Better Employee 1:1 Meetings - Make It About Them!

The employee 1:1 is maybe one of the most misunderstood practices for managers.

Everyone thinks about them differently, but a common way that I see they are used is as a check-in for all the to-do’s that employee has this week.

This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but when a 1:1 becomes purely transactional, they tend to get less and less prioritized.

Managers and employees wind up only talking when there’s something on fire, or the employee feels really stuck. 

But in my experience, great 1:1 meetings are less about getting things done, and more about maintaining communication, building trust, and leveling up that other person.

It’s a coaching and servant leadership mentality that makes all the difference. 

Here’s a couple of ways I like to use 1:1’s with employees. 

Create an intentional space

1:1's should be where employees are encouraged to bring not just problems, but thoughts, worries, and ideas.

Remember: this employee has a purview you don’t have.

We should be leveraging that for the good of the business.

Questions sound like: what red or yellow flags are you seeing right now? What aren’t we talking enough about? In the next six months, what’s important for us to accomplish, and why? 

Make it bout them

Remember: as their Boss, you are the #1 way they are going to grow, as an employee and as a professional.

Questions here sound like: What did you work on last week that you loved, and what did you hate? Walk me through something that happened last week you want learn more about. 

Keep it high level

Lots of 1:1’s get mired down in small details, or solving very specific problems for very specific projects.

Those conversations are usually better left for their own separate meeting.

I like to use my standing 1:1’s to focus on the biggest goals, or driving our OKRs forward.

Questions here can sound like: Last week we agreed you’d do XYZ. How is that coming? What’s standing in the way of you achieving your quarterly OKR right now? Are we still clear about this list of deliverables and their deadlines for you? 

A helpful tip here is to always follow up 1:1’s with a written summary.

What was discussed, what decisions did we make, what new asks were put in place, and their due dates.

That way we can refer back to it and give accountability to our progress.