As you climb to higher management levels and begin leading other managers, keeping in touch with your team's pulse can become difficult. Understanding what is happening at the lowest levels can help you wrap context around what your team brings you. You may also need to build stronger support for your goals and direction.  Introducing skip-level one-on-ones can be an effective way to increase your engagement and understanding with your whole team. The most important thing you can do with your time is communicate with your team! How to start If you are serious about strengthening your connection with your team through skip-level one-on-ones, you should start with a plan. It is critical to be clear about what you want to achieve with these conversations, or you may cause stress or conflict within your team. Clarify Your Goals Start by setting aside some dedicated time to consider what you want to achieve with these one-on-ones. Here are some questions to answer to help y...

Just about every problem I work through in my role boils down to needing to communicate more and more often. Early on, as an engineering leader, I had to tackle a strange communication problem. I led a small team of 3-4 engineers who supported our production development teams. This team had fully embraced a Scrum mindset, and due to rapid prototyping requirements, the team worked in one-week sprints. This means we had planning, standups, retro, and demos every five days. Between standups and other ceremonies, they collaborated daily, looking for peer reviews and technical support. They were proud of their ability to be direct with each other, not needing to "sugarcoat" the message. Yet there was still a problem. The team was always working in drastically different directions and at various technical levels, constantly bickering about what needed to be done. One-on-ones with me were full of complaints about other team members and were always heated. How could there be such...

Do you find yourself dreading those one-on-ones with your manager? Are you not sure what to tell them? Are you not sure how to get good feedback from them? One-on-ones should be your time to get advice on your career and goals. Share your accomplishments from your perspective. Also, discuss anything you are concerned about or afraid of in your job or future. Instead of waiting for your manager to figure it out, take the lead and make this time valuable to you. Use this post for some ideas on how to get the most out of this time with your manager. You can turn these conversations into something you look forward to by working through some high-level steps. 1. Think about how you want to grow/improve. 2. Drive the conversation based on your goals.  3. Follow up and ask for feedback. A Little Background on Your Manager Before we get too far, let’s explore a little bit about why they might not be good at this. Most managers started as people doing the work, probably a similar job as you...

Are you looking to level up or improve at your job but struggling to get good feedback from your manager? This post will explore how you can take the lead in getting great feedback from your manager. Walk A Minute in Their Shoes Let’s start with a little perspective from your manager’s point of view. Most managers started as people doing the work, probably a similar job as you.  Often, they were promoted because they were one of the best at that job.  Unfortunately, most of the time, people are moved to management roles with little to no training. Remember, they are people doing their best, just like you. Likely, they don’t receive good feedback or have a mentor available either. Know that feedback is difficult to give, especially negative feedback. Our brains always jump to the worst-case scenario, making us scared to deliver information we know people need. For many people, giving feedback can be worse than public speaking. Without training, many managers will avoid sh...

I have been talking about one-on-one discussions with other leaders more often lately. Nowadays, people can easily switch teams and companies, making  building a solid relationship between managers and team members more crucial than ever . Have you been wondering how to encourage your team to open up more about what's happening? Are you concerned you're losing touch with your team's day-to-day activities? Or are you aware of what they are working on but don't have enough information to determine if they're making the right decisions on the ground? You may have also noticed that your team members' skills aren't improving as they should. Regular and well-structured one-on-ones can be a great way to establish better relationships and more robust communication channels with your team. Throughout my career as a leader, I have held regular one-on-ones with over a hundred individuals and found the timing and structure that works well for me. A one-on-one is not!...