Are 1-on-1 Meetings Dead?

I recently read a CNBC article from Yale University psychology professor, Laurie Santos, who highlights “The dread you experience when you feel like you’re too busy is called “time famine”, and it can lead to low productivity, poor work performance and burnout”

I can admit to feeling this way on many occasions. Having a lot to do, but feeling that the work load is even more than it actually is, and then not knowing where to start and what to prioritise. It often slows down my ability to get relatively straightforward tasks done in a timely manner.

My method of getting back on track when faced with “time famine” is to take time back by scrutinising every meeting in my diary and every action I have to do.

I often find that I can free up time in the diary by declining or cancelling meetings that are not essential, or shortening some meetings to avoid spending unnecessary time talking about the weather or the latest soccer scores.

Once I figure out the actual priorities and free up time to get on with work, the feeling of anxiety and limited time starts to disappear, and productivity starts to flow again.

This is just one way of getting time back, however there are more.

NVIDA founder and CEO Jensen Huang, reportedly has 55 direct reports. This may sound like an unwise undertaking and simply asking for a diary full of 1-on-1’s with limited time to actually work.

Not only are NVIDA’s GPUs the most highly sought after products of their kind, the company that Jensen built typically hovers between #1 - #3 of the worlds most valuable company’s, with a present market value in the region of $3.5 trillion. Yes, that’s trillion with a “T”!

Maybe having 55 direct reports isn’t so bad after all? So how does he do it?

Jensen starts by having NO 1-on-1 meetings at all. Now as a CEO of a top S&P500 company, it’s probably less of an issue compared with someone who has more junior direct reports, however everyone still has development and personal needs.

Jensen’s method is to have meetings with all his direct reports simultaneously so that when he gives feedback, direction and the benefit of his experience, all of his senior management hear it and benefit at the same time.

This approach creates consistency in messaging and team alignment. It also means that all of his direct reports get the same treatment relating to their leadership development.

Naturally, another byproduct of this approach is that Jensen gets close enough to each department and manages his diary more effectively.

You may be thinking that there are exceptions, when 1-on-1 meetings are necessary. Jensen manages this by enabling any of his direct reports to contact him for a 1-on-1 meeting if this is needed, such as a personal emergency, in which case he “drops everything” to be there for his people.

This leadership style is a clear show of intent and transparency, by being able to give feedback to your team members in front of their peers. It also requires some form of humility and teamwork from his direct reports, as they will either need to take feedback publicly, or hear feedback given to their peers, and then must all learn from it and apply the lessons in real time.

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I recently wrote about how Airbnb transformed the travel accommodation and experiences market, through a user-centric model of excellence. Another lens to look at this company is how their CEO Brian Chesky leads his teams and manages time with efficiency and impact.

Chesky is cited to have said:

“The one-on-one model is flawed. It’s just a recurring one-hour one-on-one meeting where the employee owns the agenda. And what happens is that they often don’t talk about the things you want to talk about, and you become like their therapist”.

Evidently, the Airbnb founder-CEO is not a fan of transactional 1-on-1 meetings, and would rather prioritise time focussing on the individual’s work and how he can help them with it.

Chesky is known to have started his leadership style following the common approach of hiring great people, set the direction and staying out of their way, for fear of being labelled a ‘micromanager’.

He later shunned this approach in favour of getting close to his team and their work. His position now is that great leaders are “in the detail”.

This doesn’t mean that great leaders dictate the detail and undermine their team, but instead, his approach is to work alongside his team, empower them to make decisions but stay close to key decisions and generate ideas alongside his team.

By taking this approach, Chesky knows all key activities and releases taking place in his organisation, and as a result is able to make big priority calls quickly and steer the direction of the business, because he understands what is being delivered.

As a consequence, the need for 1-on-1 meetings starts to diminish, as he already knows what his team are doing and what they need. The team also have less ambiguity about his expectations, as these matters are discussed day-to-day whilst working together to collaboratively resolve meaningful business problems.

Whilst 1-on-1 meetings my not be completely dead, there is clearly scope to significantly reduce them and treat them for more urgent or personal matters.

Aside from the ideas above, here are a few more suggestions to help reduce 1-on-1 sessions and team meetings in general, whilst maintaining visibility and control.

• Asynchronous communication: using tools like Slack or project management software such as Trello, Monday, Jira, to get clear updates. This keeps the knowledge and updates visible to a wider group where this is needed.

• Video updates: I sometimes send updates to a group of people in a short video format. This can be done in Slack and other similar collaboration tools. It helps to keep to a set time, rather than spending time with small talk, and also enables me to keep messages clear and succinct.

• Status updates or reports: This is quite traditional but when I know that someone is going to send me an email update at a set time, it stops me from chasing for an update, and also tends to avoid some recurring 1-on-1 meetings.

• Town Hall meetings: These can be great for cascading information across a wider group to address common challenges and seek interaction, which gives a wider group of individuals the feeling that they have interacted with you and expressed their views, ideas or frustrations.

Articles:

• NVDIA’s CEO never schedules on-on-one meetings-unless someone specifically asks for it.

• Feeling too busy can damage your brain health-here are 3 easy ways to fix it.

• Airbnb CEO says 1-on-1 meetings are often a missed opportunity for collaborative learning.

From Change Leaders Playbook:

• The sky is the limit for Airbnb.

• High performing teams: they just keep going!