Tag Archives: one-to-one meetings

Virtual Training Activity – Helping your manager with your own 1:1s

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Slide20

INTRODUCTION

In this session, participants will reflect on actions they can take to improve their own one-to-one meetings with their manager.

DURATION (ESTIMATED)

  • 30-minutes

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

  • Take three actions to improve their own one-to-one meetings (with their manager).

WORKBOOK

  • Yes

PREPARATION

  • None

PREREQUISITES

  • Participants should know what one-to-one meetings are and their purpose.
  • They should be able to identify behaviours that lead to effective one-to-one meetings.

FACILITATION GUIDE

  • Introduce the activity by sharing the learning objective with them. Display the slide titled – LEARNING OBJECTIVE.

Slide21

  • Tell them that:
    • In this session, we are going to look briefly at your one-to-one meetings with your manages.
    • Specifically, we will explore some actions you can take to improve the effectiveness of your one-to-ones with your managers.
  • Next, direct each person to the section of their workbooks titled – 7 TIPS FOR EFFECTIVE 1:1S WITH YOUR MANAGER.
    seven tips

 

  • Give them 5-minutes to read the information there.
  • After they’ve read the information, use the ‘breakout room’ feature to split them into pairs.
  • Then tell them to do the activity in the part of their workbooks titled – YOUR THREE ACTIONS.

seven tips

  • Give them 7-minutes to do the activity.
  • When the 7-minutes is up, stop them and bring everyone back to the main room.
  • Instead of asking them to talk about their three actions, tell them to write in the chat window. Give them 5-minutes for that.
    • When they are writing down their actions, read through them quietly so you don’t distract them.
    • After 5-minutes, stop them and thank them for doing the activity. Then let them know you are going to read what they wrote down loudly so they can hear.
    • Read out what they wrote down. You can do it by saying something like – ‘Thanks Angie for your three actions you said you will, … And David your three actions are to… Thank you.”
    • After you’ve finished reading out the information, let them know that they can take more than three actions and ask if there are any other actions they can take or they are already taking that was not on the information they read earlier.
    • Give them 90-seconds to think about that. When the time is up ask for their input and listen to them and note down what they said.
    • After they finish speaking, feedback what you heard them say and thank them for the information.
    • Then ask them if they have any comments and / or questions about what has been discussed during the session.
    • Listen to any they have and respond (only if necessary).
    • After that, review the session by telling them that:
      • During this session we explored what actions we can take with our managers to improve the effectiveness of our one-to-one meetings with them.
      • You read some information about things you can do and individually identified three actions you can take from the information to make your one-to-ones with your managers more effective.
      • We also talked about other things you may be able to do that was not on the information you read.
  • After that, thank them for their participation and end the session.

Virtual Activity – Practising One-To-Ones in Small Groups

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Slide16

INTRODUCTION

In this session, participants will practice having one-to-one meetings in small groups and give each other feedback.

DURATION (ESTIMATED)

  • 90-minutes

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After going through this session, participants will have:

  • Gone through practice sessions in small groups to help them develop effective one-to-one meeting skills

WORKBOOK

  • Yes

PREPARATION

  • None

PREREQUISITES

  • Participants should know what one-to-one meetings are and their purpose.
  • They should be able to identify behaviours that lead to effective one-to-one meetings.

FACILITATION GUIDE

  • Introduce the activity by sharing the learning objective with them. Display the slide titled – LEARNING OBJECTIVE.

Slide17

  • After displaying the slide, tell them that:
    • Having the knowledge about how to have effective one-to-ones is not enough.
    • We need to be able to put that knowledge into practice.
    • To validate some of what we have learnt you are going to practice doing one-to-one meetings in small groups
  • Display the slide titled – PRACTICE IN SMALL GROUPS.

Slide18

  • Tell them that:
    • You will practice in groups of threes.
    • Each person in a group will rotate through the roles of manager, team member and observer.
    • Each one-to-one practice session will last for a maximum of 10-minutes.
    • During the one-to-one meeting the observer will observe and take down notes which they will feedback to the manager after the practice session.
    • There are guidance notes and three case studies in your workbooks.
    • In your groups decide on which case study each person will use.
    • All the case studies have information which you will need to read beforehand to get ready.
    • You will be given an initial 10-minutes to prepare and then 45-minutes for the practice sessions. 30-minutes for the actual practice and 15-minutes for feedback from the observer.
  • Display the next slide titled – GIVING FEEDBACK.

Slide19

  • Tell them that:
    • Let’s remember that the purpose of feedback is to help people learn and develop.
    • It is not for judgement or criticism. Each observer should follow the steps outlined here to ask for and give feedback.
    • They should first ask the team member about how the one-to-one went for them.
    • Next, they should ask the manager to talk about their experience of the one-to-one. How did it go for them?
    • Finally, observers should then talk about what they felt the manager did well and what they can do differently next time to make the one-to-one meeting even better.
  • Next, direct them to the section in their workbooks titled – INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE PRACTICE SESSION.

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Virtual Training Activity – Practising One-To-Ones

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Slide13

INTRODUCTION

In this session, participants will observe a demonstration of a one-to-one meeting practice session and give feedback about it.

DURATION (ESTIMATED)

  • 60-minutes

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

  • During this session, participants will observe and give feedback about one-to-one meeting practice sessions to help them develop effective one-to-one meeting skills.

WORKBOOK

  • Yes

PREPARATION

  • None

PREREQUISITES

  • Participants should know what one-to-one meetings are and their purpose.
  • They should be able to identify behaviours that lead to effective one-to-one meetings.

FACILITATION GUIDE

  • Introduce the activity by sharing the learning objective with them. Display the slide titled – LEARNING OBJECTIVE.

Slide14

  • After displaying the slide, tell them that:
    • Having the knowledge about how to have effective one-to-one meetings is not enough.
    • We need to be able to put that knowledge into practice.
    • In this session we will have some practice sessions which you will observe and give feedback on to help you learn what to do and what not to do during a one-to-one meeting.
  • Next display the slide titled – JIM AND GEMMA.

Slide15

  • Let them know that during the practice session, you, the facilitator will act as the Jim, the manager.
  • Two willing participants will act as Gemma, the team member.
  • The rest of the group will observe and give feedback after the practice sessions.
  • Refer them to the session in their workbooks titled – JIM AND GEMMA. Give them 3-minutes to read the information there.

Practice

  • After they’ve read the information, use the ‘breakout rooms’ feature to split them into two small groups to prepare for the practice session. Give them 10-minutes to prepare (the information they will read to prepare is below).

Practice

  • Make sure that you (facilitator acting as manager) are also prepared to act as Jim by reading the information in the section of the workbook titled – PRACTICE SCENARIO – JIM, THE MANAGER.

Practice

  • For this first practice session, the aim is for you to do a really short but poor one-to-one meeting. Do this by:
    • Starting the one-to-one meeting without doing a wellbeing check-in or asking for Gemma’s agenda items.
    • Don’t ask how she is doing.
    • Just give her updates by telling Gemma, that there is a big project coming the team’s way.
    • Also, tell her that you hope she has registered for the qualification you talked about previously and that she did the night shift handover properly.
    • Don’t ask her any questions. After the updates end the meeting.
  • After the practice session put them back into two groups to prepare their feedback for 6-minutes.
  • When the 6-minutes is up, bring them back to the main room and ask for each group’s feedback and listen to them.
  • The only thing that went well is that the one-to-one meeting happened and the updates Jim gave.
  • There are a number of things that should be done differently. Jim could have:
    • Made the agenda setting more collaborative by asking for what Gemma wants to talk about then tell her what he wants to discuss also.
    • Asked how Gemma is doing and checked if she has any concerns (wellbeing check in).
    • Gone through Gemma’s agenda items first before discussing his.
    • Asked her about any upcoming priorities she has and what, if any, support she needs.
    • Given her necessary feedback, particularly appreciative feedback to help her see where she is doing well.
    • Asked her if she has anything else to discuss.
    • Identified any actions that they both need to complete and documented them.
  • If they identified any of the above in their feedback, you don’t need to repeat them. Only mention any that they missed out.
  • Next get ready to do the second practice session. This time the volunteer from the other group will act as Gemma.
  • The aim of this practice session is to demonstrate a much better one-to-one meeting.
  • Use the steps outlined in the part of their workbook titled – PRACTICE SCENARIO – JIM, THE MANAGER for this practice session.

Practice

  • As you did previously, have the one-to-one meeting with Gemma while the other participants observe and take notes.
  • Then put them back into the two small groups they were in before for 6-minutes to discuss their observations and prepare their feedback that will be delivered through a nominated spokesperson.
  • When the time is up, stop them and bring everyone back to the main room.
  • Then listen to the feedback from each group. They should have observed you do the following:
    • Ask about Gemma’s wellbeing, concerns, and anything she needs help with.
    • Ask for her agenda items.
    • Tell her your own agenda items.
    • Go through all the agenda items starting with hers.
    • Discuss upcoming priorities.
    • Give her updates.
    • Give her feedback.
    • Express gratitude.
    • Ask if she has anything else to discuss.
    • Identify and document actions.
  • Only mention any of the above if they didn’t talk about it as part of their feedback.
  • After their feedback, thank them for taking part in the practice session and let them know that you have one more activity for them which is an individual reflection activity.
  • Direct them to the section in their workbooks titled – REFLECTION FROM PRACTICE.

Practice

  • Tell them to spend 6-minutes on the activity and afterward you will ask them to share a summary of their reflections.
  • After 6-minutes, stop them and get everyone’s attention.
  • Ask each participant to share a summary of the reflection they just did and listen to them without commenting.
  • Thank them for sharing their reflections and then move on to review the session.
  • Review the session by telling them that:
    • This session focused on practising how to have one-to-one sessions.
    • There were two practice sessions which you observed and gave feedback on and hopefully you got some lessons that can be applied in your own one-to-ones.
  • After that, end the session.

This is the end of the session.

VIRTUAL ACTIVITY – ONE-TO-ONE AGENDAS

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Slide10

INTRODUCTION

In this session, participants will work on how to create an agenda for their one-to-one meetings.

DURATION (ESTIMATED)

  • 30-minutes

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After going through this session, participants will be able to

  • Create a one-to-one meeting agenda that works for both the manager and team member.

WORKBOOK

  • Yes

PREPARATION

  • None

PREREQUISITES

  • Participants should know what one-to-one meetings are and their purpose.

FACILITATION GUIDE

  • Introduce the activity by sharing the learning objective with them. Display the slide titled – LEARNING OBJECTIVE.

Slide11

  • After displaying the slide, tell them that:
    • A necessary part of any one-to-one meeting is an agenda.
    • In this session, we will explore how to create an agenda that works for both you and your team members.
    • We will start by identifying the top three items you would put on your one-to-one meeting agenda.
  • Next, tell each of them to reflect on agenda items for one-to-one meetings with their team members and write in the chat window the top three discussion items that would be on the agenda.
  • Allow them to do the chat activity for 3-minutes.
  • As they write their answers in the chat window, read through them quietly so you don’t distract them.
  • When the three minutes is up, stop them and read out what they wrote while acknowledging each person.
  • Pick out the most common three agenda items from what they wrote (if you can) and talk about them.
  • After that direct everyone to the section in their workbook’s titled – SAMPLE AGENDA ITEMS. Let them know that it’s a sample list of the kinds of items that people put on their one-to-one meeting agendas.

sample agenda items

  • Mention any agenda items they wrote in the chat window that is similar to what is on the SAMPLE AGENDA ITEMS.
  • Next, you want them to read a one-to-one conversation between Kojo and Bernice in the section of their workbooks titled – WHAT SHOULD WE TALK ABOUT TODAY?
  • Put them into pairs to read the conversation and then answer the questions afterward. They will have 10-minutes for the activity.

 

sample agenda items

 

sample agenda items

  • Use the ‘breakout rooms’ feature to put them in pairs and let them do the activity.
  • After 10-minutes, stop them and bring everyone back to the main room.
  • Next, ask each person to tell you one advantage of collaborative agenda setting and listen to them all.
  • Then ask them for disadvantages. This time don’t ask everyone to answer but let people who want to answer do so and listen to them.
  • You can also contribute that the only disadvantage that you can think of is that it will take longer which is not really a disadvantage.
  • After their answers, thank them again for doing the activity and then display the slide titled – FOUR THINGS ABOUT AGENDAS.


Slide12

  • The information will display automatically on the slide. Allow them to read the information, don’t present it to them.
  • When they finish reading, ask if they need any clarification about anything on the slide. If they do need clarification, you can use the supporting notes below.

sample agenda items

  • After giving them the clarification, direct them to the section in their workbooks titled – SAMPLE AGENDA TEMPLATE.

sample agenda items

  • Let them know that the template is just a sample. There are different types of agenda templates and if they do a web search for one-to-one agenda templates, they will come across many examples.
  • Give them 2-minutes to read through the template and afterwards ask them for any questions and / or comments they may have. Respond to any comments or questions appropriately.
  • After that, move on to review what was discussed during the session.
  • Tell them that:
    • During this session we discussed one-to-one meeting agendas.
    • We looked at the top three items you would put on your agenda.
    • We saw an example of agenda items.
    • We discussed a scenario where an agenda was created collaboratively and four things about agendas
    • And I shared with you a sample agenda template which is just one of many templates that people use.
  • After that, end the session.

This is the end of the session.

Virtual Activity – Two Initial Questions (about 1:1 meetings)

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Slide1

INTRODUCTION

One-to-one meetings are one of the most important tools that managers can use to support their team members. They can help managers build trust with team members, manage performance improvement, support career development, provide ongoing development and develop their own skills. These virtual training activities can be used to deliver bite-sized sessions on their own or combined to create longer courses. In this activity participants will explore what one-to-ones are and their purpose.

DURATION (ESTIMATED)

  • 20-minutes

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After going through this session, participants will be able to:

  • Explain what one-to-ones are and their purpose.

WORKBOOKS

  • Yes

PREPARATION

  • None

PREREQUISITES

  • None

FACILITATION GUIDE

  • Introduce the activity by sharing the learning objective with them. Display the slide titled – LEARNING OBJECTIVE.

Slide3

  • After displaying the slide, tell them that:
    • During this session we will answer two questions which are:
      • What is a one-to-one meeting?
      • What is the purpose of one-to-one meetings?
    • Let them know you are going to put them in pairs to discuss the questions.
    • Direct them to the part of their workbooks titled – TWO INITIAL QUESTIONS. The instructions for the activity are there for them to read.

two initial questions workbook content

 

  • Then use the ‘breakout rooms’ feature to put them into pairs.
  • Give them 6-minutes to answer the questions.
  • After 6-minutes stop them and allow each pair to first tell you how they defined one-to-one meetings.
  • Listen to them without commenting.
  • Then ask them again what they discussed about the purpose of one-to-ones and listen to them again without commenting.
  • After listening to their answers, appreciate them for doing the activity and let them know you also have a definition of one-to-ones to share with them.
  • Display the slide titled – WHAT?

Slide4

  • When the slide displays allow them to read the information on it for about 30-seconds. Then ask them for any comments and / or questions about the definition and listen.
  • Only respond if necessary.
  • Next, direct them to the section in their workbooks titled – PURPOSE OF ONE-TO-ONE MEETINGS.

Slide3

  • Give them 3-minutes to read the information there.
  • When they have finished, ask them for any questions and / or comments about what they just read.
  • Listen to any questions and / or comments that they have and respond appropriately if necessary.
  • After that review what was discussed during the session by telling them that:
    • During this short session, we discussed what one-to-one meetings are.
    • We also looked at the purpose of one-to-one meetings.
  • After that end the session.

This is the end of the session.