10MINMC.Ep20.V1.AUDIO
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Trey Sheneman: [00:00:00] There's one type of meeting each week on your calendar that most likely makes or breaks the culture you're trying to build. So in today's episode, I want to talk about this style of meeting and how you can lead better up, out, and down from you when you learn this framework. So let's jump in. Let's.
Welcome back to 10 Minute Masterclass. I'm your host and lead MC, Trey Sheneman. It's our goal on 10 Minute Masterclass every week to be the weekly mic drop for business breakthrough for you each week. We do that by diving deep into the core four drivers of growth, marketing, sales, operations, and leadership.
Each week we take one episode. We drive [00:01:00] down and deep into one of those areas. This week we're gonna be talking about operations and I think the bane of my existence inside of operations is unnecessary meetings. Can I get an amen? There is nothing like going to a whole bunch of meetings. I. That could have been emails or Slack updates or a text message or whatever it is, because meetings are really inefficient.
They cost companies a lot of money with people that are all on payroll, sitting around, staring at each other on a Zoom screen or in person. And so I really despise ineffective meetings. It's a huge part for me. I can be a rambler. In meetings, and I give my team and my people permission to shut me up if I'm rambling on in a meeting.
Like all of us have got more important things to do to be wasting each other's time in a meeting. Now, there is one meeting though that I think is critical in the success. The, the, it's a, it's almost a lifeline kind of meeting in a growing business. Um, and it's not a meeting that's rarely about technology or spreadsheets or even really [00:02:00] growth for growth's sake, even.
I know that's. Typically what we talk about on this podcast, but this kind of meeting is a one on one. Now, I don't necessarily just mean the one-on-one meetings that you might have with those who report to you or the one-on-one meetings that you might have with who you report to. If you're listening to this podcast and you're not the owner, maybe you're a, you know, a director of marketing or a head of marketing is side of a of a company and you have a one-on-one with the CEO or the owner.
I'm talking about any one-on-one meeting, anytime you're meeting a one-on-one with somebody that's up from you, out from you, or down from you inside of a company, I think those are the most magical meetings that happen inside of a company. And I think you have got to have an approach, a framework for how to make those meetings go really well.
Because if those meetings can go well, teams can be more aligned than ever. People can be rowing the boat in the same direction and really going after a common cause, uh, that matters for the business. And so. I think most people, the big problem, um, that I think we run into is most [00:03:00] people think of one-on-ones as like status updates or last minute check-ins, but the best leaders I've ever worked with and for, they use one-on-ones to drive alignment.
That is the main goal of the one-on-one. And one of the, the main ways that they're driving alignment is they're solving problems in these one-on-ones and they're learning about each other so that they can deepen trust. And so in, when, when you do one-on-ones the right way, they. Stop being meetings and they start being multipliers inside of your business.
And I think they make all the difference. So I wanna walk you through the posture that I take with the three different types of one-on-ones that I've already mentioned. A one-on-one when it's with somebody who reports directly to me, a one-on-one when it's. Someone who's parallel to me in the organization, maybe they're also in marketing, but they're in a different division, or maybe they're in product or creative or engineering or another function inside of the business.
And then a one-on-one with when, you know, I used to have somebody that I report to. Obviously now I'm, I'm a founder to CEO. I don't report to anyone other than the good Lord above and my wife. [00:04:00] Um, but I, you know, the. If you, if you were in a situation where you have a boss, this is how I would have those meetings.
So let's start with somebody. When you're leading down and you're leading someone that's reporting to you, the main focus of that kind of a one-on-one should be coaching, clarity, and development of that person. All right? So your job, when you're the manager and they're the report, your job should be to remove roadblocks for them.
Reinforce the mission of the company, the mission that everybody's working on, and make sure that you're being a good coach for them, not just checking to make sure that they got their tasks done. So questions that I can give you that I would tend to ask in a one-on-one situation like that would be things like, how are you feeling about your work this week?
What's going well? Where are you stuck? What do you need from me to succeed? Great question. And where are you trying to grow right now? And be openhanded with the answer to that question. It could be spiritual, financial, personal, emotional, intellectual. So you know, obviously some of those boundaries might not be [00:05:00] ones you wanna cross, but establishing where those boundaries are and being willing to lean in as their leader is a huge way.
So those are, those are some examples of the posture you should be having in that meeting and the kind of questions you should be asking. Okay. So. Then there's leading across or leading out, um, that's a one-on-one with a peer or some sort of like a lateral team lead or team leader to you. The purpose on the, on these kinds of meetings is communication and collaboration.
Alright, so your job when you're having a meeting like that, that's a one-on-one, is to build a bridge. That's the whole point of the meeting, is to align on shared goals and dependencies and to keep relational equity high between you and those teams. So. Some of the questions, I might go into a meeting like that, a one-on-one meeting like that with are, Hey, what's the number one priority for your team right now?
Here's the number one priority for mine. Where could we be better collaborating right now between our teams? Hey, have we created any roadblocks from our side that your team's having to overcome? Are there any other ideas you can give me [00:06:00] on how I could support your success this quarter? So when you do these meeting well meetings, well, you end up, uh, you know, for lack of a better way of saying it, you end up kind of putting points in the bank, if you know what I'm saying.
If your posture is like this with your colleagues, your, your name. Is gonna start to come up at the, at the water cooler, your name is gonna start to come up more. Um, and I will tell you, I I, I worked for a larger organization and I made it a personal mission of mine in the first six months when I joined this team to really focus on this area of having a lot of really effective meetings with those that were lateral from me.
And, uh, it's so funny because there literally became a Trey scoreboard, uh, on one of these guys' whiteboards of the number of times he started to hear my name come up. Now, I'm not saying that to say, oh my gosh, look at me, I'm. And that to say I had an intentional strategy about garnering more influence and positive, positive sentiment with those that were lateral to me, not just those that were up for me, those that were down for me.
And I, I took a very keen approach to [00:07:00] that and, and it, it worked. You know, my, uh, my opportunities side of that organization expanded. They never contracted. That's the way that I would say it. Alright. The last kind of one-on-one is the one that where you're going. Up to your leader, uh, it's with your manager and executive.
The purpose of these meetings, so if the first one, the purpose of the one-on-one down is alignment, the one-on-one out is collaboration. The one-on-one, one-on-one up is influence. Okay. Your, your job here is to be concise, to be clear, but to be somebody who brings solutions and not problems to a meeting like that, you always want to be able to highlight what's working for you and what else you might need their support on, and you wanna make sure you're the one that's asking for feedback early and often.
So the structure for a one-on-one up from you, especially if your leader gives you the ability to control it, should be to give them a quick updates on wins and metrics. Go ahead and immediately flag key risks and blockers. As well as what your suggested action plans are to fix those key risks and blockers, and then [00:08:00] finish your one-on-one by saying, where is it in my job right now that you would like more visibility from me?
Which shows that you're coachable, teachable, you're approachable. Okay, so. No matter which one of those types of one-on-ones you're in, there are some really good rules that you need to keep in mind for having a great one-on-one. Number one, again, no matter which style of meeting it is, own the agenda.
Actually have a plan for the meeting so that it doesn't feel like you're wasting their time or your time. Don't. Don't come in in to wing it. All right. Actually have an approach. Number two, stay off surface level. Dig a little deeper than just making it a meeting about updates one way or the other. Talk about real blockers.
Talk about real struggles or real opportunities or areas you'd really like to grow. Really drive for clarity in those moments. And number three, make sure that you're tracking progress of the meanings. Not just project progress of the work that you're doing, but actually whether it's, uh, I used to keep a notes file in my, my, you know, my laptop, my my Mac laptop, that, you know, my, I had a one-on-one thread for every [00:09:00] person I ever had a one-on-one with.
And I would just go back to that same thread, pick up where we left the last time we met, and add my new notes in. So maybe that would work for you. Maybe keeping a notion template or something else would work for you, but have a. System for being able to recall. 'cause all of us get busy, our minds get tired.
Um, recall exactly what it was you, you left off with the last time you were with someone. It shows that you care and that you're paying attention. So at the end of the day, having really great one-on-ones is gonna drive these outcomes for you. Number one, when you're doing it leading down, it's gonna build your team.
Number two, when you're doing it leading out, it's gonna build the culture. And number three, when you're doing it leading up, it's gonna build your influence. And when you can master all three of those things, man, your career. It's gonna take a rocket ship journey and you're gonna stop being in meetings that are a waste of time, and you're gonna start multiplying the impact that you can have inside of your organization.
And those of us that are leaders, founders, builders, we have to model the way. So we have to go first. So make sure you're, you're running meetings that are effective. Uh, they're done on time [00:10:00] and they're really, really good. I could talk about all the other kinds of meetings that happen inside of a company, but I really do think the one-on-one is that critical lever that can magnify impact.
Skyrocket growth and get you headed on the right path. So apply these tips to your one-on-ones this week. Shoot me a DM if you get stuck. We are so grateful you're, you. Always take 10 minutes out to listen to us, to what we're sharing here on the podcast each and every week. Until next time, we'll see you on the flip side.
