One-on-one Meeting Template

About the One-on-One Meeting Template

One-on-one meetings are common for managers and their direct reports. They support employee development and give employees a chance to address any issues, but it’s not always easy to ensure they’re productive. Use our one-on-one meeting template to create structure, take a quick pulse check, and outline action items for the coming week.

How do you structure a one-on-one meeting?

One-on-one meetings can be one of the most productive parts of your day or a roadblock. It all hinges on how well you structure the meeting agenda. A one-on-one meeting template helps you host better meetings, accomplish your goals, and push your teammates to their full potential.

Here are a few steps to run your one-on-one meeting effectively:

1. Create a meeting agenda

To run an effective meeting, use a template to create a one-on-one meeting agenda. You don’t have to stick to the plan the entire time, but it helps to lay out a series of goals, discussion topics, questions, or action items. There’s no need to write in complete sentences; bullet points work well too! The template allows you to keep track of the conversation and ensures you stay on topic.

2. Do a mood check-in

Before diving into your one-on-one meeting topics, do a quick mood check. Ask how they’re feeling (both at work and outside of work) to get a deeper understanding of where their headspace is. This exercise aligns expectations and helps you better understand their needs at that moment. As a result, you can tailor your approach accordingly.

For example, if they’re going through a tough time outside of work, it’s helpful to know this going into the meeting. You can take this into account when addressing performance, new ideas, and just generally how you approach the meeting.

3. Talk about the present moment

Start talking about the present moment to give you and your employee a sense of where you currently stand. You can also pick a set period of time and analyze it. Discuss what's going well (or did go well) and what you are focusing on at the moment. After talking about the good things, you can move on and discuss any frustrations or setbacks.

4. Define the next steps

Once you’ve done the quick retrospective, you can move on to the next steps and discuss strategies to improve your work in the future. Think of this as an opportunity to try new ideas and initiate new projects.

5. What else? Add more topics to your one-on-one!

After discussing the most pressing things, this is the moment to bring to the table anything you'd like to share or ask and didn't have the opportunity. From new learnings to new business trends—this space lets the discussion flow more freely and creatively.

As the meeting host, this would generally be the time when you’d ask the employee if they have any questions, comments, or suggestions.

6. Record your notes in the template

It’s always a good idea to record meeting notes and document any information from the meeting. This will give you something to refer back to in your next meeting to reflect on the progress.

If you’re using a template to structure the meeting, you can also use this to jot notes down as the meeting progresses. With Miro, for example, you can add notes and comments directly into your template. When the meeting is done, you can share the notes with the employee so they can see what was discussed.

Why have one-on-one meetings?

Most managers use a one-on-one conversation to get status updates on project progress and discuss performance reviews. It’s important for managers to regularly check in with their employees so they can deliver and review performance feedback.

One-on-one meetings are also powerful tools for building stronger relationships between managers and employees. These meetings show employees that their managers care about their professional growth, which can increase their job satisfaction and overall happiness at work.

In the short term, one-on-one meetings help managers and their employees function better as a team. Managers can provide constructive feedback, while employees can discuss things they would like to do better. One-on-ones are also an important tool for discovering interpersonal issues and problems with processes.

In the long term, one-on-one meetings allow managers to help their employees succeed. These meetings are opportunities to ask employees about their career development. Managers can provide tips and assign projects that suit their professional goals.

What's the value of one-on-ones with your team members?

There are a lot of benefits that come with having one-on-ones with your team. Let’s take a look at what they are:

• Help employees feel valued. Spending dedicated time with individual team members shows that you care about their professional development. You’re taking the time to support their career goals, listen to their problems, and answer their questions.

• Address any issues. Employees might struggle to raise concerns in a group setting. Having a one-on-one meeting allows them to speak to you in a safe environment.

• Support employee development. One-on-one meetings are a great opportunity for you to support the growth and development of your employees. You can find out what they want to learn, where their strengths and weaknesses are, and support them in their education. Whether that’s offering mentorship or sending them on a training course, your one-on-ones allow you to keep up with their development.

• Keep yourself in the loop. Regularly touching base with your team members keeps you up to speed with what they’re doing, how they’re feeling about work, and how you can best support them.

• Increase productivity. Having one-on-one meetings can help keep your employees engaged in their work. And when employee engagement is high, chances are their productivity levels will be higher, too. In terms of project management, this is super helpful. It means that you can maximize the time and resources spent on every project, delivering successful projects on time and within budget.

What are good questions to ask during one-on-one meetings?

The right meeting questions will depend on several variable factors, including who you’re meeting with, what they’re working on, and how their performance has been. But to give you a solid starting point, here are some possible discussion topics for your template:

• What have you accomplished over the last week?

• Which activities have you enjoyed?

• What type of tasks do you prefer?

• Is there any way I could help make your project more enjoyable?

• Do you have any suggestions that could help us work better as a team?

• What bottlenecks have you encountered in your current projects?

• Do you feel like you’re learning and growing at work?

• What can I do to better support your career growth?

What are good questions to ask your manager in a one-on-one?

At the end of the meeting, the employee will often have a chance to ask their manager some questions. The one-on-one meeting questions you’ll want to ask will vary from person to person. It depends on the circumstances you’re working in, your relationship with your manager, and their management style. To get the ball rolling, here are a few possible questions:

• How can I perform better in my day-to-day work?

• What am I doing well?

• Do I have any strengths I should focus on developing further?

• How can I take on more responsibility?

• What skills should I focus on improving?

• Is there any opportunity to develop my skills with training?

• Where can I progress in the company?

• Do you have any advice to help me do my job better?

• What are the top priority tasks on my to-do list?

• How can I better support you and/or the team?