151: The #1 Team Building Skill You're Missing to Lead Effectively | Brendan Rogers
Release Date:
April 15, 2025
Release Date: Apr 8
The secret to making your team more engaged, more productive and far less likely to leave? Intentional and focused 1 on 1 meetings. Today’s guest learned this lesson the hard way.
Brendan Rogers is a leadership coach who used to believe that great teams were built through occasional team meetings and annual performance reviews. But when the world went remote during the pandemic? He was surprised to realize that without consistent, structured one-on-one conversations, leaders lose control, performance drops, and teams fall apart.
If you’re a leader who wants to elevate your team’s performance without micromanaging, this episode is packed with actionable insights.
What You’ll Learn:
Why one-on-one meetings are the foundation of high-performing teams
The three essential questions every leader should ask in weekly check-ins
How canceling one-on-ones destroys trust and morale
The right way to give and receive feedback to foster growth
How to run effective team meetings that drive action instead of wasting time
In This Episode:
00:01 – Introduction to Brendan Rogers
00:25 – Why leaders must invest deliberate time in their employees
02:40 – The moment Brendan realized one-on-one meetings change everything
05:48 – How COVID forced leaders to rethink employee engagement
06:22 – The myth that structure kills creativity (it actually fuels it)
09:06 – Brendan’s three-step framework for effective one-on-ones
12:30 – Should feedback happen in one-on-one meetings or separately?
16:13 – The damaging effect of constantly canceling one-on-one meetings
19:21 – How leaders can get better at giving and receiving feedback
22:14 – Why modeling how you receive feedback matters as a leader
26:44 – The simple act of following up on feedback to build trust
31:33 – A small but powerful piece of feedback that changed Brendan’s career
34:05 – The number one roadblock stopping leaders from scaling their teams
36:39 – How to get better at saying no as a leader
39:51 – How to increase performance in a team setting beyond one-on-ones
43:45 – Why great leaders aren’t born—they’re designed
46:57 – Final advice: There’s always a better way to lead
