Meaningful Manager Communications: People Management

In the first of this three-part series, we’ll highlight messages that help managers communicate with consistency and precision as they lead their teams.

Communicating with employees is one of the most important responsibilities of a leader. Effective communication has been shown to ensure a more fully engaged and productive workforce.

Using TextExpander to streamline the many types of communications needed on your team is a potent way to boost productivity and build trust.

Meaningful Manager Communications is a public group of snippets that new and existing managers can use to enhance daily communications with their teams.

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Here are four snippets that make timely communication a cinch.

1. Setting up a new one-on-one with a team member

One-on-ones are all about your people, and “building strong, trusting relationships with them.”

Establishing a regular cadence for a weekly or bi-weekly one-on-one meeting is a great way to start a new working relationship off on the right foot.

2. One-on-one Meeting Template

“A lack of a good one-on-one meeting template or structure prevents [managers] from making the most of the meetings.”

Be perceived as a leader and not just a manager with this thoughtful snippet that works as an agenda and idea tracker for topics to cover.

Pro-tip: Use the template to inform your own snippet for questions, or use the checklist snippet to be more selective in which pieces you use. With the checklist, you can expand your own snippet for the date in the Date field as you expand the snippet. Yes, you can expand snippets inside of expanding snippets. This way, you can use any date format you want.

People leave managers not companies. A few key habits like regular one-on-ones, helping grow their people, and showing they care, can make all the difference in morale, motivation, and turnover. –Gallup

3. Weekly Wins / Challenges

Over 80% of office workers would prefer to receive feedback in the moment instead of once a year.

Empower your direct reports to track their accomplishments and challenges weekly and discuss during your one-on-ones. This will make annual performance reviews less stressful for your team while giving you a better scope of their contributions throughout the year.

4. One-on-one Meeting Notes

Seasoned leaders agree that taking notes is helpful for both the manager and the team.

This ready-to-customize snippet gives managers a baseline for capturing consistent and timely notes for quick and easy reflection.

The most important element in a successful one-on-one is creating a space where individuals feel comfortable to discuss the issues and concerns on their mind. -Asana

Access the full collection of snippets from the Meaningful Manager Communications series.

What TextExpander snippets do you use to communicate effectively with your team? We’d love to hear from you. Join our group on Facebook.