William Noyes Technology Services

Sometimes its funny how connections work.  I was recently reading an article on Robert Cain’s blog, ArcaneCode where he was discussing his concept of NET, or “No Extra Time.”  In a nutshell the idea is that many of us have time that is underutilized that we could use to learn something without investing any additional time.  For example,  I have a 45 minute commute to from work each day.  I’d been listening to a local radio show in the mornings, and comedy podcasts each afternoon.  Robert’s article got me thinking about all those business podcasts I’d subscribed to telling myself I’d listen to, but never did.  So that afternoon,  I glanced through the podcasts on my iPod, and found a series by Manager-tools about being an effective manager, and decided to utilized my afternoon drive to better myself.

Manager-tools is a series of podcasts and an associated website published by Mark Horstman and Michael Auzenne.  One of the first podcasts I listened to refered to some older episodes about one-on-one meetings with your direct reports.  The idea that I needed to have more meetings was so outlandish that I had to go to the website and find out more.

The idea is that most managers do not connect with their direct reports, and most employees crave that connection.  To be an effective team, the manager and employess must have established a sense of trust that comes from knowing that each understands and cares about the other.  To do this,  they recommend a system of One-on-One (or O3) meetings with your direct reports.  I can hear the howls “I DON’T HAVE TIME FOR MORE MEETINGS”,”A MEETING WITH ONE PERSON?”, “A MEETING WITH EACH OF MY REPORTS?”  But hear me out, or better yet hear Mark and Mike out.  These are regularly scheduled, structured meetings with individual employees with very few rules about what can be talked about.  There is an agenda for each meeting, with the employee given 10 minutes to talk about anything they want. The manager then has 10 minutes to discuss projects, company info, etc.  The last 10 minutes are for future development topics, but they are also a buffer incase either of the other two sections goes long.  It is important that the manager keep notes of the meetings and spends a bit of time to prepare for the meeting before each meeting.  There are forms on the website to make this easy,  simply print the form, and use it as a template.  After each meeting put the form in a folder for each employee.  The goal is to establish an environment of communication, where the employee feels both safe and valued.  Done properly and consistantly,  these meetings will improve morale, and actually give you more time.

This is just a summary, so listen to the podcasts to get all the information and a wealth of tips on how to make it work.

I have begun implementing these meetings with my directs, and while it is too early to see results,  I am optimistic that only good can come from this process.

I highly recommend Manager-tools to all managers, especially newer managers or those manageing technology departments.  You can find them on iTunes or PodcastAlley, but The O3 episodes were some of the early ones so, be sure to go to Manager-tools find the archives, and look for the articles titled “The Single Most Effective Management Tool” near the bottom of the page. 

Bill