Weekly One-on-One Template

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Preparing for a One-on-One Meeting

One-on-one meetings between managers and staff can be the glue that holds a team together or the most dreaded 30 minutes of everyone’s week. It depends on how the meeting is viewed. Are these meetings designed as coaching or mentoring sessions? Are they status update meetings? Knowing the purpose of the meeting ensures that both parties are looking for similar outcomes.

One-on-One Meeting Agenda

Managers are often the initiator of one-on-one meetings, but they don’t have to be. In fact, participants could take turns creating the agenda for the meetings. No matter who leads the meeting, an agenda is needed. Think about the number of times a meeting is hijacked because of an offhand comment about a sports event or weekend plans. Having an agenda can help keep the conversation on track. Using a one-on-one meeting agenda template can make preparing for a meeting even that much easier.

Encourage Individual Development

A mentor-mentee relationship can be internal or external, and formal or informal. Regardless, the benefits of one-on-one mentoring include personalized feedback and a safe space to brainstorm solutions to matters of personal growth.

For a manager, a regular one-on-one meeting can help build strong working relationships and keep employees aligned and engaged. For employees, regular one-on-one meetings with their managers can provide opportunities for coaching and growth. From either end, enjoy the benefits of a one-on-one meeting with our one-on-one meeting agenda template.

One-on-One Meeting Questions

When people think of one-on-one meetings, they often think of employee-manager discussions, often in the context of performance reviews. But, there are other opportunities for these types of meetings. For example, there can be meetings for:

• Weekly Updates
• Coaching or Mentor
• Goal Setting

There are even times when employees can have one-on-one meetings or individuals on cross-functional teams.

When preparing to meet with someone, consider the types of questions to ask based on the planned meeting. Using an employee one-on-one meeting template can help organize discussions. Here are some one-on-one meeting questions to consider.

Engagement

Engaged employees are productive employees. Therefore, it is always a good idea to check in with employees to see how they’re feeling, especially as more people are working remotely.

1. Have you felt tired this week? Substitute overwhelmed, stressed, or similar words for tired. Don’t ask how anyone is feeling because most people will respond with “fine.”
2. What was the high point of your week? If the response is work-related, ask about a personal highpoint. If the response is personal, ask about work.
3. What’s stressing you out this week? If appropriate, ask about stress-reduction techniques to help alleviate tension.
4. Have you felt out-of-the-loop lately? This is important for remote workers who may have difficulty connecting with colleagues.

With more organizations moving to a hybrid work environment, ensuring that employees are engaged becomes even more of a priority.

Collaboration

Teamwork is essential to the progress of any organization. Part of building teams is providing opportunities for collaboration. Use these questions to see how well teams are collaborating.

1. Are you staying connected to the team? This may highlight technical issues that need to be addressed as well as employee interactions.
2. Is everyone available when needed? If some individuals are difficult to reach, the reasons will need to be investigated. Maybe they are overwhelmed or feeling disconnected.
3. Are there people you would like to have more contact with? Perhaps, there is a senior staff member that could help with training.
4. Do you feel comfortable asking others for help? This topic may need to be discussed from two perspectives: the individual and the team. Sometimes, the hesitancy is from the individuals; others times, it may be the team.
5. Are there any problems that need to be discussed about how the team is working? Employees may feel more comfortable discussing team-related issues in a one-on-one meeting.

Collaboration may involve more than the immediate co-workers. Other departments or groups may be involved. It’s vital that open channels of communication are maintained.

Productivity

These questions can be part of a status update or a check-in meeting. The idea behind the questions is to learn about the progress towards a goal and understand what may be inhibiting that progress.

1. What was the top priority task for this week?
2. What will be the top priority for next week?
3. What challenges are you facing?
4. Are there roadblocks that need to be discussed?
5. What gets in the way of working on the top priority items?

Ensuring that everyone knows their top priority and has developed a plan to complete that task is essential to meeting project and business goals. Use a one-on-one meeting invite template to schedule a productivity meeting with everyone on the team.

Feedback

The following are one-on-one meeting questions to ask a manager. Managers can also use them to determine how they can be of help.

1. Is there something I can do differently to make your life easier? Employees can make a manager’s job easier in the same way a manager can help an employee.
2. Is there any feedback you can share about my work? Everyone needs feedback, so don’t hesitate to provide input.
3. What are the challenges to making effective team decisions? If teams are struggling to achieve consensus, discuss ways to improve the decision-making process.
4. Do employees/managers need more information or updates? Communication is key, so if it is not happening frequently enough, it should be noted.
5. Are there better ways to contribute to team meetings? One-on-one meetings are the perfect place to discuss how to improve meetings to make them more productive.

Whether it’s an employee asking the questions or a manager, receiving feedback is essential to career and personal growth. So be sure to include these questions as part of a one-on-one meeting.