A practical guide
How to run better one-on-one meetings
A useful one-on-one meeting gives a manager and employee time to discuss what is getting in the way, what support would help, and what to do next. Start with the employee’s priorities, bring relevant context from earlier conversations, and finish with a clear commitment to revisit.
On a small team, you may talk all day and still miss the conversation that matters. Project updates tell you where the work stands. A one-on-one can help you understand why someone is stuck, what they want to learn, or where your own management is making things harder.
What should you cover in a one-on-one?
Use a shared agenda with room for the employee’s concerns, current obstacles, feedback in both directions, and development. Keep routine status updates brief so there is time to discuss the things that need a conversation.
Here is a suggested 30-minute agenda. Treat the timings as a starting point, not a rule.
| Time | Focus | Opening question |
|---|---|---|
| 5 minutes | Their priorities | What would make this conversation useful today? |
| 10 minutes | Obstacles and support | Where are you spending effort without making progress? |
| 10 minutes | Feedback or development | What should we change about how we work together? |
| 5 minutes | Decisions and follow-up | What are we each going to do before we meet again? |
Eight one-on-one questions that lead somewhere
Choose one or two that fit the situation. Running through every question can turn a conversation into an interview.
- What has felt harder than it needed to since we last spoke?
- Which priority feels least clear right now?
- Where do you need a decision or more room to make your own?
- What did I do recently that helped you? What made things harder?
- Is there feedback you received that you want to work through together?
- What kind of work would you like more opportunity to do?
- We agreed to try something last time. Has it helped?
- What is one thing we should change before our next conversation?
Prepare with context, then check your interpretation
Before the meeting, revisit the last commitment and any relevant performance-review feedback. Look at employee pulse surveys for team-level themes. If a survey is anonymous, do not attribute an answer to a particular person or ask them to account for it.
For example, imagine a team survey suggests priorities are unclear. An employee’s previous one-on-one notes mention repeated interruptions, while their review describes strong work that sometimes arrives late. These are reasons to ask about changing priorities, not evidence that the employee cannot manage their time.
You could open with: “Last time you mentioned interruptions. We’ve also heard that priorities aren’t always clear across the team. What is happening with your workload this week?” Let their answer change your understanding.
Turn the conversation into a small, specific commitment
“Communicate better” is difficult to follow up on. “I’ll confirm your two priorities on Monday, and we’ll discuss any new request before adding it” gives both of you something observable to try.
A short note is enough:
- What we learned: New requests are displacing agreed work.
- My commitment: Confirm priorities and resolve conflicts between requests.
- Your commitment: Flag a competing request before changing the plan.
- Next check: At our next one-on-one, review whether this reduced interruptions.
Use your AI to prepare a better conversation
Common Cadence brings performance reviews, employee pulse surveys, one-on-one notes, and Big Five personality insights into your own AI. That context can help you work through a specific management situation and prepare questions tailored to the person you are meeting.
Once the relevant context is available, try this prompt:
Help me prepare for my next one-on-one. Use our last agreed action and the feedback available to you. Separate direct observations from interpretations. Suggest three questions, one assumption I should check, and a concrete follow-up. Treat anonymous survey results as team context, not individual feedback. Ask me for anything important that is missing.
Check the suggestions against what actually happened. If personality insights are relevant, use them to consider how to approach the conversation—not to decide what someone must be thinking.
How often should you meet?
A weekly or fortnightly meeting is a practical starting point. Agree on a frequency that fits the person’s support needs and the pace of change. Keep the commitment predictable; if you need to move a meeting, arrange another time rather than letting it disappear.
What if they say everything is fine?
Ask about one recent event instead of pushing for a hidden problem: “How did the handover go on Tuesday?” Leave room for a genuinely uneventful week. Use the time for development or feedback on your management, and follow through when someone does raise a concern.