First impressions are key, and often shaped by simple nonverbal cues. As a new CTO, establishing meaningful connections with your team is crucial. These meetings set the tone for your leadership and allow you to understand the individuals you’ll rely on for the organization’s success. The goal is to build trust, align expectations, and identify how you can support their growth and performance.
Preparing for 1:1 meetings with teammates is crucial because it is the easiest way to build trust. People, that have at least a basic trust level with you, can give you deep insights into team dynamics and warn you of toxic behavior, you would otherwise miss for weeks.
On the other hand, preparation also ensures smoother, more engaging discussions, reduces awkwardness, and sets a positive tone for future interactions. Ultimately, being well-prepared transforms 1:1s into strategic conversations that foster stronger relationships, improve morale, and therefore enhance team performance.
Understand not only their roles, responsibilities, and contributions, but also their deeper why. What motivates them? What are their career goals? What challenges are they facing?
How did the last sprints go? What were the biggest challenges? By going in with basic information, you don't have to ask questions, that show your cluelessness.
Starting a one-on-one meeting on the right foot sets the stage for open communication and mutual trust. This checklist provides simple yet powerful steps to ensure the meeting begins with warmth, authenticity, and a positive tone. By focusing on connection and trust-building from the very first moments, you create an environment where both you and your peer can engage constructively and collaboratively.
Greet your peer with a warm handshake or a friendly nod. Make sure, you're getting out of the formal zone quickly. It's rarely helpful to have a very formal connection with your team.
Show genuine curiosity in this conversation. Listen actively to what your peer shares, and ask follow-up questions to demonstrate your interest. Avoid distractions and focus fully on their words to make them feel heard and valued.
Find self-disclosure that is appropriate for the situation. It shows humility and authenticity.
Reinforce this trust by making it clear that you want to learn from them and that your goal is to collaborate on shaping the future of the organization. Make it not about you, but about the team and the company.
Make it clear that you want to work together to achieve common goals for the organization and that collaborative success is your number one priority.
Conducting a productive one-on-one meeting requires empathy, curiosity, and openness. This checklist guides you in steering the conversation constructively while building a deeper understanding of projects, roles, and your peer’s interests. By asking thoughtful questions, offering positive feedback, and maintaining a respectful and open-minded approach, you create an atmosphere of trust and gain valuable insights.
Ask questions about projects, people’s roles, and their interests. Questions help you understand and often lead a conversation quickly into the direction, that is most important for your peer.
Note down all people, that are mentioned. You can re-use the positively mentioned names to warm up future conversations with introductory lines like I heard a lot of good very good feedback about your work.
Keep the initial dialogue positive, avoiding immediate criticism or directives. It's not a good idea to start with a list of things you want to change. Remember that you are probably missing a lot of context.
What you can share is a rough vision for the distant future. Make it clear, that you have goals for the team, the product and the organization. But don't make it sound like you have all the answers.
Make sure to set expectations for future meetings. This shows that you're planning to stay in touch and that you're interested in their work. Also make clear, that YOU are the one, who wants to have these meetings.