I've been doing O3s with by team for about 6 months (with some small breaks in the middle due to travel etc)
They are going well and the team seems to look forward to them, however there are a couple of things that I am curious about.
1. I have good relationships with my directs, however in O3s all the talk is about project status/work. I have no problem with this, it just seemed to me that many of the examples in MT or other forum posts are about directs bringing up personal issues/family etc.Do directs really bring that stuff up, or does it just take longer for that relationship?
2. Their 10 minutes always seems to expand. They update me on projects, take my feedback etc. It can easily fill 20-30 mins. I don't really want to create more meetings just to move this out of O3s. Should I?
3. I struggle to find things to talk about in my 10 minutes. The team meeting is early in the week before O3s, and I brief them then on everything that i am working on, company news etc. Once i get to the O3s, it feels repetitive to say the same stuff again.
Thanks guys,
Chris
My O3's started to focus
My O3's started to focus on project status and I realised that because I spent my 10 minutes asking about status. I'm a project manager so I guess that is natural. I am also high D. So I started listening in their 10 minutes for things to talk about. A direct says they need to leave early to go a school meeting so I ask how the kids are - by name. They are finding it frustrating working with another team so I ask why. I find e questions on the MT template a useful reminder. If all else fails I open my 10 minutes with: things look to be going well is there anything we can capture and share with the team and is there anything we can do better.
If I am desperate to get status I'll pop by their desk later for it.
Another thechique I use it to have my O3 forms printed out. During the week if I think of something to discuss I write it on the for, and it is there as a reminder.
I still find my high C's focus on tasks and status and that's fine. It's there 10 minutes to drive down it to painful detail without me asking what the relevance is and what action they want me to take.