Come See Me

Having the boss tell you to “come see me” can induce anxiety for many people.

There are two ways to avoid stressing your people out this way for no good reason:

• Give people a heads-up so they know what the meeting is specifically about.

• Have regular standing meetings with all of your direct reports.

I am a strong proponent of the scheduled, regular meeting. Let your people know that you are blocking out a specific time for them each week, either in-person or through Teams/Zoom. Explain in advance that you would like to:

• Know what they did in the past week

• Know what they plan to do this coming week

• Discuss any non-emergency questions, concerns, or problems they have with what they are doing (have an open-door policy for time-critical issues)

And give them the “why” of this! A weekly check-in meeting keeps you in-the-loop on all of the projects your team is working on, so you have a current understanding of the situation. It keeps you updated so that, if the client calls you, you can answer their questions knowledgeably and not look stupid or incompetent. It gives you a chance to give positive feedback and keep your people motivated. And if there is a problem, you can catch it in time to correct the situation before things really go off-the-rails and the budget and/or schedule gets messed up.

You can also use this standing meeting time to check in on how they are doing with the goals set at their most recent performance review. You can use it to discuss ways to build their knowledge, skills, and experiences, so that they can grow as competent professionals. It can be a time to mentor your people, as well.

It also gets them comfortable talking with “the boss.” The familiar routine will decrease their anxiety and improve their communication with you.

(image source: workchronicles.substack.com/p/comic-can-i-see-you-in-my-office-b80)