The Effective Manager, 2nd Edition

6How to Start Doing Manager Tools One on Ones

If you've decided to start doing Manager Tools One on Ones (MTO3s), we're excited for you. O3s will become the core of your managerial behaviors.

Now that you know what O3s are, here's what to do.

Let's walk through, step by step, exactly what to do to get your O3s started.

1. Choose times from your calendar.
2. Send out an O3 email invitation.
3. Allow for possible changes and questions as you get started.
4. Brief your team on your O3s.
5. Do O3s ONLY for 12 weeks.

Choose Times from Your Calendar

In order to send out an email letting your team know you're going to start doing O3s, you need to pick times on your calendar to let them choose from.

Take the number of directs you have, multiply by 1.5, and that's the number of times you need to make available to them in the mail. (If you have an odd number of directs, round your answer up.) If you have six directs, for example, you need to find nine half‐hour time slots, or 4.5 hours.

Why 1.5× slots more than the number of your directs? Because you're going to let them choose the time they have, and we don't want anyone to be “forced” to take the last slot you offered.

On the other hand, you might be tempted to just throw your calendar open and let your team members choose whenever they want. Don't do this. We tried it years ago, repeatedly, and it always turned out poorly. Doing it this way will ruin your schedule. Remember that each direct is only committing half an hour to this effort each ...