Leaders: here's how to build connection that leads to high performance with your team
In this episode of Lead the Room, the hosts dive deep into the importance of one-on-one meetings for effective leadership. They highlight the alarming rates of meeting cancellations and rescheduling, stressing the need for these meetings to strengthen team connections, provide valuable feedback, and foster a positive workplace culture. The discussion also touches on overcoming challenges in difficult conversations, the persistence required in leadership, and practical tips for making one-on-ones more impactful. Personal growth, engagement, and team dynamics are central to creating a thriving team environment.
Key Takeaways:
One-on-One Meetings Are Essential for Leadership: Regular one-on-ones help build trust, provide feedback, and improve team morale, making them a critical tool for successful leadership.
Persistence and Preparation Matter: High cancellation rates signal the need for better commitment to these meetings, with preparation showing you value your team's input and growth.
Fostering Connection and Growth: Embrace difficult conversations, follow up on commitments, and celebrate small wins to build a supportive, accountable, and engaged team culture.
This episode underscores the transformative power of consistent, meaningful one-on-ones in leadership and team dynamics, paving the way for improved communication, growth, and business success.
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Full transcript
LeadTheRoom (00:00.046)
Welcome to Lead the Room podcast, where we help those with great ideas and brilliant minds to become amazing leaders and build teams full of purpose, connection, creativity and courage, transforming people's experience of workplaces and leadership. In 2018, we decided that the leadership playbook we saw around us
wasn't working for the needs of our teams and our organisations, or frankly for us. So we ripped it up, built a new one, and watched the incredible impact that came from leading in a completely counter-cultural way. This journey transformed our experience of work, team culture, delivery, and felt so, so good to us. And our approach has served us and our teams in the good times and in the tough times alike.
So now we're here to share our stories, experiences with you so you can become the leader you want to be, build teams that deliver amazing things in amazing environments and inspire those around you to do the same. You and your leadership are what our workplace and people desperately need. We'll be laughing, crying and learning together. Let's get started.
LeadTheRoom (01:23.342)
So I read a report recently, Bryony, that said that more than 40 % of one-to-one meetings with staff are rescheduled on a weekly basis, 40%, and on average, almost 30 % of one-to-ones are cancelled each week. Really? Yeah, I think that is... I don't know, that kind of shocked me. Yeah. It also didn't shock me. And, yeah, we'll come on to that. But I think...
Sure, there are good reasons that you'd have to reschedule a meeting, a one-to-one, but it said also that for 40 % of those meetings that were cancelled, it takes on average 10 minutes to reschedule that one-to-one. So what a waste of time. But also there are good reasons that you would have to reschedule a meeting, a one-to-one, and 100 % get that. But cannot think of many meetings that you would have to cancel it. And that...
feels really worrying to me as a leader. Like why are such a high volume of meetings, of one-to-one meetings, being rescheduled? Like how often are you rescheduling meetings, really jiggling around with meetings in your diary? Therefore, does it suggest it's the wrong time to begin with? But 30 % each week are being cancelled. Yeah. Does that shock you? Yeah, I think it does surprise me because for me,
I love catching up with my staff. I'm like on the whole, like I'm in a great team now, so it's easy to love catching up with them. But I really look forward to them. Like it's my chance to really connect with them, to hear how they're doing, to like really delve into like, how can I help them? How's their growth going? Like what can I do to like help them, to listen to them, share their wins and the things that they're proud of, to know more about their values, all of that kind of stuff.
When I think about the impact that it has on me when my one-to-ones with my boss get canceled or rescheduled, you know what? I don't have a lot of support like that in my diary on a weekly, monthly basis. Often, I've been saving up the things that I wanted to talk to my boss about. I've got this problem, I've got that problem, I've got the other problem, I want to update you on this great thing I did.
LeadTheRoom (03:42.764)
I need your advice on this training thing I might be thinking about or this development opportunity. Obviously, we know me, Lindsay. Of course, I'm coming with a list, but I've been saving them up. Then if it gets canceled or rescheduled, it's almost like it throws my day. That sounds dramatic, but then it's like, gosh, now next time we're to have to cover 10 things in the half hour rather than the five that are on the list because I'll have other things.
My time's going to get squeezed. Actually, there's some time sensitivity with some of the things on the list. So how am going to get that advice that I really needed now? So it really does throw me. Yeah, I completely agree. And even on that, just throwing you, like, I feel as well, like some of the things, like I just lose momentum on, because you've got that momentum, you're going to speak about it in the one-to-one. You want to get perhaps authorization or whatever it is that kind of, you need some kind of something from your leader. And then you're a bit like,
The kind of, feels a bit like, yeah, when you, you just feel a bit deflated. That's exactly the word I was thinking of. Yeah. Yeah. And I, and I always think as well in my experience and when I've seen of other people, it's always a very last minute cancellation. Yeah. So I'm definitely someone, depending on who your leader is, you kind of psych yourself up for these meetings because if you have got a leader who's maybe you haven't quite got that connection with, and this is a big thing going to one-to-one with them, you might be asking for something, you're not.
going to show you the response. I built myself up. I'm feeling like, okay, I'm ready for this. Like, this is going to be a good meeting. I'm prepared. And then suddenly you receive that calendar, then cancelled. No explanation, just cancelled. No explanation. So often, like the least you owe people is an explanation, right? Yeah, I completely agree. And that's, to me, as soon as that cancellation thing comes up on my screen,
my mind goes straight to they don't care, I'm not valued, I'm not important, I'm not a priority in this team. Yeah and I think it's so easy as leaders isn't it to fall into the trap of deprioritizing them because especially if they're every week you're like well this one can slide and then all of a sudden three have slid in and you haven't seen your staff member for a month you know and like other things that come in that are urgent and priority
LeadTheRoom (06:05.388)
And of course you've got loads of different pulls on your time, but for me, nothing can be more important than actually making sure I spend time connecting with my team because that's what keeps the whole team on track. Like even if you don't care about anything else, it keeps the delivery on track, right? But more than that, it's the opportunity, like we said, so the connection, being able to creatively explore problems.
trying to build rapport and vulnerability with each other and showing that courage and really empathizing with staff, knowing what's going on in their life so you can actually support them. So for me, I just think there's such a powerful tool in your leadership toolkit that they deserve to be prioritized. You get so much out of prioritizing them. Why wouldn't you do it? Yeah. But there is definitely still that culture that they're kind of those non-essential meetings. Yeah. They're nice to have.
You're just having a chat with someone. You're just having a, no, you're not. Like these are not nice to haves. They're not, they shouldn't be flexible. They're certainly not dispensable. I think as Brian and I have kind of said here at Lead the Room, for us as leaders and for you as leaders, a one-to-one with your members of staff is one of the most important and powerful tools that you have in your toolkit as a leader. And if you're thinking,
I don't believe that. It's probably because you've never had a good one-to-one before as a member of staff. Because if you had a good one, you would see the value of them and understand how powerful they are exactly as Bryony said, to do those things, to build that connection, to understand that purpose, to drive forward your delivery. It's all in that one-to-one meeting. Yeah, exactly. And if you're a new leader who's just joined a team, like, and sometimes it can be really hard to like know how you fit in.
You know, like the, like, what are the team dynamics? Like, how do these people all connect to each other? Like, even though I'm here to lead the team, what's my place? What's my role? And you can feel quite uncomfortable. I can feel a bit uncomfortable by, by that, right? Like unsettled by not really knowing what my place is. But I've always found that really prioritizing one-to-ones as I come into a team and continuing to do so really helps me build that instant connection with people.
LeadTheRoom (08:22.126)
You know, you're getting straight in there to understand like what are their motivations, sharing your own, like discussing values, discussing aspirations, all that kind of stuff. And it's a really good way, these one-to-ones, of building that instant connection. Yeah, definitely. And even before you have that meeting, Brian, whatever is discussed in that meeting, by prioritizing that meeting, you are sending a message to your team to say, I care, I value you, you are my priority.
not some other shiny, fancy meeting that I've been invited to that looks a bit more whatever. You are the priority. I value you. And that's all unspoken. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. But let me tell you a bit of a story, Lindsay, about where I've definitely gone wrong with this in the past. Because it's not, it's also not easy, right? Like this is all well and good. Like when things are going well and you like each other and you like a staff member and there's nothing like difficult to bring up or whatever. But actually,
There's definitely times when I can think of one specific occasion where I really needed to give this bit of constructive feedback to this member of staff. And I knew that no matter how I phrased it, it wasn't going to go down well. It was going to create a conflict that would take quite some time to unpick. It probably involve other people and impact on the team dynamic. And so I was just like, you know what? I can't face it this week. I'm going to cancel the one-to-one. Right. So I cancel it. Yeah.
Then next week, I'm like, right, got to give this feedback to this person. It comes to the moment. No, I can't do it. I'm canceling it. And then as time goes on, like gets more and more orcs, you've lost the moment to get the feedback because it's like the thing that you needed to tell them like actually happened weeks ago. So they're like, why are you even bringing this up now? And it creates even like, it just stores up so many problems for you.
And then obviously, because this problem is still persisting, I haven't given this person the feedback, they're still doing the thing that's unhelpful. It's impacting more on the team and the team are like, Brian, we thought, you know, they're not saying this explicitly, but you can tell they're thinking it like, we thought you were someone who valued feedback, and yet you haven't come through on that commitment by giving this feedback to this person that we all know that they need. And so
LeadTheRoom (10:42.481)
It's undermining your credibility and the trust in the team by not doing it. And so when I look back on that, just, for me, that's what's going through my head. Like if I need to cancel a one-to-one or if I need to reschedule or anything like that, that's what's going through my head now, because I'm like, don't get into that scenario again, Briony. That was not a good look and you didn't enjoy it.
Try not to try to prevent that from happening again. So it's definitely experience that I've learned from. So what was the moment that you thought I have to do this? Like obviously your team had noticed that you weren't kind of sticking to kind of your promise and you knew I was damaging your credibility, your reputation. Like what moment do you think enough is enough, I've got to do this. And did you, I assume you did it. Yeah, I did do it after about four weeks. I was just like, well, but at what point am I going to...
I can't keep cancelling the one-to-ones. That's not right, is it? So I was just like, I've got to just psych myself up. I'm going to just do it. I'm going to clear some time after the meeting because I know it's not going to go well to decompress. And I just did it. But the thing is, with that person, I just feel like we never really recovered from that because the trust was broken. Because if I'd gone to the person in the first place, and even though would have been a difficult conversation and we would have had to work it through,
We could have recovered from it because I would have handled it in the moment, but by just canceling the one-to-one, then that person feels more more unseen, unheard, like I don't value them. It hits up maybe against their values. And so you're just eroding trust on so many levels that I just, was really, we didn't really recover from it is what I would say. Yeah, that's a really powerful example. And one that I think
We often think as well, it's members of staff that don't want to come to the one-to-one, but actually there are good reasons why. Yeah. Why? So we speak about reasons why these one-to-ones are cancelled. potentially because we don't want to front up and have those difficult conversations and actually it is easy to avoid it. just, it's so easy to hit that cancel button or worse ask someone, could you cancel that meeting for me? So yeah, it's tricky. It's interesting. I had almost like the opposite in that.
LeadTheRoom (13:02.165)
I was like this person chasing this member of my team to have a one-to-one. That sounds a little bit weird, they were the one who on a weekly basis would message me the morning of our team, the one-to-one was in the afternoon, they would message me in the morning and say, I have nothing for today's one-to-one, shall we just cancel it? But they did this on a weekly basis.
If you were someone, if you were a leader that thought, do you know what, actually that's great. I could just get 30 minutes back in my calendars to do some work. They've got nothing to share. I never ever believe someone when they say they have nothing to share. Okay. Yeah. Cause what have they been doing with their time? Yeah. Even if they're thinking, I haven't quite done that piece of work that I said that I would do for Lindsay or whatever. Like, okay. We're not, don't necessarily, you have to start on that, but there will be things in work and life that
we can speak about and whether we don't have any kind of work updates or whatever, like things have been progressing. It's kind of, it's a non eventful week business as usual, then it's fine, but it's an opportunity for us to connect. So I don't care if we're meeting up that week to speak about your outputs, what you've delivered that week, or we're actually speaking about what you've watched on Netflix that weekend. Like for me, it is an essential, whatever we're speaking about. And some of the best one-to-ones that I've had,
are when people have said, I've not got much this week, 15, 20 minutes into the conversation, turns out they had a lot to share. They didn't even know what they had to share. And even if they haven't got a big update, it's just like such an opportunity for creativity together, isn't it? Just stepping back and thinking like, how is this project going? or you, even you sharing like, you know what, I'd love your advice. If you haven't got anything to say, can I share something with you? Like I've been asked to do this thing.
I'm not sure how to approach it and then just brainstorming it together. And that, again, that builds so much creativity. builds connection with your team member. Like there's always, like you say, there's always something to be talking about. And that's what, so the first time they did it, I thought, I'm going to be, and like we said, you've to be persistent with this stuff. If people give you an out, if they email you and say, I have nothing this week, it is easy. It's tempting to say, okay, no worries. We'll catch up next week, Briony. No, have that meeting.
LeadTheRoom (15:27.805)
Whether that meeting lasts 10 minutes or half an hour, have that meeting, have that one-to-one and be persistent. So it happened again. The first week they said, nothing to share. But I said, no, come anyway, let's have the meeting. Fine. Now it was awkward because they came. I knew going into that meeting, I would have to lead that and I would have to share. Yeah. So I was prepared for that because they said very, very little. And it was awkward. There were moments that you were like,
Maybe I should have just canceled this would have been easier because it was they didn't want to share. And I thought, OK, no. And I maybe like called it after like 10, 15 minutes. I was like, I'm not we're not doing anymore. Yeah. The next week, they messaged and said, I haven't got anything to share this week. Should we just cancel? No, we'll have it. And after I'd say about six weeks, the emails stopped. So this it took about six weeks and they stopped messaging to say and.
They came to that meeting, they came prepared, they came excited as much as they showed excitement in their personality, but they came like engaged. They came with ideas. They came asking for my opinion on things and they opened up so, so much about other things. And I just thought, if I hadn't persisted with that, if I hadn't continued to say that we are doing this, whether it takes five minutes, whether it takes half an hour, this is an essential meeting and I'm going to, we're going to prove together that there's value in this for each of us.
But I think just that persistence. Yeah, but it's also it's such an act of courage, isn't it? Like, you know, one of the things we talk about under our courage scale is like that being out of the comfort zone. Because like you say, like it's massively awks to like having to say like, no, let's still meet anyway. When you're like all that's inside you, all of your emotions are like, God, I just, I can't sit there and another 15 minutes of like the most awkward awkward.
with this person again. But like you say, it's a demonstration of what you value and what matters to you as a leader. And it's amazing to see then and hear from you like what that did unlock eventually, but yeah, real act of courage. And easy to give up. you could have probably after, I'd say if you said, okay, give it a month. And if they're still saying this, okay. But actually why should they be kind of the member of the team that's...
LeadTheRoom (17:51.433)
almost like let off the hook. Why shouldn't they? Because for us, as we say at Lead the Room, these meetings are one of the most powerful tools that you have as a leader. So, I mean, use it. It's there to be used. It can feel difficult. It can feel uncomfortable, but so much of this stuff can. But experiment with it. Experiment until it feels good. It feels like this is productive. This is great. And they do when you're doing them right.
which will help you through. They feel good, don't they, Bryony? Or they can do. definitely. And I think that's really the first tip of the week, isn't it? Like, the first thing is put them in the calendar, commit to doing them and show up, right? And like that seems again, like the basics. But when you look at that stat that you shared at the beginning, like, it's clearly not basic because so many people aren't doing it. So
Make your commitment to your staff, to yourself as a leader, to your team, to the culture that you want to create today, that you're going to have these one-to-ones in the calendar every week or every fortnight and show up for them and do them. Like if you have to reschedule, reschedule, but don't cancel, you know? So that's the first tip for this week. That's another classic that I'd also received from people when I'd messaged my leader and said, have we got a one-to-one this week? Just because I can't see it in my calendar and there's a...
it must have fallen out. It must have dropped. I'm sorry. Where's it gone? I'm looking on the floor. Can't see it. Where is it must have dropped out. Well, pick it back up. Get it back in. it must have fallen out. Again, like, basically, you fell out my calendar and I didn't even notice because you're not that much of a priority. I didn't notice you'd gone. Sorry, Lindsay. Yeah. great. Yeah. Yeah. me feel great.
Yeah, so right, we've looked in the drawer, we've found the one. What are we doing next, Lindsay? So I think spending some time preparing for it because these things don't just turn up and expect it just to happen. So we say prepared in terms of like, think back, look at your notes from the last one, like what did you speak about in that last one? So firstly, what did they share with you in terms of what they were working on? Are there specific questions you're going to ask?
LeadTheRoom (20:11.269)
A, to demonstrate that you were listening, that there's accountability there, that you're going to ask about it again, you build connection. Whatever it is, make sure that you are remembering just a couple of things that you want to ask them about. Because it really does demonstrate that you are actively listening to them and not just going through the motions of that one-to-one. Because often you can see people like, right, conveyor belt, who's next? Right, what's your name? Brian, which project are you working on?
No, no. Show interest. Take note. Make your notes. It's not too onerous, but it really shows that you are listening. You do care and you do value their unique contribution to your team. And that's so important. And it like when we're saying prepare beforehand is is honestly like it's five minutes. or three minutes. Yeah, it's a lot, but just doing that makes
the world of difference in the conversation that you'll have, the connection that you're able to build and the purpose and clarity that you're able to talk about, you know, and the purpose and clarity that you're really able to talk about what that team member is accountable for in your one-to-one. So yeah, it's not, doesn't have to do a lot. I often think about it in my head as like three things. So if you could think about asking them or remembering kind of one thing that they were kind of their objective, they were working on that was going well, something that they were maybe struggling with.
And something personal. So were they at a wedding at the weekend? Ask them how the wedding was. Like those three things, that takes 30 seconds to remember. So like you're saying, we're speaking about a couple of minutes. You can do it on your walk to the meeting, wherever you are, making you a cup of tea before the meeting. It's not an onerous task, but it has huge value. What about another tip, Bryony? So the final one for this week is to follow up.
on the things that you say you'll do. And this is really important for building trust, for building psychological safety, for building credibility as a leader. When they say that they're struggling with something, it's a risk for them to share that. And when you say then, right, thank you for sharing that, I'm going to do X or Y to help you, make sure you do it. Because if you don't, that's going to be...
LeadTheRoom (22:28.435)
destroy or risk destroying some of the connection and the trust that you've built up with your team member that you've really taken a lot of effort to build up. So you want that kind of, I call it like the say do gap. Like you want that gap to be really quite small. So try and follow up the next day or at least give them an update if you can't do the whole thing that you said you were going to do, but just make sure that you're following up on the commitments that you've made to them. Because again, it feeds back into that accountability discussion that we had last week, doesn't it?
I'm like, when you do that and you show I am accountable to you, it also makes them want to be accountable to you as the leader, right? Like it's a really important in terms of visibly demonstrating what matters to you. That's such a good one because so often that statement of, tell me what I can do to help you is an empty statement. yeah. People roll it out, leaders roll it out time and time again. Tell me what I can do to help you. Okay, well you could do X, Y and Z.
Yeah. Okay. let me, let me see what I can do. Silence. Well, we never did see what you could do because I haven't heard from you because you've canceled the next one to one and I've fallen out your calendar. Yeah. So who knows what you could have done for me, but you haven't told me. So why on earth would I want to then go to my next one to one? So yeah, I like that say do gap being as small as possible and doing things kind of a bit more instant.
Yeah. I'll take that away and think about it or at least go and acknowledge and yeah. Yeah, exactly. So look, those are three quick tips that you can all try out this week. But if you want to know more and like have a whole deep dive on this and know our step-by-step framework for building real connection with your team through these one-to-ones, then if you rate and review the podcast, we will send you for free our 90-day leadership refresh guide. And in there is a whole guide on one-to-ones.
We know that that's going to be really powerful for all of you who are thinking about how can I look forward to my one-to-ones each week? Like how can I embrace them and how can I use the time really impactfully on building the kind of leadership culture that I want in my team? So, rate and review the podcast, send us a copy of that to hello at leadtheroom.co.uk and we will send you that guide. Cool.
LeadTheRoom (24:48.389)
As always, we like to walk the week with you and share what we've been celebrating, what we're learning and how we're growing into the next week. So, Bryony, do want to kick us off? Yeah. So mine sort of follows on from the learning last week, you where I was saying, I've just had too many meetings in my life and I need some like time to do my deep work and step back. And so this week I have managed to do that, which is, that's a win.
But I also step back, it's the start of a new month. And so at the start of a new month, I always sit down and plan out my time and think about it in like a whole of life view. So not just like, what is it that I want to get done at work this month? How am I going to prioritize my time at work this month? But what else am I going to prioritize in my life that is going to build my resilience or what fun things have I got coming up this month? Like, have I got a weekend away or a fun event or
Who am I connecting with? Like, where am I making sure that I'm prioritizing, like seeing my friends or doing the hobbies and that kind of thing. And so I just always really love doing this because it gives me like so much more sense of like, I can be confident that I'm actually going to have a good shot at getting the things done that matter most for me and my team. But also I'm doing it in a way that isn't selling myself out or burning myself out. Like I'm doing it in a way that
is going to make sure that I'm at home for tea time with the kids and being able to put them to bed four times out of five each week. So, yeah, I always really love doing that. But what about you? I love that. So this week, I am actually celebrating a month back full time at work after my maternity leave. my gosh. That's a huge milestone. Yeah. And it seems. I don't know, in some ways, it's felt really hard.
There was a moment I was crying in the shower one morning and I messaged Brian and I was like, I don't know what I'm doing. Not in the shower, what to be No, I didn't take a shower. We do do a lot of bathroom voice notes, but yeah, I think just that I didn't, I think the first two weeks there was a bit of an adrenaline rush being back like, this is exciting. I'm back. It's kind of the old me. And then the third week was like, this is it.
LeadTheRoom (27:07.581)
I don't get to see my son every day. Like this is a lot. And some other person is getting to spend more time with him than me. That really hurt. And I think that's contrasted with being surrounded, like being in meetings about meetings, about meetings at work and filling in spreadsheets that you're like, no, no, this is not the purpose. What is my purpose? Like what is the purpose of this?
And I think I just had some low moments, but yeah, definitely celebrating. Like we've had a month, I can do this. Like it's hard, but like one model through and find the joy in the moments that we do have together and the joy that actually work brings me into my life. yeah. Yeah. Such a huge milestone Lindsay, like well done. Cause it's a really, it's a really big moment, isn't it? And like you say,
the fact that your baby is spending more time with someone else other than you. It's emotional time. I'm surprised you're not crying. Breathe deeply. So what about your learning for the week? So I think my learning is actually definitely connected to that. So I am definitely a... I'm an optimist. I definitely like...
As my partner says, I chase butterflies. I was like, everything's always quite good in my world. And I don't like mood hoovers. Anyone that sucks the mood out of me, walk on, move on. Not for me. But one of the things that I'm learning this week is absolutely about that kind of, I guess that balance in my life. I kind of thought I would just go back to work and like I'd come home and we'd have our family life and it would just be totally the same. Yeah. No, no, no.
You need a whole different system. Yeah. Like your life changes, your routine changes. Everything has changed and I need a new system. So I'm trying to learn and experiment, I guess, not just with me, but with my partner, with our family. Like who does what? Because the roles and responsibilities have changed. Yeah. Yeah. We both have full time jobs. We're both parents. We both have hobbies. We both have commitments. So the roles and responsibilities have changed. So
LeadTheRoom (29:23.175)
I'm trying to learn and look at different examples of, it sounds a bit like, I guess, like, official to be like, what's our system at home, but you need some kind of like, way of working as a family to make it work so that we do have time for ourselves. We do have the time as a couple, as a family, professionals, as, as crafters, as athletes, whatever you want to do, like just have that time. But that again, I just
The optimist in me was like, it'll just happen organically. No, it won't. The organic approach leads to a lot of friction and arguments. no, the organic approach, not for this. Well, good for you on having that one-to-one with your partner to address the friction. Yeah. I didn't say I'd had it yet. okay. Well, good luck. What about you, Briony? What are you learning about this week?
I guess on a similar theme, like I noticed over the last couple of weeks, there's been like a bit of friction between some of my team members. And it's really quite unusual for us as a team. Like normally, like everyone gets on really well and really supportive environment, just really fab, fab team. And so, yeah, it's felt like, yeah, it's just felt really uncomfortable that there's been like this bit of friction. And so I guess my learning for the week is like,
You've got to pay attention to these things and sweat that small stuff when it's showing up and deal with it, like nip it in the bud now, because otherwise it's going to escalate. And so I've just been like reprioritizing some things so that I can make sure that I've got more time in the one-to-ones, you know, building on the conversation we had today, more time in the one-to-ones to really ask questions about what might be going on for them, really taking time to prepare for those one-to-ones so I can.
formulate the right questions that I think will unlock the conversation so we can actually put what's going on on the table and look at it in a way that doesn't, people don't get defensive and we can actually find some solutions together. So yeah, I've just been thinking about how I kind of nip that in the bud so it doesn't become like escalate into something that's bigger. So yeah, it's really, I think again,
LeadTheRoom (31:37.213)
in terms of leadership, a very courageous thing to do because it's very easy to be like, it'll sort itself out. It will be fine next week type thing. No, no. When has that ever really happened? Like, no, but we like to think that people like to think, it'll be fine. maybe they were just in a bad mood. That friction will go away. Like, no, doesn't. Like you've got to take, it's got to be intentional. Take time, reflect on it, understand where the problem is. Yeah. But it all takes time and investment, doesn't it? Yeah, exactly.
So have you got some time for growth? What are you thinking of experimenting with this week? So I'm really proud of myself because one of my learning goals for the year was to learn more about AI. And so this week, like I blocked out a whole hour to listen to this webinar. I listened to the webinar. I learned a lot. Job done. I've grown. I've grown. What about you, Lindsay? How have you grown this week? I think that's a really good example, isn't it? Of like...
Sometimes we think of growth and experimenting as something that's like, gosh, it's quite time consuming and it's going to take a lot. But actually, a podcast on your way to work or when you're out for a jog or whatever it is, that for a week is big. And if you're doing that consistently, which is what we're trying to promote, it all adds up, doesn't it? Yeah, definitely. Yeah. So I think my...
Interestingly, this week, again, I suppose related to all my three things, one of the things that I've noticed is, and I think probably a lot of parents, carers can kind of relate to this, is sometimes I feel like the only thing we speak about now as a couple is our child and like the system at home and how we're going to do that. And we've got quite different interests and hobbies, I'd say. And one of the things I've wanted to do is start to take an interest a bit more in my partner's kind of
his interests and his hobbies so that I can grow my knowledge around that because I see his passion when he's speaking about some of these things. And I want to, no, it's not sharing the passion, but at least be able to kind of have a bit of a conversation about it. So to ignite that passion and have a bit of a discussion on it. And because at the moment I almost don't feel like I know the right questions to ask about the subject. Yeah. Because I'm not, I don't know enough about it to ask a question, if that makes sense. Completely, completely understand. So.
LeadTheRoom (33:56.987)
Yeah. And I think it can go for any topic. So yeah, that's kind of where I am at the moment. So we'll see. We'll see how the system, friction conversation, the learning about his hobby. I mean, it could be, I'll report back. Okay. Send me a voicemail from the shower. So that wraps up this week's episode on one-to-ones with your team. And we hope that you've got some really practical advice and tips that you can put into practice this week.
Like I said, if you want to know more, rate and review the podcast, send us a screenshot to hello at leadtheroom.co.uk and we will send you our 90 day leadership refresh, which is jam packed, not only with this one-to-one deep dive, but loads of other amazing stuff all for free. So until next time, keep experimenting and we can't wait to hear how you get on. Fabulous. We'll see you next week. Take care.
team full of purpose and results, people who are buzzing with ideas and the courage to try them out, and a place where you and the team can't wait for the weekly meeting. By listening to this episode, you are building your skills to become the leader that can make all this and more happen. But we want to hear from you. Tag us in your stories, send us a DM about your Walk the Week on Instagram so we can learn what's resonating with you most.
And if you're up for helping us out and taking a moment to rate and review the podcast, send us a screenshot to hello at leadtheroom.co.uk so we can send you our 90 day leadership refresh as a thank you. Keep experimenting and we can't wait to see you next week.
