I've been adjusting the way I lead at Buffer, moving away from primarily 1:1 interactions with my direct reports, towards striving for as much transparent and group-based collaboration in projects as possible.

This wasn't an obvious move for me, as I've always valued the alignment, depth and trust that can be achieved through 1:1 conversations. But over time I've found there are real costs to over-reliance on 1:1 collaboration, and some significant benefits of collective brainstorming and decision making.

Here's why group-based collaboration is so powerful:

• Ideas benefit from real-time refinement from multiple perspectives
• The group develops a shared understanding rather than fragmented context
• Decisions gain broader buy-in naturally
• Cross-functional collaboration happens organically
• Brainstorming and decision making is streamlined by avoiding the need for multiple 1:1 conversations

This doesn't mean eliminating 1:1s. But I've found myself getting much more diligent about the purpose of 1:1 meetings with my direct reports. They are for coaching, feedback, and deeper personal connection.

It started to click for me that I'd regularly discuss current projects in those 1:1 meetings. But it's much more effective to force those discussions to happen in groups, so they benefit from broader perspectives and create shared context and buy-in more immediately.

It's important that psychological safety exists in these group settings so people feel comfortable sharing half-formed thoughts, challenging assumptions, and building on each other's ideas. Sometimes if that trust isn't there, some work needs to be done 1:1 and in smaller sessions to make sure the team can collaborate effectively as a group.

And when I can stick to this way of collaborating with my team, it creates a virtuous cycle for me as a leader and manager, too. By having more group-based async and sync collaboration, I get more context I can reflect on to give my team feedback so they can grow faster. It's a more effective way to lead, as I can get that context for multiple people at once when they're present in the same group discussion, and I can also see the interpersonal dynamics too.