How to Plan Effective 1 to1 Meetings

Fostering strong connections with your team is vital for their success (and yours). 

A one-to-one meeting offers a dedicated space to engage with an employee, align on goals, and drive performance. Done right, these meetings allow managers to support each employee’s development. 

Here, we share actionable strategies to help you incorporate 1-to-1 work meetings into your talent management strategy.

A 1-to-1 meeting is a focused conversation between a manager and an employee. 

These sessions occur during time set aside to address the individual needs of each team member.

One-to-one meetings deliver measurable benefits for both managers and employees. Here’s why they’re essential.

Regular 1 to 1s show employees that they’re valued. They give you a chance to build trust and rapport.

These meetings encourage honest dialogue, allowing employees to share ideas, concerns, or feedback without fear of judgment.

One-to-ones help you spot potential challenges early before they cost you a valuable team member. 

Support this goal by encouraging participants to be honest about workload issues and team conflicts.

Just like weigh-ins for people on diets, regular check-ins allow you to track progress and provide feedback to your team members. 

You can also adjust goals and set new milestones based on recent performance.

Employee development is a key goal of 1-to-1 meetings. These meetings give participants a chance to discuss career aspirations, skills development, and learning opportunities.

During a one-on-one meeting, you can discuss how an employee’s goals align with the company’s objectives. 

Helping your team members connect the dots between their daily work and company-wide outcomes highlights the importance of what they do.

Consistent 1-to-1s create an environment where trust and accountability are the norm. Your team members will feel more comfortable providing feedback, which you can use to make the workplace culture better for everyone.

Organisations of all sizes and in all industries use 1-to-1 meetings to unlock the potential of participants. Here’s a closer look at why even the world’s most prestigious institutions, including Cambridge, use these personal meetings.

Do you want to keep your team members around longer? One-to-ones promote better engagement and can curb turnover.

Sitting down with your employees in a personal setting offers a structured way to monitor performance. It also gives you time to discuss developing hard skills.

Open communication in 1-to-1 meetings builds trust, making employees feel comfortable sharing challenges or innovative ideas. 

When people trust you and the organisation, they are more willing to help the company apply outside-of-the-box solutions to old problems.

Are you ready to apply this strategy to your organisation? Here’s how:

Define the purpose of the meeting and what you hope to achieve. A skills matrix can help you identify key topics to focus on.

Look at notes from previous 1-to-1s or performance reviews. This step helps you identify where to focus your attention and how to tailor the meeting to each employee’s needs.

Gather input from colleagues or stakeholders to provide a well-rounded perspective on the employee’s contributions. 

While addressing your concerns is important, you also want to show participants that you recognise all of the good they have done.

Monthly 1-to-1s work best for most teams. Schedule meetings at a time when both parties can focus without distractions. 

You also need to choose the proper delivery method. Virtual training and video meetings can be effective for remote or distributed teams.

If you host frequent 1-to-1 meetings, you must respect everyone’s time by staying organised. Here are some tips for structuring the sit-downs.

Take a moment to see how your employee is doing. If the employee is willing to share, check in about recent life events. Promoting overall well-being will help them apply the concepts covered in the 1-to-1 meeting.

Review progress on goals and discuss any challenges. Ask open-ended questions to uncover obstacles the employee might not mention otherwise.

Make sure that the employee’s tasks align with team and company objectives. Clarify the organisation’s priorities and help your team avoid wasted effort on non-essential tasks.

Giving feedback is important, but so is accepting it. You want your employees to provide self-feedback and insights about the meeting itself. 

Listening to their perspective will help you create a more collaborative environment.

Close out your meeting by recapping key points, setting timetables for following up, and scheduling the next sit-down.

Use metrics to measure the impact of training or educational programs so you can gauge the efficacy of follow-up efforts.

When hosting a 1-to-1, you should ask questions related to these topics.

What skills would you like to develop?

What motivates you in your role right now?

How do you feel about collaboration with your current team?

Are there any challenges working with others?

What support do you need from me to succeed?

Is there feedback you’d like to share about my leadership?

Is your workload manageable, or do you feel stretched too thin?

How is your work-life balance at the moment?

One-to-one meetings can go sideways when managers make these mistakes. 

Don’t dominate the conversation. Let your employee lead when possible to ensure they feel heard.

Don’t cut corners when prepping for your meeting. Take some time to review the employee’s performance history and any notes you have from previous meetings.

Meetings are pointless if you don’t follow through on action items. Review any follow-up actions regularly to earn your employees’ confidence.

If your team works remotely or in a hybrid structure, use these tips to adjust your 1-to-1 meetings.

Choose a quiet space and encourage employees to do the same. Even minor distractions can put you behind and detract from the meeting.

Video calls build stronger connections than voice-only calls. Shared documents are also valuable, as they help you and your employee collaborate on action items.

Prompt employees to share openly and stay engaged. Even though you communicate through a screen, you need them to be present and focused.

Use these tools to streamline your meetings.

A reusable template keeps the discussion focused and ensures you hit all of your key talking points. Use a unique template for each department or role.

Klara offers tools such as monitoring and communication to effectively structure each employee’s development journey. 

These tools can help you follow through on action items from the meeting and offer a powerful solution that promotes better employee development and focused skill-building.

A goal-setting platform will help your employees succeed. You also need a feedback-sharing solution so employees and managers can readily access insights and data to make meetings more effective.

One-to-one meetings can be a valuable tool for employee growth and development. However, you need a way to follow through on the action items identified in your meeting. 

Enter Klara, a user-friendly skills management platform designed to unlock the full potential of your team. 

Get in touch to learn more about how Klara can support your 1-to-1 meetings.