Stop disappointing your team by avoiding these 5 common mistakes: ❌ Canceling On Your Best People I get it. We have more to do than hours in a day, so we triage to focus on what’s urgent. We know our best people have us covered, so we nudge their 1:1 to next week. But nothing says “you’re not important” quite like removing the one meeting each week that’s about supporting them. ❌ Keeping Your Distance Read the common wisdom about management, and it’ll steer you clear of personal topics. I’m sorry, this just isn’t human. We spend more time with our teams than our families. Get to know your directs personally. It’s a prerequisite for caring. ❌ Getting Status Reports If your entire meeting involves transmitting data that could have been an email, you’re doing it wrong. Get them to maintain a dashboard that you can review before the meeting. Then, use the time to probe, coach, and support. ❌ Sitting Still Want to raise the energy of this meeting? Change your environment: – Meet up at a high-energy coffee shop. – Hop up and start riffing on a whiteboard. – Get outside and cover critical topics on a walk. ❌ Going Long Parkinson’s Law states that work will fill the space you give it. If your 1:1s feel drawn out, try cutting the time in half.