Treat your 1:1 relationships with intention

Link: Design Your One-on-Ones, by Corey Ford at Point C

I like this approach to 1:1s. Although some very high-profile founders have said that they don’t do or even like them, I think they’re a vital way to maintain a relationship with your team, make sure they’re well-served, and keep things running smoothly. But it’s also very easy to get caught into a reactive pattern — or, worse, just turn them into tactical status reports.

The trick, like all meetings, is to take the time to design them and have a well-defined agenda ahead of time. I also like Corey’s thoughts on cadence here: an hour every two weeks feels like the right rhythm to be able to make room for depth. And the one-on-one gift exchange makes for important punctuation that turns 360-degree feedback into a habit rather than something that drives anxiety and asymmetries.

What I’d add to Corey’s advice here is to space them out. Back-to-back 1:1s don’t give you the opportunity to reflect on what’s been said, take appropriate actions, or follow through on commitments, and they may get lost. As he suggests in another of his pieces: go slow to go fast. Take the time to set the relationship, take the time to design the meeting, take the time to work on the right things.