Do you need to have a pulse check with your team?
I love to share real business issues with you that my clients are thinking about every day.
One of my favorite leaders inspired today’s message. I have seen her rise up the ranks from Vice President to Chief Marketing Officer over the last six years. Being a curious and thoughtful leader, she asked me, “Vanessa, I’m starting my regular skip-level one-on-ones and realized I don’t have a consistent framework I like to follow. What recommendations do you have for skip-level one-on-ones? In skip-level meetings, a senior leader will meet with the direct reports of the managers under them.
These meetings are a great opportunity to do a pulse check with your team – if you do have people managers reporting to you.
But, as I mentioned to my client, before you have a skip-level meeting, you have to decide your purpose for it.
The purpose for this meeting could be:
- To check in on the progress they have made toward their goals
- To share/gather information about your organization or team
- To discuss their career goals and aspirations
- Other…there are many other purposes for this type of meeting
Based on your purpose, the next step is to create a list of questions you consistently ask each person you meet.
These questions can include:
- What are your goals this quarter? What is your plan to move them forward?
- What are you most proud of that you accomplished this quarter?
- What help do you need from me?
- What’s working well on our team, what is not working well, and what can we do to overcome what’s not working?
- What do you like about your role? What could make it better for you?
- What is the best part of working with your manager, and what can they do to improve?
- What do you find unclear about our strategy or vision?
- What are your career aspirations?
Be sure to share the purpose of these meetings with your direct reports and provide them with a summary of the meetings once they are complete.
You always want to operate from a place of full transparency!
In other news…
I had a terrific conversation with thought leader, speaker, and strategist John Golden on his podcast called SalesPOP!
Take a minute to listen to our conversation or watch it on Youtube.
You will learn the key leadership trait that is more important now than ever!
We also discussed the three pillars of leadership success.
Listen or watch to learn some practical leadership strategies you can apply immediately!
