Recruiting and retaining talent is one of the top concerns for tech leaders. If they don’t have the talent they need, they can’t accomplish their goals. But something you already possess can help you engage employees – your personal brand.
Leveraging Your Personal Brand
Leveraging your personal brand is how you become a leader that everyone wants to work for. One way to employ your personal brand is in your one-on-one meetings with your direct reports.
But not all meetings are created equal. One-on-one meetings for status updates are different from periodic check-ins with your direct reports. Check-ins are an opportunity for you to connect with them and learn about their motivations and career goals.
Checking in with your employees regularly allows you to build a rapport, and having a rapport with your employees reminds them that you’re there to help them to be successful.
Building Personal Connections
If you haven’t been having these check-ins with your direct reports, it’s not too late to get started. As the old adage goes, today’s the best day to plant a tree. While you’ll need to figure out the best cadence for these check-ins, remember that the goal of this meeting is to build personal connections. Over time, you’ll be able to fine-tune what these meetings look like so that you can maximize their effectiveness.
Understanding what’s happening in your employees’ lives is a great way to keep them engaged at work. Because you’re doing everything you can to show up and connect with people, you’ll be able to serve your employees better.
One client of mine made a more concerted effort to work on his one-on-one meetings over the last few months and, in doing so, was able to retain a key member of his team who was ready to leave the company. Through one-on-one meetings, he was able to identify the problem and leverage the personal relationship he built to come to a solution and retain the employee.
It’s important to note that the manager didn’t start building a relationship through those meetings once there was a problem. He’d been building that relationship all along, and when it was time, he was able to leverage the knowledge and understanding of his direct report to retain a key member of his staff and meet the goals he had for his team.
Delayed Gratification
The results of these check-ins are not immediate. Building a rapport doesn’t happen overnight. When the pandemic started, the managers and leaders who had already been having consistent one-on-one meetings found themselves having even more impactful conversations with their people who were now working remotely.
And while hopefully, there won’t be another pandemic, there will always be another challenge, and it will help in the long run to have those building blocks there when you need them. It’ll also show your employees that caring about them during every season is part of your personal brand.
The cost and time of recruiting and retraining new employees can put your organization at a disadvantage, which is why connecting and building relationships with your employees can yield massive dividends.
While the thought of checking in with every employee may seem overwhelming, your people are absolutely worth this effort. One-on-one meetings may be one of the most important things that you do to connect with your people. Tell us in the comments how one-on-one meetings have helped your relationship with our employees.
To hear more about Leverage Your Brand In 1:1 Meetings, listen to Today’s Top Leaders Episode 35.