Drive your career with a simple action
Show Up authentically in 121 meetings
The Art of 1:1 Meetings
Drive your Career with one Simple Action – often undervalued but it can bring HUGE benefits to your career.
Build network trust, engagement, career plan.
Today we are going to talk about the ART of 121 Meetings, how this one Simple Activity can change your career!
Let’s start with raising our hands: How many of us are guilty at cancelling a 121 meeting, or showing up just to get it over with…? Even though we all know (hopefully) why 121 meetings matter in an organisation today.
Would you reconsider before cancelling another 121 if I tell you that mastering 121 meetings can bring HUGE benefit to your career growth!
First of all, as a Coach, I like to clarify the definition of 121 meetings, this is not limited to meeting with your manager, but also 121 catch up with your peer, with your team member, with other function, with senior leaders, etc.
When you show up (authentically) on a 1:1 setting, you are naturally building your connection with another human being. Contrary to most beliefs, Career progression is not only based on your work ethics and result, but also your network and reputation in this big working family.
During a 121 meeting, you can:
- build your network,
- share your career aspirations (not limited to your boss),
- share your visions/ideas, gain supporters/ sponsors.
With the above, you create your identity and awareness within the organisation of who you are, what’s your drive, what you are capable of, what you can become…etc. BUT, be READY to listen, be curious about the other person, be prepared with questions or topics. It is NOT only about you.
There is a BIG difference between being the “nice” person in others’ conversation vs being the “talent” “good leader” with vision and drive to achieve more in the organisation.
If you manage a team, You can:
- build trust with your team,
- learn more about their development, what motivate them,
- how you can support etc.
I STRESS on “show up” and “authenticity” because we value one another’s time, and if you just “USE” people to achieve your goal, you will not be seen as a trustworthy leader.
I will put this bluntly: if you cancelled all the time, or show up unprepared, or show up but not interested, that means it is not important to you, then stop wasting the other person’s time. If your answer is “yup, this is not important to me”, then you need to accept the consequence: unmotivated team, break-down in collaboration, low engagement. What does that mean to your career and reputation?
When you gain support from peers, sponsors or having a fully engaged team to achieve the vision/objective, motivate people to come along on the change journey, your leadership quality will not be overlooked. On the other hand, it is easy to be passed over for a promotion when you solely depend on your manager to value your hard work.
Maybe you have always had 121s but never seen the benefit for your career. To make it work, remember 121 is not one sided operational check-in, delegation of tasks, this should happen throughout the day/week rather than waiting for 1:1.
Some questions to help you prepare your 121:
- What’s on your mind
- What’s the top priority
- Do you need more or less direction from me?
- How can I support you or your team?
- Do I give you enough feedback?
- How are things going (outside work as well)?
Questions to engage with new team:
- What motivate you the most?
- What would make this 121 valuable to you?
- What’s your Career goal?
- What (kind of project) excites you the most?
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