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    One on One Meetings: How We Do at Big Corp

    One-on-ones. Damn, how do they work? (I swear, that video has provided me with endless amusement.) Go read or re-read the earlier post. Shoo. Several things make one-on-ones rather different here at Big Corp than they were at Skookum: I’m a contractor The “long-term view” is ultimately a question of “How long do we need you?” and “Will I stay that long?” It’s all very amicable and such, but I don’t get things like: company-paid conferences, to attend internal bigwig visits, paid lunches, to meet my boss’s boss, or much internal mobility beyond what I carve out for myself. (Big Corp is very paranoid about contractors thinking they’re employees.) Instead,…

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    One-on-one meetings

    I’m going to put on my team lead hat for a minute. Many moons ago, I stumbled across and read Johanna Rothman and Esther Derby’s excellent Behind Closed Doors. One of many great managerial practices and recommendations in the book is to do one-on-one meetings: a regular (weekly) meeting between a manager and each of her charges to discuss project statuses, job satisfaction, progress in and reevaluation of professional goals, etc. I’ve done and seen this done with two different mindsets, each with their own uses and problems.