Why One-on-One Interaction is Important for your Outsourcing Company

The key phrase "One-on-One" plays a major role in the success of your company. Whether employees are located onsite or they work remotely, it is very important for them to have one-on-one interactions with their managers. When one-on-one is missing, it is often difficult to achieve results.

At SJ Innovation, all of our employees meet with their managers on a weekly or bi-weekly basis to discuss their concerns. When companies feel that they are not getting the results they desire, one of the main reasons is that one-on-one, a very important factor, is missing. When consultants or team members are hired overseas, if they don't do their one-on-one, problems will always ensue.

Four important steps of one-on-one

Here are four one-on-one steps to follow for your company's continued success. Even if your employees are remote, it is important that these steps are adhered to.

• Acknowledge the importance of one-on-one interaction. Part of our culture at SJ Innovation is that when we onboard an employee we explain the importance of one-on-one in the first presentation. Making sure everyone understands the importance of this is key to making it work. Let employees know that this is a requirement.
• Within two weeks of onboarding, an employee is assigned to a manager. That manager has to schedule the one-on-one meetings. All meetings must be scheduled on a calendar and be recorded. The manager will be held accountable for making sure the interaction takes place.
• Managers must use the whiteboard tool to schedule the meeting. The meeting's agenda must be included. Each agenda should be actionable, meaning we can refer back to the meeting throughout the whole year and add comments. This one-on-one feedback from managers and team members can help us during the yearly review because whatever topic was discussed, we can refer to the feedback that was provided. 
• Be sure to check the metrics. Make managers accountable as to what percentage of one-on-one is happening. If we notice that someone is not doing proper one-on-one, we remind them of it. The HR team will also reach out to the team member randomly to ask them, "how was your one-on-one?" If one-on-one is missed, we make sure the manager is held accountable for it.  

One-on-one is extremely important for getting the proper results from your team. Because of one-on-one, we are able to solve small problems that team members have within the company, even though they may be in different offices. We are able to mentor our team members. We conduct regular one-on-one conferences using Zoom for our remote employees. The meetings happen face-to-face if the manager is in the same office as the team member. We do not allow our managers to miss one-on-one meetings. If it doesn't happen because of vacation or any other absence, the one-on-one meeting must be made up.

SJ Innovation

Founded in 2004, SJ Innovation has been creating advanced web-based solutions for 15 years. Our talented designers are specialized in Front End Development, CSS3, Logo design, eCommerce, Code Igniter, Email design, Drupal, Wireframing, Zend, WordPress, Magento, PHP/CakePHP, PSD design, Responsive & Adaptive, PSD-to-HTML conversions, Customized CRM, Back End Development, HTML5, JavaScript, iOS, Android and Mobile.

Based in New York City, our main goal is client success. We believe that having a happy and productive workforce that shares one vision is key to getting results. As a company, we have developed many long term business relationships and we work hard to help our clients achieve their goals. Creating custom solutions to meet our customers needs, we handle everything from concept to design to implementation.