🔍 Browse my library of small business playbooks — sales & marketing, people ops, finance, and operations.
Not long ago, I wrote about good vs. bad one-on-ones.
But those tips help you go from good to great meetings, not zero-to-one.
So here are the basics!
Why hold 1:1 meetings?
There are a ton of reasons to hold 1:1 meetings, but the top 3 would have to be:
Building your relationship with the employee.
Getting to know your employees builds trust and understanding. The better you understand them, the better you can help them navigate their goals and challenges.
Plus, people work harder for those they trust.
It’s your opportunity to give feedback.
A weekly meeting gives you the chance to keep things going in the right direction. Offer positive reinforcement and constructive criticism, in a 3:1 or 4:1 ratio.
You catch problems early.
When would you rather spot an issue: within 7 days, or at the end of the quarter? Your 1-on-1s help you keep things on track.
Need high-level talent at affordable prices? Look to Latin America. Same time zones, culture fit, your dollar goes further. It’s why Fortune 500s have been staffing there for decades.
My business Near can help you do the same — you don’t pay until you hire. Book a call.
What’s the format?
Book one-on-ones as a 30 or 45 minute meeting, once a week. (Weekly is key here — any less and you’ll lose a ton of the benefits.)
If you’re doing them in-person, hold them somewhere private (e.g. not a casual chat in the lunchroom).
But the most essential ingredient: let the employee lead.
Their issues should always come first on the agenda. If you have important stuff, you can always book a followup — but giving them ownership over this meeting builds a huge amount of trust.
At the end, both you and the employee should rate the meeting from 1 to 10.
If either of you gives it less than a 10, talk about what you could both do differently next time to make the meeting better.
Tweaks
When you’re onboarding a new team member, hold 1-1s more often. I do 2x a week at 60 minutes each, until they start to learn the ropes.
If you run through the agenda early, wrap the meeting early.
And if the employee asks to cancel the meeting once in a while, go for it — better to focus on the important parts. The important thing is that you keep the slot open on your calendar.
Two excellent resources on 1-on-1s
A book: The Effective Manager, by Mark Horstman.
This is one of my all-time favorite business books, that actually earns its page-length. Gives you all the essentials.
A template: Dave Kline’s “Weekly Check-in Dashboard”.
Dave uses this with all his managers — and he’s literally “the guy” for management training. Read his walkthrough and get the editable template here.
That’s it!
Once you’ve got the basics down, take a minute to re-read my “Good vs bad 1-1s” to get the most out of it.
Thanks for reading!
Michael