Reflection- Visualization

Challenge and Selection-

In a past company, we had a small team that worked remotely. We got  together a few times a month, but otherwise relied on email and calls to  stay on the same page.

This was great to allow everyone to be efficient and focused on their  work.

Unfortunately, it also created management blind spots.

Over time, another leader and I noticed one of our best team members  seemed to be disengaging. They didn’t bring the same enthusiasm and  extra touch to their work we previously saw.

In a one on one with their manager, we discussed their recent work.  Did  we need to let them go? What happened?

Neither of us knew the answer.

Application

As we continued speaking we realized both of us had failed to check in  with her. It had actually been months since either of us last checked in  with her.

Realizing their drop in quality of work might just be our fault, I took  responsibility.  I reached out to them and immediately scheduled a 1 on  1. I’m very glad I did.

I started the 1 on 1 by apologizing that we hadn’t been checking in with  them.  Then we started talking about how they were doing.

It was then I discovered that their interests had shifted and they wanted  to make some small changes to their role. They also had different long  term goals now, so what we thought was great tasks that furthered those  goals, were actually wrong.

What’s most amazing to me in retrospect is how quickly things turned  around.  After just two 1 on 1s where I listened and made some small  changes, they started showing their past enthusiasm and quality work.

Insight and Approach

From that point forward, I’ve always kept in mind that you can’t take any  of your good people for granted. You have to make time to check in on  them, and assume if there’s a problem it could just as much be you  causing it as anything wrong with them.

And all it took was making time to listen and take action on what I heard.

A study reported in Harvard Business Review in December 2016 found:

“Employees who got little to no one-on-one time with their manager were  more likely to be disengaged. On the flip side, those who get twice the  number of one-on-ones with their manager relative to their peers are  67% less likely to be disengaged.

I learned the hard way what happens when you don’t check in with a  team member. They became disengaged, and it was because I wasn’t  making time for them.

