Leading with Emotional Intelligence: Hands-On ... - always yours

DEVELOPING OTHERS TOOLS AND STRATEGIES 223
who is so diligent about keeping these meetings,” Paul states. “He
lets you know this is our time and he is brutal at holding it.”
Paul described the impact of the meeting. “It puts the onus on
me to give him information I think he wants, and it gives me a valuable
opportunity to see where I am.” Paul also has one-on-ones with his
people. He confesses, “I found out how hard it is to commit to these
weekly meetings. There is always a good reason to reschedule, but
I don’t.” It takes time, commitment, and discipline to keep meetings
with your direct reports, but Jim Snell and Paul Collins see these as
a mainstay to successfully developing their people and company.
Myron Jones, the president of NMB Technologies Corporation,
a computer peripheral company, also uses one-on-ones as his key
management and development tool. He truly believes in the value
of the one-on-one.
“I know the lack of these meetings can cause misalignment in
the company. In the one-on-one—I call it a Performance Review—we
talk about four elements:
1. Major Job Responsibilities
Talking about the Major Job Responsibilities helps us grade the
performance at that point in the fiscal year.
2. Our Win-Win Agreement under the Covey guidelines
The Win-Win is a complementary tool to Job Responsibilities
and allows me to focus on the cultural and behavioral actions of the
employee.
3. Bonus Plan Progress: Performance Metrics and Management
by Objectives (MBOs)
The Bonus Plan review is cool because it is a document
employees typically ignore until the last month of the year. A wellwritten
MBO should potentially have an impact on short- and longterm
company performance. Reviewing them quarterly allows more
top-of-mind thinking.