One-on-one meetings with your manager

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Once you have started your internship, you will notice that you may have regular meetings with just your manager. These meetings go by various names- one-on-one, 1:1 or even one-to-one meetings.

What are they?

These are regular meetings with your manager or peers that are meant to help you connect about work, catch each other up on the development of projects and even getting to understand each other better.

Why are they important?

As mentioned above, one-on-one meetings give feedback, keep each other in the loop, resolve issues, and help you and your manager grow in your roles.

Give and get feedback-feedback is key to better understand yourself and your role in the organization as an intern. Through feedback, you get to know the things that you are doing well, what you can improve and how to go about it. You also get an opportunity to give feedback to your manager or peers about the things they are doing well and what they can do better in their role.

Photo by Jon Tyson

Update each other- During a one-on-one, you and your manager get the chance to give updates on ongoing projects. During these sessions, you can ask for help, clarifications of their opinion on what needs to be done next. A face-to-face session makes communication clearer and removes situations that misunderstandings can occur.

Resolve issues- as stated above, face-to-face, real-time conversations between you and your manager or peers are the best in order to best communicate and understand each other. This is even more urgent in a virtual workplace. This way and issues that crop up either with the work itself or between individuals can easily be resolved.

Career development- during your meetings, you and your manager can discuss the trajectory of your career and the things you need to do to make your career goals come true. You can also ask your manager what insights they have on your plans, their advice and even what personal experiences they have, if you aspire to have a similar career path.

Benefits of one-on-one meetings

These meetings lead to higher performing and more engaged teams- When done right, your manager will be able to check in on your productivity, morale, and wellness. This will lead you to be highly engaged and a high performer as you will feel heard and understood.

Career growth and development- When you have the chance to discuss about what career path you are aiming for, in this case, possibly a full-time job after your internship, then you are setting yourself up for success. You will be in a position to find out what is required of you to get the job and other positions in the future.

Photo by Fab Lentz

How can you make the most of them

· First of all, if you are currently not having these meetings with your manager, please suggest that you start. You can write a formal email to your supervisor highlighting the benefits stated above, and request that you have regular sessions for the meetings.

· When your manager agrees to the meetings, in order to make the most out of them, give your manager enough notice on topics you'd like to discuss. This will ensure that they are prepared to help answer any of your questions.

· Once you have a routine set up, encourage your manager to also take ownership of the meetings for both of you to equally benefit. You manager will also need them in order to get feedback from you and insights on their own growth and career development.

· Be open and open-minded. Be flexible enough to receive critiques and feedback about the meetings themselves and be open to reschedule and work around the best times for everyone. They cannot be useful if people have them in a hurry or with a sense of obligation. For example: If a very big project is happening and either you or your manager is struggling with coming up with the time to finish it, you can always reschedule the meeting to a time when is most convenient for both of you and you will not be looking at the clock, anxious to get on with the other thing.

Conclusion

One-on-one meetings are vital in the success of every individual and organization. Take the time to set them up and reap the benefits.