How to structure your one-on-ones

An important aspect of managing your career is having regular conversations with your manager about your career goals and performance.  What does a GOOD career development one-on-one look like?

First, when discussing timing, I think that a good cadence for career development conversations is once every four to six weeks.  Any more frequently, and there hasn't been enough time to act on any of the feedback and experience any noticeable change.  Any less frequently, and you don't get enough feedback.  Don't be afraid to schedule recurring meetings with your manager to discuss your career if they don't initiate them.  There have been multiple instances in my work history that I've been the owner of my one-on-one.

If your manager plays more than one role, such as in smaller companies, you may meet with them more frequently, but those conversations are often more focused on status reporting of current work.  Those are necessary for other reasons, but be sure to turn the conversation towards your career goals periodically, too.  If you find that your one-on-one conversations with your manager never turn towards career development, schedule a separate series specifically targeting career and performance.

Once the cadence is established each one-on-one should cover these primary agenda items:

• Performance against annual company goals
• Performance against IDP action plan
• Feedback from peers and business partners
• Actions until next session

When discussing your performance against company goals, pay attention that this does not devolve into project status discussions.  Whether you meet or exceed your company goals usually contributes to your annual rating and ultimately any potential raise.  Consistently high ratings will make it easier for your manager to justify a promotion when the time comes.  As such, keeping abreast of how you compare with your goals is critical.

Your individual development plan (covered in episode 002) is the roadmap that you've set for your career.  Since your personal goals may not always perfectly align with the company goals, so it's important to ensure that you put as much effort into what YOU want as what they want.  Keeping focus on the Action Plan in your IDP ensures that your manager is helping you progress your career the way you want.

Feedback is an important part of any improvement.  Your day-to-day involves working closely with your peers and business partners and understanding what you do well and what you do poorly from their perspectives allows you to make appropriate adjustments.  These adjustments should improve collaboration, making it easier to reach your goals -- both company and personal.

The final topic to cover is what actions you will take between now and your next one-on-one.  Update the Action Plan in your IDP to mark any actions completed and add any new actions that you will be working on after each one-on-one.  At least once per quarter, update your corporate goals to show progress there.  Summarize everything in an email and send it to your manager in order to document both your progress and actions.  The email provides a paper trail as well as a reminder of what was discussed when you next meet.

People are more willing to help people when they know that person is looking to help themselves.  Using this basic structure allows you to focus on continued improvement and keeps your manager in the loop on that progress and show your them your interest in growth and improvement.  This should lead towards faster advancement in both your current position as well as towards your personal career goals.

If you haven't created your individual development plan yet, go to ManagingACareer.com and request your free IDP template by filling out the contact form at the bottom of the page.