Better ‘Touch Bases’ with Bug

Kerri Burchill, PhD
16h
2 min read

Bug is getting older… and a little needier.

When I think back on it, though, she was always needy. That is a dog, after all. But those needs are not big. She needs an afternoon love, a little treat, some of my dinner and a chance to sleep on our bed at night. Translation? She needs some quality time.

And when she has that quality time satisfied, she can live her best dog life napping all day long.

Bug’s behavior makes me think of having team members, what their needs are, and how leaders can leverage their influence.

In parallel, my influence with Bug is better when her needs are met.

It’s the same in leadership.

Here’s the challenge: Leaders are trying to do more tasks within the same time frame. As a consequence, they struggle to have as much quality time with their employees as they would like.

Buckingham & Goodall (2019) argue that high functioning leaders touch base with their employees more often. They argue that frequency over quality is paramount.

With the pressure of larger teams, managers tasked with doing more and leading less, what are the strategies to make those touch bases with employees more effective?

Tips to having effective, efficient ‘touch bases’ with employees:

Make them about the employee, not about the information the employee needs to hear. Share transactional information through another medium like a team huddle, email, video, etc.
Make the meeting times of your touch bases public. Each employee values this one-on-one time and they are more likely to respect a peer's time with you in the interest of them having uninterrupted time.
Have a pre-set agenda so the employee can anticipate what they want to dive into.
Make the pre-set agenda items open-ended questions.
Make the open-ended questions dive into skill development, problem solving or suggestion.
Have the employee drive the conversation.
Provide feedback to support growth or skill building.
Tell your supervisor that you are protecting this time for your ‘touch bases’ with employees.
Have team huddles to share team-wide information, while still setting aside time for the one-on-one ‘touch bases.’