I Had My First One-On-One As Tech Lead. I Talked For Forty Minutes. The Engineer Said Seven Words.
📰 Medium · Programming
Improve your one-on-one meetings as a tech lead by actively listening to your engineers, asking open-ended questions, and avoiding dominance of the conversation
Action Steps
- Prepare an agenda with open-ended questions to encourage engineer participation
- Practice active listening by maintaining eye contact and avoiding interruptions
- Ask follow-up questions to delve deeper into the engineer's thoughts and concerns
- Set a timer to ensure the engineer has sufficient time to share their thoughts
- Summarize and paraphrase the engineer's comments to demonstrate understanding
Who Needs to Know This
Tech leads and engineers can benefit from effective one-on-one meetings to discuss project progress, goals, and challenges, leading to better collaboration and team performance
Key Insight
💡 Active listening is key to effective one-on-one meetings, allowing tech leads to understand their engineers' concerns and ideas
Share This
💡 As a tech lead, remember that one-on-one meetings are a two-way conversation. Listen more, talk less!
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