There’s no such thing as a silver bullet, right? Wrong!

With employee engagement, there is a silver bullet.

After decades of study and an analysis of 100 million employee interviews, the Gallup organization discovered this silver bullet. It’s a weekly one-on-one coaching session for every employee with their manager to discuss their growth and goals.

It solidifies the relationship that accounts for 70% of employee engagement.

I recently had a chance to share that silver bullet with the leaders of the Sanford Health Plan. I talked about the employee experience and the impact it has on their member experience.

They were an incredibly engaged group of leaders who asked good questions that I’m sure are on your mind. The first was, ‘What if I’m interacting with this person all day, every day? Do I still need a one-on-one?’

The short answer? Yes.

And that’s because the interaction at work is about work. The coaching session should be about them. The best leaders do more coaching than directing. A weekly one-on-one, when done correctly, ensures that this all-important coaching happens.

The next question was, what if they don’t need much support?

I hear this from leaders all the time, who say something like, ‘I don’t need to meet with her because she’s a rock-star. She doesn’t need me to tell her what to do.’

What I ask in return is, ‘Are they perfect?’

Everyone has to work on something. Everyone needs a coach.

I was just looking at ESPN’s list of the top 100 athletes of the 21st century. The top five are Michael Phelps, Serena Williams, Lionel Messi, LeBron James, and Tom Brady. And all of them had multiple coaches helping them steadily improve to achieve that rarified status.

If you aren’t currently doing it, one of the best ways to transform your employee experience is to commit to weekly one-on-one coaching sessions – or as one of my clients now refers to them as the silver bullet meetings.

Are you thinking, ‘Nathan, that’s just not realistic. We don’t have the time.’

Okay. But I’m just reporting the facts. Now that you know the silver bullet, it’s up to you whether you fire it or leave it in the chamber.

If you want to improve your employee engagement or need your leaders to be better coaches, reply to this email and let’s chat.