2. formal feedback on what is going well and what not (informal feedback every time is needed or asked for) 3. every quarter only: career plans, training plans
It usually works, or at least it worked in this format for the past 10 years, never had any complaints, always had excellent relations with direct reports (this is what I believe and this is what they said, I cannot be 100% sure). I am in managerial positions for more than 20 years, in the first 10 I would rate myself as a poor manager.In the past 10 years all my direct reports were managers themselves and I treated them as such.
What did not work: 1. Focus on projects instead of the person. Project meetings, even with 2 people in the room, are not a 1 to 1 and not a replacement 2. Be very formal. I learned that by having 2 direct managers doing that, so I promised myself not to do with my team. 3. Focus on anything else than that person. The meeting is for that person, not for the manager. 4. Be political and evasive. It works for some people, but they will never be trusted by their teams, especially if there are lower lever managers in the team. I was always considered to be abrasive, it is a way to say "very direct and too honest". My team seems to like that, the others are not my problem.