One on One meetings

opportunities for development with the whole operations.  

As these discussions

One on Ones meetings, or as may be called differently, are important meetings for effective communication and driving excellence in operations.

By now, we had describe several meetings while we reviewed major systems and processes for driving operational excellence in the organization.

We had reviewed the importance of LEAN and effective meetings. Assurance of supply weekly meetings, cost reduction meetings, technical and NPI meetings. We will elaborate in the coming chapters on the importance of safety and quality meetings.

All these meetings are of technical and professional teams’ forums and working groups.

In order to drive change and improvement in operations organizations. Everyone needs to reach personal level of commitment. And operational excellence goal needs to be of everyone personal aspiration.

One on one meetings are tool to reach personal accountability and engagement, between managers and employee and between peers in operations working place.

Trust, engagement, and commitment for personal and operational excellence achieves in one on one meetings.

How do trust commitment and accountability and engagement are built in our one on one meeting?

During our one on one meetings we give and get our weekly tasks updates, monthly priorities, quarterly objectives as our annual feedback.

Personal and team objectives, and development discussions, take place in our one on one meetings. These conversations link and engage betweenour personal and overall operations results.

Also, our career path discussions, future aspirations, leverage of strength, and working on areas for development are discussed in one on one meetings.

Especially we care for connection of our personal development plan implementation and future are personally relevant and significant for us. It makes us care.

Both one on one meetings participants are interested, engaged and accountable for meeting results.

Also in one on one meetings we continuously receives 360 degrees feedback from our managers, peers and subordinates. Sometime the feedback are less precise. However, feedback will always be more specific and effective in one on one meeting than in group meetings. Which make us connect. 

Once we succeeded establishing openness, and commitment for operational excellence inside the organization. We need getting our counter parts outside the organization by in.

First we need to persuade them to leave their comfort zone, and raise their accountability for operational excellence.

Without getting outside the organization counterparts commitment for operational excellence goals, we cannot succeed. 

Promoting departments and function stack holders commitment, as HR, finance, R&D, in our one on one meetings, is important for bye in and change success.

In corporate work environment, we have business and professional interactions with other divisions, with other region, supplier or company customer.

In all this interaction we need to raise the bar, set high goals and reach personal accountability for improving operations performances from ourselves and from our counterpart.

1) One on One meetings discuss our work objectives, careers planning, and performance results,     professional and business interactions.

2) These establishes our interest, engagement and personal accountability.

3) Only solid base of personal accountability inside and outside the operations can drive change       and reach excellence goals.

We should value and prepare ourselves for our one on one meeting.

Our one on ones meetings are not only routine and friendly discussion to sustain good communication and working relations.

Friendly discussions are very important to keep healthy cooperative atmosphere with peers and counterparts.

Though, professional one on one’s other than being with friendly atmosphere, needs to defined objectives, needs to prioritize them with precise content, keep focus on results, and time line of execution.

It is important to define our one on one meetings purpose, expected outcome and future follow up.

For example, while preparing for engineering, technical or technology subject discussion.

We need to learn in details the technical principal, as yield or machine performance, software or chemistry process. We should define before meeting specific area for discussion, possible solutions, and recommended path forward.

For budget, or financial decisions one on ones, we need to learn all implications of decisions on COGs, Gross Margin and MOH quarterly results.

If we discuss supply chain subject we need to prepare supplier background, assurance of supply results, cost and quality performance.

Data needs to be minimal and relevant, not in overwhelm quantity. We need subjects prepared in well explanatory logic prior to meeting.

For informative One on One meeting, we need understanding our business partner situation and prepare ourselves to support him with innovative out of the box solution.

Innovative and out of the box solutions are usually what expected from good partner when people asks for assistance in one on ones meetings.

 If we had previous limited success with our counterpart. In his understanding our message, and we do not see any advance after several one on one meetings.

We can try and define our counterpart communication dynamics and work for improving the communication gaps between us.

In order to understand different communication dynamics, we can learn Human Dynamics methodologies or other communication improvements techniques.

Keeping records of topics along the year, reflects subjects that advanced and subjects which were raised and discussed several times without tangible results.

Important observation on our One on One environment

In companieswith restricted space we may find ourselves locked in small size room, or using huge lecture room for two people discussion.

Both situations are not creating effective atmosphere and does not encourage positive dynamic, openness and joint commitment.

Such space does not flourish our openness and trust.

In order to gain openness and good communication we need an environment that release tension.

It helps to find location which inspires creativity and openness in one on one meetings.

This alternative location can be the office building Garden, Cafeteria or Coffee shop in the neighborhood. All those can serve as better locations for productive one on one meeting.

Very good preparation, existing understanding without friendly location, trough intention and calm atmosphere can yield shallow results.

Inspiring, creative and breakthrough results of one on one meeting requires trust openness and friendly environment.

Listening in one on one meetings  

It is our human nature to seek a leader - someone who will provide a sense of security, consult and provide the necessary resources for personal growth and improved performance.

Effective leadership is characterized by a manager’s ability to identify his / her followers’ needs and lead accordingly.

Listening skills are the basis for this competency. Listening is not merely a passive action aimed at receiving a signal and responding rather, it is the deeper attentiveness to ones counterparts message and motivations.

What is active listening and why is it so important?

Stephen Covey (1998) discusses empathetic listening and stresses the importance of the listener’s inclination to understand the counterpart.

Empathetic listening requires stepping into the others frame of reference. Once there, one can see the world as the other does, understand his/hers paradigm and how he or she feels.

Empathetic listening requires much more than just receiving, mirroring or even understanding. Communication experts maintain that only 10% of a message conveyed originates in the actual words we say. 30% is conveyed in sound (rhythm, tone) and 60% originates in body language.

Empathetic listening includes listening with ears, eyes and heart; listening to feelings, meaning and behavior.

When listening empathetically both the left and right hemispheres are activated; our intuition is activated, we feel!

One of the major insights, research on motivation provides, is that while fulfillment of needs is not a source of motivation, unsatisfied needs are. Psychological welfare and survival - the need to be understood, reassured, respected - are only second to physical survival.

When we listen to someone empathetically we create psychological space. Once the psychological space is created, we can focus on influencing or solving problems. Just as a doctor diagnoses before making a decision, we as managers, or peers must seek to primarily understand and diagnose before devising a suitable solution.

The field of Coaching also recognizes listening as a means for enhancing mutual learning and understanding between the coach and the trainee. The coach listens and is attentive to the formulation of the trainee’s vision, values and purpose.

He / She is attentive to resistance, fear and symptoms of the trainee retracing his / her steps.

The coach tries to identify the trainee’s authentic self and helps the trainee voice it clearly. Actively listening to situations in which “internal demons” challenge change, stress weakness and past failure, the coach assists the trainee in coping and overcoming these fears. The coach listens attentively in order to identify the developmental stage the trainee is at and assist in the journey towards self-realization.

Supporting an employee’s personal development process is similar to the coaching process.

The first step towards understanding employees and their development needs, is listening. In order to better understand the (Whitworth,Kimsey-House,Sandahl.2006) –

1. The 1st level of listening is internal. We hear the words of the other but focus on the meaning they elicit in us.

2. The 2nd level is focused listening. Our attention is focused on the other and the words they say (external focus, superficial listening).

3. The 3rd level is all encompassing. This listening is focused on emotions, body language and the environment (external focus, deep listening). 

The coach, and in our case the operation manager, should use the 2nd and 3rd levels of listening.

The 1st and 2nd levels of listening focus solely on words.

The 3rd level of listening is based on all senses and communication channels; the manager is sensitive to the trainee’s mood, rhythm and energy.

Effective coaching includes listening beyond the words of the story. The 2nd and 3rd listening levels enable the manager to access his/her intuition – the place where perception and sensory data merge.

Reference:

1.       Covey S. (1996). The seven habits of highly effective people. Israel: Oram.
2.       Whitworth.L., Kimsey-House.H., Sandahl.P. (2006). Co-Active Coaching. California:       Davies-Black Publishing.