🤸 1:1 TLC framework, youngest self-made female billionaire, & our new fave hype girl

Hey — it’s Cristina & Jenni.

Each week, we share leadership reflections, resources, and laughs to help you excel in your role (+ have fun along the way).

As two tech leaders, we’re here to “lead in public” by sharing what we’re learning in our day-to-day roles, encouraging others to do the same, and growing as leaders together.

Enjoy!

What we’re reflecting on this week

Leading a team isn’t about a single moment of brilliance, but hundreds of micro interactions, team meetings, slack conversations, etc.

That said - if used correctly - some moments can have an outsized impact.

As simple as it sounds, one of the most consistent and meaningful platforms to lead your team comes in the form of regular 1:1s with your reports.

I’m sure we’ve all had some experience (whether firsthand or through a friend) with 1:1s being cancelled last-minute by a manager, being run without a notes doc, or being composed 99% of the leader doing the talking.

BUT… what if the opposite were true?

What if 1:1s were a reliably valuable conversation, run in an organized and productive way, and made up of 50/50 talk time (or even 80/20 report/manager)?

Short answer: The world would be a better place 🙂 And our reports would be happier and more effective.

This week, we’ve been reflecting on our top 3 best practices for how to run a stellar 1:1 - we call it the TLC framework:

1. Treat it as your report’s time, not yours

• Make it clear that it’s their time and invite them to set the agenda

• Listen more than you talk and ask questions to dig further

• If you have topics of your own, cover them at the end

2. Learn about them as a person

• It’s easy to get caught up in business, business, business

• Showing you care about them increases psychological safety and mutual understanding

• The start and end of the call are often great for this

3. Create a shared doc for agenda and notes

• Your report can batch topics in the doc throughout the week

• Those topics serve as your 1:1 agenda

• Action items are captured to reinforce accountability on both sides

We’ve linked our own 1:1 template in the resources below to get you started.

→ How do you currently run your 1:1s? What else can you do to make the most of them?

What we’re learning this week

• 📃 Our go-to 1:1 template - In this google doc, we’ve included our standard 1:1 template along with a “first 1:1 agenda” for when you have a new report or you’re coming in as a new manager.

• 🧵 Jeanne Torre thread on 1:1 questions - Jeanne always does a great job of cutting straight to the chase and delivering leadership gold in her threads. This one pairs perfectly with our 1:1 reflections this week - she focuses on questions to kick off coaching sessions/1:1s the right way for maximum impact.

• 🧵 Prateek Gaur’s thread on the youngest self-made female billionaire - At age 31, Whitney became the youngest woman to take a company public in the US - her success story didn’t come without plenty of hardships (including a contentious lawsuit and harassment from her boss).

What we’re enjoying this week

Alethea is the hype girl you didn’t know you needed. We’ll leave it at that 😉

That’s it for this week — thanks for reading.

See you next Thursday! 🤸‍♀️