Hey, it's Rachel Cook, your modern mentor. I'm the founder of Lead Above Noise, a firm

specializing in helping teams and organizations create better working experiences in service of better

results. I recently had the chance to reconnect with one of my very first and very favorite

managers. It's been a long time since I worked for him, but my

memories of his leadership have aged well, and I got to tell him so. He took it with Grace, but also

he wanted to know specifically what I remembered most, and I said, you know, I think it was really

our one-on-one conversations. You did them better than any leader I had

before or after you, and they really fueled the path that led me to where I am today.

Or I said something like that, but really, we had the absolute best and most engaging,

most productive, most supportive one-on-one conversations, and I've been thinking about what

magic they held. It was a lot. Today, I'd love to share some of the elements that I recall most

fondly. If you're a leader of a team, I hope there are some pointers in here for you. And if you're

an employee and you're feeling hungry for a little more development from your leader, maybe gently forward this episode their way or pull out an insight or two letting them know that

you'd like to try something a little different in your next one-on-one conversation.

But here are some of the things that I think my leader did really well.

First, he really understood the purpose of a one-on-one. Through the course of your

career, you are likely to have many conversations that meet the numeric criteria of a one-on-one.

But a real one-on-one conversation in my book is defined by purpose, more than math. A true one-on-one

conversation for me is all about the employee

and their development. It's not a time for project updates or talk of deadlines or procedure

or customer needs. It's a time for you, the employee, to talk about whatever feels most important

for you in the moment, to help you grow and develop and feel a sense

...