✦Teams · 13 recordsRun one-on-ones

One-on-ones decay into status updates, which is a meeting that could have been a message. This sets the cadence, hands the first half of the agenda to the other person, keeps a running note for each so nothing is asked twice, and adds the questions that do not come up in a group.

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Free on any plan. You will see this list again in the app, and nothing is created until you press install.

✦ Everything it creates

The whole plan, before you install it

Goal

Every one-on-one happening, and worth attending Month 3

Their agenda first. A status update is a message, not a meeting.

Set the cadence Week 2

The same slot every week, protected like anything else in the calendar.

  • Book a recurring slot with each personDo firstDay 3
  • Tell the team what the time is for, and what it is not forDo firstDay 5
  • Start a running note for each personDo firstDay 7

Make them useful Month 3

Past the status update, to the things nobody raises in a group.

  • Ask each person what they want from the next yearDo firstWeek 4
  • Review the notes: what have I promised and not done?Do firstWeek 6
  • Ask the team what would make the meetings betterMonth 3

Routines

  • Read last week's note before each one-on-oneweekly
  • Follow up on what I promisedweekly
Skills
  • CoachingBeginner → Intermediate

    Log the one-on-ones and the preparation for them. Asking rather than telling is a skill, and it improves with deliberate practice like any other.

✦ It comes with a note

Questions for one-on-ones

What is getting in your way at the moment? What is one thing you would change about how we work? What did you do recently that you are proud of? Is there anything you need from me that you are not getting? What do you want to be doing in a year?

Their items come first, mine second. The last question is worth asking every month, not once a year at review time.

✦ Questions

Run one-on-ones, answered.

Weekly for thirty minutes, or fortnightly for an hour, in the same slot every time. Cancelling is the real failure: a one-on-one that moves whenever something urgent appears teaches the other person exactly where they rank.
Their items first, then yours, then anything to follow up from last time. A running note per person is what makes the third part work, and what stops the meeting drifting into a status update.
Open ones that a status update cannot answer: what is getting in your way, what would you change about how the team works, what do you want to be doing in a year. Asking the last one every month rather than once a year is what makes the answer honest.
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