Weekly Team Meetings vs 1-1 Meetings

Every company running their company on EOS has a weekly leadership team meeting. We call it the executive Level 10 meeting, or L10, meeting. It is on the same day, at the same time, has the same agenda, and it starts on time and ends on time. All five of these characteristics are equally important.

When companies begin implementing EOS, they struggle with this discipline. Did I mention that an executive L10 meeting is 90 minutes in duration? But within a few weeks (and certainly within a few months), if they have maintained the discipline, they realize that they are saving time and gaining traction. They have a place to solve complex, multi department issues in a forum that is consistent and dependable.

In that context, in a recent client session, there was a great Ah-Ha moment. The client was happy with their L10 meetings, but the Integrator (CEO) was frustrated with the L10 format for dealing with single person issues and “syncing up” with various individuals. The Integrator felt that he could no longer give counsel or constructive feedback to specific individuals. The Ah-Ha was that weekly L10 meetings and One on One meetings are NOT mutually exclusive.

In fact, One on One meetings are the way you provide customized leadership and mentoring to members of your team which would, at worst be inappropriate for, and at best not applicable to other members of the team.

Further, the frequency of One on One meetings are dependent on the needs of the individual. Too many One on One meetings will overwhelm and stultify an individual who doesn’t need that many. Too few, or none, and you will leave some employees feeling abandoned. Management is an art and you have to find the right frequency of One on One meetings for each of your direct reports. Have you done that yet?