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1-on-1. Built for trust.
A structured agenda for weekly 1-on-1s. Report owns the topics. Manager owns the questions. Both own the action items.
Meeting details
Your agenda
1. Check-in (5 min)
- • How are you, honestly?
- • What's been the best part of the week?
- • What's been frustrating?
2. Your topics (10 min)
- • What's on your mind?
- • Anything you want my help thinking through?
- • Anything blocking you?
3. Goals + projects (10 min)
- • Progress on quarterly goals — what shifted?
- • Any project I should know about?
- • What support do you need from me this week?
4. Growth (5 min — biweekly)
- • What skills do you want to develop next quarter?
- • What kind of work energizes you most right now?
- • Any reading / talk / course worth recommending?
5. Feedback exchange (5 min — biweekly)
- • One thing I should keep doing as your manager?
- • One thing I should start or stop doing?
- • Anything you'd like me to bring to the team that you can't?
6. Action items + close
- • Top 2-3 things either of us will do by next week.
- • Anything we deferred — capture for next time.
- • Confirm time + location of next 1-on-1.
How it works.
Cancel for anything short of fire — 1-on-1 cancellations signal priority. 30 min weekly beats 60 min monthly for trust, growth and retention.
FAQ.
How often should I run 1-on-1s?+
Weekly for direct reports, biweekly is the maximum. Monthly is too sparse — issues compound, trust erodes. 30 min weekly beats 60 min monthly.
Who owns the agenda?+
The report, not the manager. Reports list topics they want to discuss; the manager adds 2-3 items. Manager-owned agendas turn 1-on-1s into status updates — defeating the point.
What should I never do in a 1-on-1?+
Status updates (use async tools). Performance reviews (separate ceremony). Cancel for any reason short of fire. Cancellations signal the report's career is lower priority than your other meetings.
Should I take notes?+
Yes, in a shared doc both can edit. Persistent notes track patterns across weeks ('we keep coming back to X'). Pure verbal 1-on-1s lose the through-line.
What's the best opener?+
'What's on your mind?' Open, generative. Avoids leading. Reserves the manager's items for the second half — when the report has surfaced what matters to them first.