Last week, we tried a new exercise called Growth Moments in Barrel Management Forum, a bi-weekly space for all managers to pull out of the day-to-day and connect on management-related topics.
I've noticed that many of my one-on-ones with managers cover topics and insights that would be helpful to the larger group. Growth Moments is an attempt to bridge the gap and create an opportunity for us to dig into shared experiences and learn together.
Inspired by an activity from the book An Everyone Culture called a **fishbowl (excerpt below), once a month, one of the managers take center stage and share:
- A personal challenge they're facing as a manager (giving feedback, running 1-1s)
- A recent experience with a direct report/team that they think could have gone better
- An upcoming situation with a direct report/team that they'd like advice on
- Anything else on your mind
Once they share the context, I kick off the conversation, and we dig in together. I was unsure how this would go, but I was excited to give it a try last week. It's been in the back of my mind since reading the book.
I loved seeing everyone engaged and supportive. Meetings are 30 minutes, which has proven to be the perfect amount of time to keep the energy up from start to finish with these sorts of conversations. We left the meeting with new insights on structuring one-on-ones and building trust with our direct reports.
This post originally appeared in Edition No. 082 of my newsletter. Subscribe here.
Monday, April 4, 2022
