Set Yourself up for Success on Your Next 1:1 Call with Your Manager with Danielle Cobo

Have you ever been invited to a 1:1 call with your manager, and you're not really sure what you're going to be talking about? In today's episode, I'm giving you all the tips so that you can walk into that meeting completely prepared and how to really make the most of this 1:1 time with your manager. Tune into today's episode!

"It can be inspiring to hear how different team members have overcome different challenges" - Danielle Cobo

Highlights

💫 1:50    What you should be asking your manager prior to your 1:1 meeting

💫 5:28   Provide an overview of what's working well

💫 6:22   Don't be afraid to share what your challenges are

💫 7:49   Provide potential solutions to your problems

💫  11:00   How can you better support your team?

How to Prepare and What You Can Share in One-On-One Calls with Your Manager

Have you ever received a message from your manager and you've been invited to a one-on-one call? And maybe you're wondering, well, why did they invite me? What are we going to talk about? That's exactly what we're going to be going through today – how to make the most of your one-on-one calls with your manager. The intent is for your manager to support you, the intent is for you guys to come together and gain an understanding of what your goals are, what your challenges are, and what it's going to take to get to that next level. And here's the thing, when you go in with an agenda, you're going to make the most of your time together. 

So the first thing I would recommend you do is reach out to your manager and say in an email, or a text, or a call, “Is there anything specifically that you would like me to prepare for our call?” Or you can also reach out to them and say, “Hey, here's some specific topics that I'd like to talk about on our call.” When you go in with that information, giving each other the opportunity ahead of your call, it gives you an opportunity to maybe do any research that's needed so that you can really come into that call with intention, and you have a clear understanding of the topics that you're going to be covering on that call. 

Now, I want you to remind yourself of one thing, your manager doesn't always know what you're doing day to day. Yes, if you're in sales, they may see your sales performance. Yes, they may see some of the successes that you've had in some of the projects that you're working on. But they don't always see the day to day. And your manager often wants to celebrate your successes with you. So the first thing that you could do when you are meeting with your manager is open up and celebrate your successes. Let them know what you've been working on. Let them know what wins you've had over the past weeks; give them an opportunity to celebrate with you, link arms and join in celebrating. Oftentimes people don't want to feel – maybe they feel when they're celebrating their wins, they may feel narcissistic. I was talking with a client the other day and she said, “Well, I'm very humble. I was raised to not always talk about my success.” It's to do it, not to talk about it.

Here's the thing. Your manager wants to celebrate your successes. And it's an opportunity for your manager to get to know what's working, what's not working, what are some of the challenges that you've had, and the steps that you've taken to overcome those challenges or those objections, and what's led to your success; because not only do they get to celebrate with you, they also get to maybe take that information and say, “Hey, you know what, that's a success story to share with our team.” Because those are some of the tools that maybe can be shared with the team that they can then replicate as well. It can be inspiring, it can be empowering, to hear how different team members have overcome challenges. So when you meet with your manager, celebrate your wins. And even in between your calls. If there's a specific win that you've had, that you have achieved, send them a text message; let them know, your manager wants to hear that. So I invite you, when you have big wins even when you have little wins, tell your manager. They don't always know what you're doing. They do kind of have limited information based on what specific metrics are put out there but they want to hear the when, the how; they want to celebrate you in that moment. So celebrate your wins with your manager. 

Five Essential Steps in Making the Most of Your One-on-One Calls

1. Celebrate your wins. 

2. Go through an overview of what’s working well.

3. Share about your challenges. 

4. Come with potential solutions. 

5. Find ways to support your team. 

One of these steps is to celebrate your wins, like I just said. The second one is to go through an overview of what's working well. Every role, every territory, every, every person is different. And so how one person might approach something may work really well. And maybe those ideas can spark some tools to provide other people with what's working well. So go in and say, “Here's what my wins were, here's the steps that I've taken and what's working really well.” Because what's working well for you might be able to work well for other people. And so share those successes, share what steps you're taking, that are working really well, then you can repeat in the future. 

The third is you want to go in with intention with your one on one calls to make the most of them is also sharing what your challenges are, we all have challenges, you know, and everybody's challenges may be similar may be different. And when you're sharing your challenges, there's a benefit to hearing challenges from everybody on your team. One of them is, there may be things that you're doing that maybe your manager doesn't do day to day, and when they're going through their one-on-one calls, and they're hearing a similar challenge, it kind of raises that red flag as to going, “Oh, red flags up.” This might be something that if multiple people on my team are experiencing, let me double check. As a manager, let me check with the other managers if multiple people with multiple teams are dealing with it. And the only way that people can work on solutions is if they're aware of the challenges. So share your challenges, and sometimes if they are unique to your specific job, or your territory or what you're doing, then it's an opportunity for you and your manager to brainstorm to come up with different ideas. 

Now, I invite you to take a step further. And this really kind of goes into that fourth step, which is if you're going to be coming and sharing some of the challenges that are going on in your role in your job, also come with potential solutions. So there's nothing more frustrating – when you've got that person on your team that is stuck in the drama, and all they're doing is complaining and they're just saying what's not working. And you know, sometimes what I would do as a manager is say, “Okay, well, what recommendations do you have? What solutions are you coming up with? Because, yes, I want to listen, I want to explore, I want to acknowledge these frustrations, we also want to move forward.” And so when you're meeting with your manager, and you're sharing, okay, here's some challenges I'm experiencing. Now, here's two ideas that I'm thinking of on how to approach these challenges, maybe some solutions that you might have for these challenges. So you're coming with that solution-oriented approach, you're anticipating what might work, what might not work. And then you're opening up that discussion with your manager and saying, Okay, here are my challenges. Here's some possible solutions. And you're opening up that conversation to discuss and brainstorm ideas. And they, your manager may say, “Hey, you know what, that's a great idea. Let me either circle it up” or, “Hey, that's a great idea. But let's maybe take it a step further and anticipate what questions leadership above might ask when we're coming together with some ideas on solutions.” 

Now the fifth is, how can you support your team? We're always looking for the leaders on your team, you're always looking at who are the people on your team that are really stepping into that leadership role. And whether you want to promote work within an organization that's essential, if you want to be in a leadership role, or you want to just be a leader in your current role, it's also taking a step further and saying, “Here's what's working well, here's some challenges, and here's how I might be able to support the team.” And that's coming together with some ideas, and maybe saying, “Hey, is it sharing best practice on their team?” 

A Deeper Sense of the Leadership Role

So for example, I had somebody on my team that wanted to be the field sales trainer which is kind of an elite position on the team. What their role is, is they would be onboarding new employees, new team members, they would be in a role where they were mentoring other people, there's also a lot of exposure to the executive leadership team. And she wanted that role. But there was a missing piece as to why I chose other people on the team. And I had shared this with her multiple times. But you know, it's whether that person wants to take the initiative or not. And that is going above and beyond what you're doing in your existing role, and contributing to the team. And a lot of that comes with sharing best practices, sharing what's working well. And whether that is sending an email to your team and saying, “Hey, I just wanted to share a success story and what worked really well. And maybe you might be able to take some of what's worked well and implement it in your role.” Or maybe it's saying, “Hey, I have this idea.” And you talk to your manager about it and say, “Hey, is it something that I can present on our next conference call or next team conference call?” Those are the types of steps that exemplify leadership among your team. 

Leadership is not a title. Leadership is actions that you put in place to support your peers and translating vision into reality. Leadership is showing up not only in your role, but showing up for your team and your peers in your organization, and really taking that step and saying, “How can I support my team? Here's some ideas I get to share with our team to help them achieve their goals as well.” And so again, when you're meeting with your manager, and you're having these one-on-one calls, really go in with intention. And it's a mutual conversation – as much as your managers want this time to kind of meet with you not only to get to know you further to build the relationship, and to gain a better understanding of how they can support you – it's also important that you come into that call with intention, so that you guys are making the most of that time together. 

Benefits of Having an Open Dialogue with your Manager 

So those are a couple of my tips to making the most of your one-on-one call, and ensuring that you are continuing to build that relationship with your manager because it's so essential. I would also say that in the beginning, as you're meeting with your manager on a frequent basis, continue to keep them informed on the progress. If there are certain goals that you have, share with them the progress of what steps you're taking to achieve those goals because like I said, they don't always know what you're doing all the time because they're not with you all the time. But also it opens up the conversation to say, “Oh, okay, I might have an additional resource that I can provide you to support you in that goal,” or they might be able to give you some exposure to some special projects when you're communicating that. 

So I think the overall, overarching, message today is communication. Communication is key and having an open dialogue, and continuing to have that communication flow consistently with your manager, and with your peers, and with your team. Communication can really build trust, establish relationships, and really support you and the short term and long term goals of your career.