The most important and powerful meetings are one on one. Nothing can accelerate the quality of a manager’s relationships with team members faster than one-on-one time. Here are a few statistics to consider:

•  Although 89% of people want to meet with their managers one on one at least once per month, only 73% actually do.
• Only one in four women have had a career conversation about how they can develop, and only one in five have ongoing career conversations with their managers. Among these same women, 82% say they would be more engaged, 75% say they would be more likely to stay with their employers and 78% say they would share their ideas more freely if they were having career conversations with their managers. Those are some enormous opportunity gaps!

Listen in as Larry Sternberg and I discuss how to find the time to meet one on one with your people and how to structure that time to have development-focused discussions with everyone on your team. When you do, you can achieve those higher levels of engagement, retention and creative contribution. We even give you an example of a tried-and-true Career Investment Discussion – a specific list of questions – to help you get started.
On all our podcasts and blog posts, you have an opportunity to talk back to us through comments and emails. We hope to hear from you! Until next time, manage to make a difference every day!

This is part of a series highlighting excerpts from our new book, Managing to Make a Difference. Next up: Go Ahead, Get Close to Your People. Connect with Kim Turnage and Larry Sternberg on LinkedIn to see the latest blog updates.