1:1

Learn 7 ways to use 1:1 meetings to develop employees and improve performance of the team. One-on-one meetings with employees are the most value able of my week and it is incredible what you can achieve through them. 

One on one meetings are super useful in setting goals and expectations and more importantly revising progresses towards goals and maintaining expectations. One-to-one should be held in private.

Setting really clear goals in one on one meetings should be a priority for every manager. Too many don’t put enough time into creating clear goals, leading to confusion and lack of direction. Improve performance by being clear.

Next, use 1-2-1 meetings to prioritise what your team members work on. Explain how they can create more value for the team and focus more of their work on these higher value activities and say no to the lower value ones. This makes a big difference to team performance. 

In one-on-one meetings, I love asking questions of my direct reports and listening to find out key blockers and problems team members are facing. You can develop employees by getting them thinking and providing solutions. The more your team are thinking, the more you build a higher performing team.

When developing employees, provide praise to positively reinforce the good stuff and corrective feedback so they know what to improve and how to do this. Whenever you are giving feedback, always give feedback in service of developing staff.

Really effective one on one meetings should include time to coaching and developing employees.  When thinking about how to develop employees, think about all the skill you have because you are a manager and share these. 

How to coach and develop employees should include problem solving. In 1:1 meetings, this is fun to do and really helps build their problem solving skills, which in turn helps reduce the pressure and burden on you. 

Finally, when developing your employees focus on improving their decision making during your one on one meetings. These are vital skills to build to progress their career into the management ranks. 

One-to-one meetings are a great tool to build high performing teams. 

If you have any questions on “7 Ways to Use 1:1 Meetings to Develop Employees & Improve Performance”, please lemail me at support@enhance.training and I will get back to you. 

Jess

Enhance.training

Today’s guest, Jeff Kortenbosch, focuses on internal mobility and skills-based talent management through up - and re-skilling of teams and employees. He connects the dots between learning, recruitment, and organisational development. As an illustrator of digital explainer visuals, Jeff joins the show to share how drawing is a powerful mechanism for learning and learning design.. Tune in as we also explore publishing graphics on a daily basis, building sticky habits, and the power of running courses via email.

About Jeff Kortenbosch

Jeff is the author of the acclaimed book ‘20 Questions Learning and Development should ask before talking about training’, in which he advocates measurable performance and business outcomes and relevant solutions that go beyond training. He is also an illustrator of digital explainer visuals. Since he started visualising ideas, his work has been seen by millions of people online.

Key takeaways:

• Drawing and producing graphics is a great way to learn. It has been a great creative outlet for Jeff as it has helped him visualise ideas through simple graphics – ranging from graphs to icons. Investing in courses has helped him develop some foundational skills in drawing. Jeff’s best advice is to be minimal with your design, and see what you can draw from quotes, thoughts or visual metaphors.
• Sticking to a daily habit of drawing has helped Jeff develop his drawing style. He started off with a target of drawing for 100 days, and kept a notepad to hand for whenever he got inspiration. The daily habit ensured he wasn’t fixated on perfection but simplicity: “create fast and publish fast”. The key is to start small, whether this is through length of time to draw or finding a good time slot that you can stick to daily.
• The power of visuals: as the adage goes, "a picture is worth a thousand words", so being able to harness your visual skills is powerful as a learning designer. From presentations to your own personal learning process, visual design is a powerful method. It can also give you a great reach online, as visuals help draw people into your blog posts, newsletters, courses, etc.
• Drawing teaches you additional skills: Jeff found that by drawing regularly, he also learnt more about publishing, social media marketing, ideation and finding new ways to keep ideas flowing.

Segmented time stamps:

• (02:44) Regularly publishing graphics
• (06:17) Some of the most well-received graphics Jeff has designed
• (07:32) How to stick to a daily habit
• (09:48) Why drawing diagrams is a great way to learn
• (14:22) Using drawing as a micro-learning strategy
• (16:30) What to incorporate in a visual email marketing course
• (19:16) How to build a regular habit of drawing

Links from the podcast:

• Visit Jeff’s Website
• Connect with Jeff on LinkedIn
• Read ‘Atomic Habits’ by James Clear
• Check out Figma
• Check out Blair Rorani’s work
• Read ‘20 Questions Learning and Development should ask before talking about training’
• Listen to our previous interview with Jeff Kortenbosch

About Eva Keiffenheim

Eva Keiffenheim left teaching in Summer 2020 to become an EDUpreneur. Her life’s mission is to make education fairer and better for as many learners as possible. She is a writer, and helps research, consult, and implement education projects. She also co-founded Speed Up, Buddy!, an NGO to support first-gen students. She shares in her weekly newsletter of +3K subscribers, Learn Letter, where she shares useful tools and resources.

Key takeaways:

• Eva shares the three things that organisations can do to help their employees become lifelong learners:

1. Provide opportunities for continuous learning. This might be a formal learning pathway that is made up of courses or collections of resources. It could be structured stretch projects, peer groups or suggested workplace learning activities.
2. Leverage from powerful technologies. Studies have shown low completion rates come from limited engagement, e.g. just watching videos, and there are plenty of EdTech solutions that help provide more active learning, for example Maven, a cohort-based course (CBC) platform. Ultimately, adopt technologies that can help facilitate ways of engagement, e.g. testing, leaderboards and immediate feedback.
3. Make space and time to learn and practice. It helps learners get into the flow of absorbing information, and gets them out of the ‘content consumption’ trap. The main thing is to make sure that learners have enough time to repeatedly practice what they’re learning.

• The human brain’s ability to recall information diminishes, and it’s no flaw of human memory, so include this fact in your corporate learning designs. E.g. revisit the topics, don't just lecture!
• Good grades alone don't reflect acquired learning. Having just a visual dashboard and tracking time spent are not enough. Consider accountability systems and ways to embed motivation within your learning platform.
• Encourage learning exchange and the concept of learning in public through feedback and connections. For example, share your notes or internal blogging.

Segmented time stamps:

• (02:50) The three things organisations can do to help their employees become lifelong learners
• (05:41) Why it’s important to schedule in time for learning
• (07:47) Key strategies to practise new skills in the corporate environment
• (09:12) Leveraging technology to acquire new skills
• (13:36) The role of dashboards and measuring real progress
• (20:28) How to make the most out of note taking
• (22:27) Applying cognitive science to your learning design
• (27:22) Eva’s key advice to L&D experts

Links from the podcast:

• Connect with Eva on LinkedIn
• Eva’s Website
• Follow Eva on Medium
• Find more about Roam Research  
• Read the book Make It Stick
• Read the book Atomic Habits
• Do a course on Maven
• Do the course Learning How to Learn: Powerful mental tools to help you master tough subjects with Barbara Oakley

About Britt Andreatta

Britt Andreatta is a thought leader who creates brain science-based solutions for today's challenges. As CEO of 7th Mind, Inc., Britt draws on her unique background in leadership, neuroscience, psychology, and learning to unlock the best in people and organizations.

Former Chief Learning Officer for Lynda.com and Senior Learning Consultant for Global Leadership and Talent Development at LinkedIn, Britt is a seasoned professional with more than 25 years of experience.

Key takeaways:

• The basal ganglia is a group of structures found deep within your brain. They are activated when you perform habits. This is “autopilot” mode, which helps enable you to do tasks quickly, accurately and without conscious thought.  A useful mindset as a learning designer is to think about design habits.
• The brain’s reward system is a powerful motivation for humans to complete tasks. As learning designers, it’s important to leverage this concept and implement cues within your learning design.
• Ensure you are fully analysing what needs to be done and how effective your learning material is. Don’t take clients' analysis at face value, so go back to square one and be clear on what the best solution is.
• You can apply brain-based strategies to both in-person and online environments. The main thing is giving the learners enough space and time to practise. Britt recommends simulations, role plays and virtual reality for this.

Segmented time stamps:

(01:50) The link between habits and workplace learning

(05:04) Integrating cues and rewards in learning design

(08:08) Brain-based strategies used for building habits

(11:10) The importance of analysing the full learning experience

(13:24) Strategies for digital learning

(16:25) When to consider using VR for learning

(21:16) Why learning designers don’t apply enough brain-based strategies

Links from the podcast:

• Connect with Britt on LinkedIn
• Britt’s Website
• Read the book ‘Wired To Grow’ by Britt Andreatta
• Books and resources Brit recommended
  • ‘The Power of Habit’ by Charles Duhigg
  • ‘Make it Stick’ by Henry Roediger III, Mark McDaniel and Peter Brown
  • Nature 
  • Scientific American

About Kuva Jacobs

Kuva is a Learning Design Strategist, Instructional Designer, and the Founding Director of Redpoint Consulting. Her passion for learning design seeded from a PhD in mathematics when she created visual, interactive, flash based modules that brought complex mathematical equations to life.

Kuva’s focus is on improving the experience of the learner through interactivity, engagement and creative use of multimedia. She creates highly technical training materials right from the analysis phase through to design and delivery.

Key takeaways:

• Constructivism is a theory that learners construct new understandings and knowledge – integrating with what they already know. Constructivism is the ‘Grandfather’ of human centred design. Constructivism and human centred design helped shift the learner to the centre of the learning experience.
• It’s important that learners design something for themselves for the product to work effectively. The use of virtual design sprints can help ensure the clients are engaged and involved along the process.
• Online whiteboards such as Miro enable online remote design sessions. Miro allows users to be all in one space, and you can organise and structure the information really well.
• Design thinking  gives you a closer connection to your learners. Be open to innovating in ways that suit your audience through working with key learners and identifying what people want to know.

Segmented time stamps:

• (01:35) How Kuva came to use design thinking in her learning design practice
• (08:06) A process for using virtual design sprints
• (12:34) How Miro succeeds a lot more when used virtually than in-person
• (15:00) Using a survey to gather opinions for the prototype
• (16:48) Shifting to design thinking in learning projects – and learning from epic fails
• (22:19) The importance of understanding your audience and identifying how they want to learn
• (23:05) Advice to people about using design thinking

Links from the podcast:

• Connect with Kuva Jacobs on LinkedIn
• Redpoint Consulting
• Read Kuva's article on How I Applied Human Centred Design principles to Learning Design
• Miro

About Austin Welch

Austin is the co-founder of Sage Media, a company focused on producing training and development content that is captivating and engaging for the learner audience. He combines research from behavioral psychology, cognitive science, and adult learning theory to create educational films that resonate with the audience and drive behavioral change. Through a combination of learning strategy, story design, and video production, Austin is revolutionizing the way that companies train and connect with their employees. 

Key Takeaways

“We must create environments in which learners can find their own intrinsic motivation.” - Austin

The three key nutrients for intrinsic motivation include:

1. Sense of autonomy: allowing free will to guide your decision making
2. Sense of mastery: feeling good about your skills and what you do
3. Sense of relatedness: how we relate to the world and the people in ours

• When creating a mandatory course for employees, you can still create a sense of autonomy by giving them options such as what order they flow through the course or being able to choose when to take the course.
• A sense of mastery can be encouraged when you ask them to bring their own life experiences and lessons into the course.
• To boost relatedness, you can create message boards and forums where learners can bounce ideas off each other and connect around the content they’re learning
• Deductive learning is the traditional approach where you’re provided information, examples to reinforce it and are quizzed on it later. Inductive learning is where a learner is provided with examples and then they’re asked what they can infer from it, really tapping into the critical thinking element. This taps into their autonomy, mastery, and relatedness.
• Research supports that using traditional pen and paper workbooks while learning helps commit the information to memory and behavior.  Workbooks provide an opportunity for exploration while reinforcing learning concepts and ideas. They help leverage the mastery/competence and autonomy factors.
• We should shift our mindset from checking if employees are completing the training just to check a box to whether they’re demonstrating the results of the training. This will tell us more about whether an employee is a good fit, whether the training is effective, and if adjustments need to be made.
• When creating a training on sensitive topis such as anti-harassment, language like “don’t do this or this will happen” tends to feel accusatory and divisive but rather, find ways to create a sense of relatedness between the learner and the content. For example, asking “As a leader, how can you step in to create a culture that feels safe for your staff?” focuses more on building relationships and fostering a healthy company culture than the laws and regulations of harassment.

To learn more about learning motivation, Austin recommends reading research on intrinsic motivation and self determination theory. 

Links from the podcast

• Connect with Austin Welch
• Learn more about Sage Media
• Read Self-Determination Theory and the Facilitation of Intrinsic Motivation, Social Development, and Well-Being
• Learning tools for increasing Learners’ Motivation
• Explore The Learner Engagement Summit resources

About Arun Pradhan

Arun is a leading innovator in the field of learning and development with over two decades in the field. He’s the co-founder of ModelThinkers.com, a platform that aims to provide solutions that empower people to be smarter and faster by cataloging a playbook of the world’s most powerful ideas. These ideas can be used to make better decisions, interrupt bias, and solve complex problems.

He’s passionate and ever curious about topics such as cognitive psychology, behavioural economics, marketing, and anything that provides insights into how people think, behave and change.

With his understanding of consumer behaviour and experience in learning and development, he brings an interesting perspective to the table regarding the role of design thinking in L&D.

What is Design Thinking?

Design thinking, or co-design, is the process of understanding the user, challenging assumptions, and redefining problems in order to identify alternative solutions that may not always be evident at first glance. This process involves several steps, including empathizing with and understanding the user, defining their needs or problem, creating an innovative solution, designing a prototype, and testing.

Key Takeaways:

• Design thinking is still relevant and useful in L&D however, it tends to be overused.
• Co-design is overused because people tend to think of it as a way to convince others to buy into their idea or solution, be it the consumer or the executives of a company. People tend to associate it with getting sponsorship.
• The overuse of design thinking can prove redundant for your audience. When done too often, an audience that’s already overwhelmed and busy will view the experience as just another project to add to their plate and won’t feel enthused about participating.
• Design thinking is still useful when there’s a level of complexity to the problem you’re aiming to solve.
• When you’re engaging with your audience, the primary goal should be to understand their context, needs, and pain points, not for them to help you come up with a solution, per se. That happens behind closed doors once the data is being reviewed.
• Sometimes clients just want a solution delivered to them. In some cases, it’s best to lean on previous experience and expertise to develop a viable solution rather than going through a design exercise.

Segmented Time Stamps:

• (2:25) How is design thinking being overused?
• (4:10) When is design thinking useful, and how can it be used more effectively?
• (9:09) The role the audience plays in co-design
• (15:09) What’s the best approach for the prototype phase?
• (23:18) What’s next for using design thinking in L&D?
• (25:17) How can L&D teams become more dynamic with the way they use design thinking tools?

Links from the podcast:

• Connect with Arun Pradhan on LinkedIn
• Learn more about Model Thinkers, and be sure to sign up for the newsletter
• Read Arun Pradhan’s Linked post on rethinking Design thinking  in L&D

One-on-one meetings can be tricky. The value can feel elusive in the blur of daily life and reacting to constantly changing needs and time pressures.  How do you have a one-on-one meeting that can make a real difference? Management and leadership is a constant balancing act.

Learn how you can leverage your one-on-one meetings in a way that helps you and your employees keep up with tasks and priorities while also expanding the value of your employee relationships. Leveraging your one-on-one time has huge benefits, not just for your team, but also for yourself. It's a creative game. Learn how to design a conversation that can move the needle in the future, using 10 tips for conducting a productive 1-on-1 meeting. Avoid wasting both your time and the time of your employees by discovering what to avoid during your one-on-one conversations. By leaning into the value of the individual you can foster growth that impacts both your team and your company at large.

Highlights: 

 04:31 - What are the true benefits of a consciously led recurring one on one meeting?

05:18 - Avoid some of these common pitfalls and mistakes when holding one on one meetings.

10:27 - What is the purpose of a one on one meeting?

11:30 - Why you should hold a one-time introductory and role negotiation meeting before beginning regular one-on-one meetings.

16:57 - What to do before each one on one meeting. 

20:27 - 10 tips to run a successful, productive, and high-leverage one on one meeting.

See show notes and get the free tools at AllowedPodcast.com.

For complete show notes and additional resources, visit allowedpodcast.com

Michael Bonner, a teacher, author and speaker, has attracted much attention for his innovative teaching methods at an elementary school in North Carolina where the vast majority of students come from low-income homes. The school went through 14 administrator changes over the course of six years. So, the school’s 1:1 iPad initiative foundered as the lack of administrative continuity resulted in an absence of leadership for technology use and training for teachers. Bonner talks about how in that vacuum, he and his colleagues banded together to help one another learn to use technology effectively. They also found help in online communities where they connected with other educators who were happy to share how they were successfully using technology for learning.  Bonner’s advice for teachers in such situations: Don’t wait for help to arrive and be fearless about asking for advice both face to face and online. Also, he says, don’t fear failure or the occasional chaos that comes with trying something new.

In the first episode of “Ed Influencers, ISTE Chief Learning Officer Joseph South sits down with Justina Nixon-Saintil, director for corporate social responsibility programs at the Verizon Foundation, to discuss her commitment to ensuring underserved and underrepresented students have access to tech-enabled learning and STEM opportunities. Nixon-Santil, an ISTE Making IT Happen Award winner, reflects on her work that includes overseeing the development, implementation and measurement of the Verizon Foundation’s philanthropic efforts. She also discusses her decision to train to become an educator after working as an engineer, what keeps her going toward her ambitious goals, what most excites her about edtech and when she’ll know that her work is done. Along the way, she shares the thrill she gets from visiting schools and seeing today’s learners immersed in digital creation and STEM learning.  

We’re all guilty of it. Responding to email, checking messages, doing some reading while holding a conversation or attending meeting. And students do the same, swearing they’re able to multi-task. Research proves that’s just not the case. This episode of “Your Edtech Questions” tackles the question of how educators can successfully address device distraction in the classroom. Guest Liz Kolb, Ph.D., educator and author of Learning First, Technology Second: The Educator’s Guide to Designing Authentic  Lessons, shares the research that proves multi-tasking is unsuccessful, explains how it interrupts active listening and provides examples of the really smart things teachers are doing to manage devices in their classrooms. She also unpacks resources to help educators start having a conversation about device distraction and and explains how educators can model responsible device use.