I schedule a recurring 1:1 with each of my reports. Once we are in the room, making the meeting useful still takes work from me.
I use the TIP iceberg to check where I am spending that time:
- Trust sits at the base.
- Information sits in the middle.
- Progress sticks out above the water.
I can point to progress. A project shipped or somebody got past a blocker. Trust and information sit under the surface, so I have to pay more attention to them. Ignore both for long enough and the meeting starts feeling like a weekly ticket review.
I have Jira for that.
Trust comes first
I can tell someone that a 1:1 is their space, but they decide whether they believe me. They watch what I do when they disagree with me, bring bad news, or tell me I am making their job harder.
If I get defensive, rush to fix the problem, or turn the conversation back toward delivery, I have answered the question for them. They know which topics feel safe next time.
I use 1:1s to understand motivation, energy, friction points, and career goals. We may spend the time on something that never showed up in a standup because standups are a terrible place to say, "I am burned out," or, "I do not think this plan makes sense."
Trust takes more than one good conversation. I protect the meeting, remember what someone told me, and follow through on what I said I would do. Psychological safety sounds like a large management concept. Most days it looks like keeping my word and not making honesty painful.
Jira has the status update
Jira, standups, and planning meetings cover project status. If we spend thirty minutes reading tickets back to each other, I have wasted time that belonged to my report.
I bring context they may not have. A product priority changed. Leadership made a decision that will affect the team. Another group has work coming that changes our plan. I want my reports to understand the reason behind a change instead of receiving a new priority with no explanation attached.
They see things I cannot see from my seat. They know where the team is getting stuck, which decision has caused confusion, and where a small problem has started eating time. I need that information before I can help with any of it.
I keep my part short enough for information to move both ways. I share the context I have, then leave enough room for them to tell me what I missed. Nobody needs me to read an internal newsletter out loud.
Progress can be small
I want each 1:1 to move something forward. We might remove a blocker, prepare for a hard conversation, or talk through a career goal that has been sitting in the background.
I tend to come back to the same questions:
- What are we unblocking?
- What are we growing?
- What is moving?
Progress can be as small as clarifying an expectation or naming a concern that both of us had been talking around.
I write down the next step because my memory is not a management system. At the start of the next 1:1, I can pick the thread back up instead of asking the person to remind me why it mattered. That follow-through does more for trust than a well-worded question in the moment.
Career growth belongs in these conversations before performance-review season shows up. I want to know which work gives someone energy and where they want more exposure. Then I can look for a real opportunity on the team instead of leaving the goal in a document for six months.
I still have to prepare
I use TIP as a quick check. I spend a few minutes before the meeting looking at my notes and the things I owe that person. It saves us from opening with, "So... what do you want to talk about?" and staring at each other through Zoom.
The meeting belongs to my report, and I still own my part of it. I need to bring useful context, ask a question with some thought behind it, and leave room for the conversation they need that week.
After the meeting, I write down what I owe them. If I said I would get an answer or move an obstacle, I need to do it. Asking a thoughtful question and forgetting the answer a week later is not a great trust-building exercise.
The TIP iceberg gives me a way to check whether I am using the time well. Did I make it safer to be honest? Did we trade information that helped? Did something move?
I want my report to leave knowing why we met and what happens next. Showing up on time with Zoom open leaves most of that work undone.