The success of your one-on-one meetings with team members greatly depends on how well you are prepared to get the conversation flowing. That’s where having a one-on-one meeting template at hand can make a difference. With a ready-made one-on-one meeting agenda template you can refer to, your discussion is going to be more focused, productive, and efficient. Below are some 1:1 meeting templates for the most common types of one-on-one meetings, along with examples of questions you can ask your team members.

What is the Purpose of One-on-one Meetings?

The major purpose of one-on-one meetings is to build the foundation of trusting and productive long-term manager-employee relationships. When conducted regularly, one-on-ones offer a range of benefits for managers and their direct reports alike by providing a safe space where both can have a productive discussion, check in and align on goals and priorities, identify roadblocks, proactively address issues, and exchange meaningful feedback. While there is no ideal frequency for one-on-one meetings, it’s a common practice to hold 1:1s bi-weekly or monthly.

Ultimate One-on-one Meeting Agenda Template

Though one-on-one discussion topics may vary (like performance review or career development), there are certain key points that can be discussed at nearly every meeting. If you’re new to one-on-ones, use the following basic 1-on-1 meeting agenda template (with examples of questions to ask during one-on-one) as a guide when planning your own meeting agenda:

General check-in, building rapport

(Ask about an employee’s personal life, wellbeing, and their work-life balance)

• How are you feeling today?
• How is your family doing?
• How is your life outside of work?
• Have you been stressed by anything at work or home?

Progress, alignment, challenges, learnings

(Discuss current progress, recent wins and shortcomings, concerns, challenges, roadblocks, and the lessons learned)

• What has gone well/wrong since we last met?
• What was the major challenge for you this week?
• Are there any roadblocks preventing you from achieving your goals?
• What is one thing you learned since the last meeting?

Feedback, coaching, development

(Give and ask for feedback, talk about an employee’s professional development, and how you can better support them)

• What feedback do you have for me today?
• On a scale of 1-10, how happy are you with your current tasks/duties?
• What support do you need from me/your teammates right now?
• Anything I can do to help you move forward with your career goals?

Priorities, next steps, action items

(Discuss priorities and things to focus on until the next meeting)

• What are your priorities and plans for the upcoming week?
• What can we both do before the next meeting to make progress on our goals?
• What things should we include in the agenda to discuss next time?

7 Most Common One-on-One Meeting Templates

1. First One-on-One Meeting Template

First one-on-one meeting with a new report builds the foundation of your long-term manager-employee relationships. It should focus on getting to know each other, finding out your new team member’s preferences, expectations, and career aspirations. Here are some suggested first one-on-one meeting questions you can ask:

Personal connection

• How was your first week working here?
• What do you enjoy most outside of office?
• What should I know about you that would help us build productive relationships?

Preferences

• How do you prefer to communicate? (email, Slack, etc.)
• How often would you like to get feedback from me?
• Do you prefer public or private recognition?

Expectations

• How would you describe an ideal work environment?
• What do you expect from our 1:1 meetings?
• What projects/initiatives would you like to be involved in?

Career aspirations

• What are your expectations of this role and how will you measure success?
• What skills would you like to work on over the next 6 months?
• What are your career goals for the next 3-5 years?

2. Bi-weekly/Weekly One-on-One Meeting Template

If you are going to meet weekly or bi-weekly with your direct reports, you would basically discuss the current state of things, challenges and learnings since the last check-in, as well as talk about top priorities for the next week/couple of weeks. These are some of the examples of questions to ask:

General check-in

• How have you been feeling these days?
• What’s on top of your mind?

Progress and challenges

• What has gone well/wrong for you this week?
• What has been the biggest challenge for you since we last met?

Learnings and feedback

• What’s one thing you learned this week?
• What feedback would you like to share with me?

Priorities and support

• What are your priorities for the next week?
• What support do you need from me?

3. Monthly One-on-One Meeting Template

If you are managing a large team, you might not be able to meet weekly or bi-weekly with each of your direct reports. In that case your one-on-ones can be held monthly or bi-monthly. You would mostly discuss the same key points as you would on weekly one-on-ones, though your discussion will likely be more comprehensive.

General check-in

• How have things gone since our last conversation?
• Is there anything outside of office that is negatively affecting your work?
• How would you rate your work-life balance right now?

Progress and alignment

• How is your progress towards the team goals since our last check-in?
• What are your key achievements over the past month?
• How can the team perform better next month?

Challenges and blockers

• Have you faced any challenges recently? How can we overcome them?
• Is there anything holding you back from accomplishing your tasks?
• Is there any problem within the team that I might not be aware of?

Feedback and coaching

• What progress have you made on your professional development goals?
• How can I help you move forward with your career goals?
• Are there any additional resources you need access to?

Next steps

• What are you hoping to accomplish by the next time we meet?
• What skills are you planning to work on over the next month?
• What can we both do to progress on what we discussed today before we meet next time?

4. Quarterly/Performance Review One-on-One Meeting Template

Quarterly one-on-one check-ins are just as important as quarterly team meetings. That’s where you would talk about your individual team member’s performance against team objectives, celebrate their wins, exchange feedback, and discuss areas for improvement.

Performance

• How would you rate your performance against team objectives?
• What’s holding you back from performing better?

Achievements and challenges

• What are the key achievements you are most proud of this quarter?
• What has been the biggest challenge for you this quarter?

Feedback and improvements

• What can we do to perform better as a team next quarter?
• What do you think you should do differently to be more productive?
• What’s one thing I can do today to better support you?

5. End-of-Year One-on-One Meeting Template

End-of-year one-on-ones is the time to reflect on what has been accomplished over the last year and what has gone wrong, talk about the lessons learned, identify the areas of improvement, as well as set each team member up for success next year. Below are some great one-on-one questions to ask during your end-of-year 1:1s.

Wins and achievements

• What are your biggest achievements that you are most proud of this year?
• What new skills did you develop this year?
• How have you progressed towards your long-term career goals?

Learnings

• What are the 3 most important things you learned this year?
• What do you think you could have done better this year?

Challenges and improvements

• What was the biggest challenge you faced this year and how did you solve it?
• What do you think we could improve in the company next year?

Looking ahead to next year

• Would you like to take on any new responsibilities next year?
• What’s your major career goal for the upcoming year?

6. Skip-Level One-on-One Meeting Template

Skip-level one-on-ones are conducted between a senior level manager and their non-direct reports. During skip-level 1:1s you would mostly talk about what’s going on within the team, ask for feedback and the employee’s insights into what could be improved. Here are some of the examples of questions that you can ask:

Building rapport

• How happy are you in your current role?
• Do you feel supported and empowered?
• Are you satisfied with your career progress here?

How things are going

• How well do you think the team is progressing towards the objectives?
• What do you like most in working with your manager?
• What’s the most challenging in working with your manager?

Feedback and ideas

• Is there anything unclear for you regarding our company goals, vision, and strategy?
• What’s one thing you think we should change/improve within the company?
• If you were in charge of the team, what would you do in a different way?

7. Career Development One-on-One Meeting Template

One-on-one meetings provide an excellent opportunity to discuss career goals and professional growth with your team members. Here are some good one-on-one questions you can ask your direct reports when talking about their career development.

Current vision and expectations

• What do you enjoy most about your current role?
• What is the most difficult part of your role? How are you dealing with that?
• What does success look like for you in your current role?

Professional development

• What are 2-3 skills that you’d like to develop or improve right now?
• Are there any events or training you’d like to attend?
• Is there anyone in the company you’d like to learn from?

Career goals and aspirations

• Have any of your career goals changed since the last time we spoke?
• Have you progressed on your career goals since we last met?
• What can we do to help you progress towards your long-term goals faster?

One-on-One Meeting Invitation Email Template

Whenever someone joins your team, it’s critical to set the right expectations for a new team member by clearly explaining what your one-on-ones are going to be about. That can be done by sending a first meeting invitation email that would briefly highlight the purpose of your one-on-ones, the way you typically conduct them, and the key points you are planning to discuss. Ensure to make it clear that it’s more about coaching them, talking about their pain points, and sharing feedback rather than just discussing their performance. Here’s a 1-on-1 meeting invite template you can use when crafting your own email:

Hi [Name],

We’re really excited to welcome you to our sales team! I’d love to set up dedicated time for us to regularly meet one-on-one. This is a standard practice for our team that has been working extremely well for us over the past couple of years. We usually meet once every 2-3 weeks with each team member to discuss:

• Team progress and how things are going for everyone
• Roadblocks, challenges, and what may be bothering you
• Your career development and professional growth, etc.

This is also an opportunity for us to share meaningful feedback both ways. These meetings are totally private and everything we talk about remains strictly between us.

Let’s schedule our first 1:1 meeting on [Date] at [Time] for 30 mins or so. Does that work for you? From then on, we can meet every two weeks or [more/less] often, as needed.

Here’s a meeting agenda for you to have a better idea of what we’re going to discuss: link to a meeting agenda.

Hope our first one-on-one is off to a great start! If you have any questions, please feel free to ask ahead.

Thanks, [Name]

Get the Most out of Your One-on-Ones

While your one-on-ones can occasionally focus on specific topics, your regular 1:1s would mostly revolve around the same discussion points, such as progress and challenges, achievements and learnings, feedback and coaching. Having a well-prepared agenda ensures your one-on-ones run smoothly and efficiently, with no time wasted on off-topic conversations. Use these one-on-one meeting agenda templates to make your one-on-ones meaningful, productive, and valuable for both parties. With an OKR and performance management platform such as Effortbox, you can keep your goals, feedback, and one-on-one action items aligned and easy to track in one place.