One to ones should be a two way discussion, Ask open questions to get their ideas on performance and how to move forward.

When giving feedback on their performance use the AID model:

A - Action what they did – i.e. what you have seen or heard (back this up with examples, focus on actions not on your interpretation or their intentions)
I - Impact – what has that achieved, or what impact has it had on the business, the department, the guests, or themselves
D - Development – what can they do to build on this, or do differently to improve or perfect, and how you can support them

Ask for their views, not only on their performance, but what support they need, what could be improved in the business, what feedback they have had from guests, their suggestions for future objectives. And be prepared to listen to their answers and probe for more detail or examples if you need to so you fully understand what they are saying.

Remember, if people's previous experience of one to one meetings up till now has been bad or at best just a waste of time, it can take time to build trust before these can be totally honest exchanges. Start by asking the questions above, or similar, and use this as a starting point to get the discussions going.

Where to begin

If you aren't already conducting regular one to ones now might be a good time to start. Use your first meeting to establish (jointly) their goals and KPIs if you don't already have these in place.

Begin with the end in mind.

As it the nearly the end of the week this is the best place to start, get your diary out and start booking you and your staff in on Monday.

Caroline Cooper is a business coach with over 25 years experience in business and management development, and founder of Zeal Coaching, specializing in working with hospitality businesses, and is author of the 'Hotel Success Handbook'.

www.zealcoaching.com