The Rising Leader - Conducting One on Ones: With a Product Mindset

All managers have been there...

You're brand new to leadership and you are about to walk in (or Zoom in) to your first one on one with a direct report. Maybe you're nervous, contemplating various scenario possibilities, or just overwhelmed with anticipation. How are you going to start the conversation? How will you address challenging situations with beneficial solutions? Most importantly, how do you ensure that these meetings are refreshing, productive and valuable for your team's growth? 

The good news is, just like imposter syndrome, feeling this way is not uncommon. In this article, we are going to chat about a personal newer-found approach to one on ones to help you walk into any meeting and know you are helping the person in front of you. Recently, I've been working on a few projects that feature Product Mindset and when creating material, I couldn't help but notice how product principals can relate to one-on-one meetings. The processes we'll cover from the product side are meant to provide you with points that can help you craft your meetings and provide a strategized approach with your follow-ups. 

First up, let's use this definition of Product Mindset so we are on the same page for our discussion: A Product Mindset is an approach to problem-solving and decision making that is centered around creating value to end-users. It is a mindset that reduces friction between teams (cross-functional teams too) by having a shared understanding of needs, goals, and capabilities. Let's apply this to one-on-one meetings by looking deeper into three specific product strategies that can help make your sessions more impactful. 

• User-Centric Focused: The core of every one of these meetings should be making the discussions about your teammate. Learning about what drives them and the ambitions they have is a good starting off point. Asking them about their career aspirations, working style and preferences. Understanding these personal aspects starts to create a bond as well as an ability to tailor future sessions to them specifically. Micro-customized discussions (covered in previous articles) allow for real world examples, scenarios, and motivation that can help new leaders understand how to conduct one on one conversations that are beneficial to their teammate directly. 

• Pitfalls in Backlog Grooming: This is when you are able to identify pitfalls or obstacles upfront that could occur during the process. Having this foresight is a fantastic leadership skill and a game changer. Imagine being able to anticipate the hurdles or objections that might arise in a discussion and having solutions ready in advance. This is where the "6 Thinking Hats" technique can be helpful. It encourages you to think about problems from various perspectives, which in turn enhances your agility during the discussion to provide the most informed and balanced decision for your teammate. 

• Design Thinking Process: In terms of Product Mindset, we find this cyclical process that creates solutions which provide end user value and reduce friction between teams. Let's focus on two of the five traditional steps, starting with Prototyping. A prototype ensures that the final product aligns with the end user's expectations. For us here, consider role playing or shadowing a teammate during their tasks. By doing this, you witness the results, or the "prototype," of your one-on-one discussions. This immersive approach reinforces learning and provides a clear path for career development. The last step is Testing, which is getting feedback and making improvements. Take notes and seek input on how they feel the discussions are helping, how your style is helping, and ask for feedback on the work environment. Being able to take that data and refine your approach or theirs, will accelerate the impact of your one on ones.  

Wrap Up

Each of these principals are a continuous process of improvement that just so happens to align with both one-on-one meetings and a Product Mindset. Not to be missed, combining all these strategies creates one-on-one environments that demonstrate your empathetic approach to those you are leading, which in turn allows for those more difficult conversations to be received with the known intention of their best interests being at hand. Integrating these Product Mindset components into your one-on-one planning and follow up, will be one of the most valuable and impactful skills that a Rising Leader can have.