Meetings Aren't Always for the Many...

...sometimes the best results come from one-on-one meetings.

John Pearson, in his book "Mastering the Management Buckets," has a great chapter on meetings. Part of the chapter deals with materials from Patrick Lencioni's great book "Death by Meeting." Also included are some great ideas (and a model report form) for one-on-one meetings.

Many meetings end with the perception that assignments and end results are crystal clear. In reality, we often fail to communicate. Pearson suggests that one-on-one meetings with each of a leader's direct reports can be a powerful antidote to miscommunication.

Here are some of Pearson's benefits of this type of meeting:

• Team members are affirmed regularly
• Direct reports more consistently leverage their strengths, their social styles, and their spiritual gifts
• Standards of performance are clear and goals are achieved on time and under budget
• Staff conflict, gossip, and misinformation challenges are dramatically reduced because truth-telling is a practiced core value
• Bottlenecks and missed deadlines are eliminated
• Recommendations are more thoughtful and intentional
• Communication is enhanced as you use your direct report's preferred communication style
• The pulse (morale, passion, and energy) of your team is checked weekly
• Affirmed and productive team members mean less staff turnover
• And...team members often give you affirmation!

Check out Pearson's book here or take a look at an excerpt here.

How about trying a one-on-one meeting this week?