Popwork's ambition is to support teams with all their important management rituals. We have started with weekly 1:1 meetings but this is only the beginning!
Since June, we also cover monthly updates with the launch of a new monthly check-in template. Many teams have already adopted this new ritual on Popwork and receive a series of questions at the beginning of each month to step back and prepare for the upcoming month.
This new monthly check-in is a perfect complement to the weekly or bi-weekly check-ins. It allows managers and team members to get off to a strong start each month while taking the time to step back from the operational day-to-day.
What does the monthly check-in on Popwork look like?
In addition to the recurring question about the mood, the monthly check-in allows us to discuss the workload, a dimension that is not always easy to measure. As a manager, following up the workload of the team members and understanding their bandwidth can be a challenge. For team members, raising the topic of the workload can sometimes be uncomfortable.
Thanks to this question, teams can more easily address this issue and adjust their workload for the following month when necessary. This is the basis for a more efficient and happier team.
"The question of the workload is very useful : it’s not something that you can ask every week but still it is very important." Maxime Corbeau - Manager at Bon Talent
The question of the achievements allows managers to take a step back and value the work that has been accomplished. During the monthly check-in, Popwork goes further by asking team members employees what they are most proud of in the past month.
The monthly check-in then invites team members to reflect on the challenges they may have faced during the month. This is a great way to ensure that all roadblocks have been removed. It pushes managers and team members to come up with concrete solutions and to open up a dialogue on a subject that is not always easy to address.
Finally, the monthly check-in ends by asking employees what they would like to have achieved by the end of the upcoming month. This helps define and agree on the top priorities for the month and then makes it easier to prioritize and follow up week after week.
How to run a greet monthly 1:1 conversation?
The key to a meaningful and productive monthly update is to be able to step back from the operational topics. You can also address more operational topics, but this should not be the focus of the discussion, otherwise it will be a repetition of your weekly 1:1s. The monthly update should be different from your more operational discussions to allow you to get a good overview of the the work and the situation of the team.
⏳ In terms of duration, you don't need to take much more time than when you do your weekly 1:1 meetings: 30 to 45 minutes are usually enough to cover all the important topics.
🌈 During the meeting, we recommend to open the discussion with the mood as well as the workload. This will help bring up topics that you might not have seen otherwise. You can then follow up with the most important achievement of the previous month. Starting the discussion with positive topics is a good basis for the discussion.
🧗♂️ It is important to deal with challenges and important topics such as the roadblocks encountered the previous month and the solutions to resolve these issues and make sure they don’t happen again.
🎯 Finally, before tackling other potential topics, make sure you are well aligned with the priorities of the month to come. For both managers and team members, it obviously makes a big difference to start the month with clear objectives!
☑️ Don't forget to discuss other topics that are important. You can also, for example, still do a quick review of the ongoing topics of the week to ensure that they have been properly addressed.
English
Français