(Name)-
I've decided to start meeting individually with you (and everyone else on the team) on a weekly basis. We'll call these meetings "one-on-ones" . I think this is a great way for us to maintain good, open communication, and continue to build our relationship. We'll be meeting for 30 minutes once a week, at a pre-scheduled (and usually unchanged) time. It will be a private conversation - just you and I. We'll meet at my desk - if you have concerns about privacy, we'll talk about those once we get going.
The format of the 30 minutes will always be the same. The first 10 minutes are for YOUR agenda - anything you want to tell me, about anything. Your work, your family, your pets, your hobby, your challenges, your career, our working together. The primary focus of this meeting is going to be YOU. The middle ten minutes are for me, to share whatever I need to with you. We'll probably talk about projects you and I are working on, stuff I need from you, and things I've heard from up above. It will NOT be a team meeting with only one attendee; that is, I'm not just going to give you a ton of stuff to take notes on. The last 10 minutes are for us to talk about the future - your career, training, development, opportunities, etc. In my experience, a lot of the time you'll take 15 minutes, and I will too, so we won't get to the last segment. But that's okay, if we've covered what YOU want to cover, and I get a few minutes.
You may be thinking, "can I trust him?" Well, I hope so. I can tell you, if you want to complain, I'm willing to listen. If I'm messing up, I'm ready to hear it. I expect you to deliver it fairly and professionally, and I'll be willing to have a dialog with you. This will also give me a chance to share feedback and coaching with you on things you're trying to improve on. I encourage you to be as open as you can be, and over time I bet we both will get more comfortable.
Some of you may say, "gee, we talk all the time." And, you'd be right, but a lot of those conversations are very short. And, they're usually about something very specific, so we don't get to share more info or go into more detail. Our one-on-ones will allow us to do that. You may also be thinking, "what will we talk about?" From everything I've learned about them, we will EASILY fill up the time. After we get past the first meeting jitters ("am I in trouble because I'm at the bosses' cube/in the bosses' office?" (YOU'RE NOT!)), I suspect we will find plenty to talk about.
This is not a one time deal. We're not going to do this for a while and then stop. I'm not trying to do this with everyone just to hide talking to one of you. This is my way of getting to know you all better, because the better we know each other, the better work we will do together.
Below is a schedule of possible times. I have already blocked all these times on my calendar, so I should be able to keep them. I admit, if (insert manager's boss name here) wants me, I may have to reschedule. But, if someone requests my time on the outlook calendar, it will show as busy. IF THERE IS ANY WAY I CAN KEEP THIS MEETING, I WILL. PERIOD.
Maybe in the first few weeks, we will juggle things a bit, to figure out what works best for everyone. I've not done this before, so we'll mess up a little. I believe it will ABSOLUTELY be worth it.
I look forward to your replies requesting a time slot! (If there are conflicts, we'll work them out.)
regards,
(You!)