Charma vs Google Docs for one-on-ones

Many managers who start using Charma switch from a Google Doc for organizing their one-on-ones because they want a purpose-built tool to help them up their leadership game. This is a common graduation path for many essential business functions. For example, at some point, you grow out of tracking your finances in a spreadsheet and start using a tool like Quickbooks or other accounting software. The same can be said for Management, and it’s hard to think of a more essential business function than the workflows between a manager and their direct reports.

Charma is expressly built for this purpose, so it offers a slew of benefits over a Google Doc, which is designed primarily for creating text documents (as its name would suggest). Let’s look at a few:

‍Robust action item functionality

• Accountability is an essential component of an effective work relationship, so Charma provides action item functionality with due dates, priorities, and comment thread. Also, since Charma is designed for managing teams, we make it easy to see action items across people all in one place. This provides greater visibility and easier resource planning since you’ll know who has what on their plate.

Guided workflows for feedback and recognition

• Giving and receiving feedback is one of the most beneficial activities a manager can perform. However, getting in the habit can be hard and writing good feedback can be time consuming. Charma takes friction out of this high-value activity by providing reminders to keep you on a good cadence. As an example, FeedbackAI, our AI writing assistant, generates editable feedback examples for you to personalize based on selecting just a few descriptors from a list.

Actionable integrations 

• Charma integrates with the other tools you use every day and leverages our SurfaceAI algorithm to surface items that need your attention or that should be discussed in a one-on-one or group meeting. With just a few clicks, you can connect Charma to apps like Jira, Github, Salesforce, Hubspot, as well as Google Workspaces and Office365 - you’ll never go into a one-on-one unprepared again.

Analytics and insights

• Charma provides managers and executives with dashboards to see how their teams are operating and to ensure they’re following best practices. Now you can clearly see what’s going well, and what areas might need more active coaching.

Goal setting

• High performing teams have clear priorities and track their accomplishments against clearly defined goals. Charma Goals are a lightweight structure for creating goals that automatically adds check-ins into your one-on-one cadence so you stay on top of progress. This helps managers stay proactive instead of waiting until the end of the quarter to realize they should have made a course correction.

Google Docs are great for writing and collaborating on a text document, but they’re not the ideal tool for guiding the relationship between managers and their direct reports. Charma is built from the ground up for this exact purpose, which we believe is one of the most important functions within an organization. If you also believe great management is the building block of a successful company, then we have the purpose-built tool for you.

Embedded video

• Our embedded video functionality allows you to include video messages or screen recordings within discussion topics, action items, and comments. Text is great, but sometimes you need the additional context you get from video, especially with hybrid and remote teams.

Exceptional leaders know that the relationship between employees and their managers is the key driver of workplace productivity and engagement. Charma combines the ease and simplicity of Google Docs with the thoughtfulness of a tool built specifically for effective collaboration. Whether you’re a manager struggling to stay on top of things, or a CEO whose organization has outgrown its systems, Charma provides the guidance and streamlined workflows managers need to upgrade their meeting workflows.

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Learn more about Charma

Charma is the best practice toolkit for managers to organize, motivate, and engage their teams, beloved by managers, HR, executives, and ICs alike. Find tools to help manage agendas for one-on-one meetings and team meetings, action items, team collaboration, continuous feedback, recognition, and goals — all in one place.

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