Ctrl+Alt+Del: How to use technology to stop your exec from skirting your 1-2-1s

By Lauren Bradley, Founder of The Officials…

I will never forget what my professor said to us in my first tech class at uni. “There are going to be these things on phones called Apps,” he bellowed over the dark computer lab. No one knew what the hell he was talking about, but I liked what I heard.

Since that day, I’ve had an eagle eye for ways in which technology can make our personal and professional lives easier. I use Siri to constantly remind me of things and plug events straight into my calendar and I snooze my emails.

So when I’m talking with The Officials HQ community in Slack or meeting with a mentee, I’m constantly searching for ways in which tech can help us solve common problems in our industry.

One such problem is the disappearing executive. You know the type, extremely busy and hard to pin down for a proper 1-2-1. That’s why I love Canva! You can use a Canva presentation template to document your weekly update and use the Present and Record function to record you walking through the presentation. At the end, Canva spits out a link that you can pop straight into your executive’s calendar.

You can also use one of my favourite apps, Loom. The free version of Loom allows you to record your desktop and lovely face (or any combination) to record your presentation for up to 5 minutes. The affordable paid version allows for unlimited videos and recording time. It’s also an incredible tool to create quick How To videos for your staff as well. An absolute must in a remote world.

Top tips for your asynchronous 1-2-1:

• Do treat it like a scrum stand-up meeting and keep it under 15 minutes (5 is ideal)
• Schedule it directly into your executive’s calendar with the link to the recording dropped in as the location
• Use a template that you can update week on week
• Don’t waffle on and on. Keep it short, sweet and succinct.
• Be consistent, even if you struggle to get feedback from your executive
• Don’t forget to link to important documents such as reports, agendas, etc

Use our gorgeous Weekly 1-2-1 Canva Template to get your started.

Links listed in order:

1. The Officials > https://jointheofficials.com/
2. Canva > https://canva.7eqqol.net/XAmNM
3. Loom > https://www.loom.com/my-videos
4. Template > https://www.subscribepage.com/weekly-121-template