What are one-on-one meetings with employees?

One-on-ones, also known as 1:1s or one-to-ones, are meetings between one staff member and one level of leadership. This is typically between team members and their direct supervisors. For example, team members might have one-on-one meetings with their line manager or department manager.

These meetings provide managers with a specific time to meet with an employee in person. 1:1s are an opportunity to gather and discuss performance feedback, career progress, status updates or working sessions.

Some organizations also arrange occasional one-on-ones between employees and higher levels of leadership, sometimes called skip-level meetings. A vice president (VP) or another executive might meet with employees at different levels to get a better idea of overall morale or how processes run in certain departments.

Benefits of conducting one-on-ones with employees

Effective one-to-one meetings offer a variety of benefits to employees, managers and the organization, including:

• Improved relationships: Making time for a one-on-one employee meeting lets you get to know your team better and sets the tone for improved culture in the workplace. It ensures you have meaningful conversations regularly and builds comfort and trust with your team.
• Effective problem-solving: Encouraging staff to present concerns can help solve issues before they interfere with the workflow, causing bottlenecks. These meetings can help managers uncover employee concerns they don’t know about or present solutions they haven’t considered. This might include any barriers to the success of your teams.
• Increased employee morale: By addressing any issues you discover during a one-on-one, you can help increase employee morale. Considering an employee’s opinion can help them feel more of an integral part of your business.
• Improved performance: Holding regular one-on-ones can help motivate your employees by making them feel valued. They also get individualized feedback to help them improve their performance.
• Discovering employees with high potential: Your conversations might reveal an employee’s skills, passions or career goals. This can also help you utilize your team members’ talents effectively now and help them plan for the future.
• Improved success with goals: Regular meetings let you check in on employees’ goals, create plans, set milestones and offer coaching.
• Feedback for better leadership: During one-on-ones, employees can provide feedback for leadership so they can improve how they manage their teams.

What makes a good one-on-one meeting?

While you may want to allow some time for personal conversations, remember that a one-on-one is still a business-facing meeting. They typically allow time to get to know each other while having a professional agenda.

Here are a couple of tips for an effective one-on-one meeting:

Establish consistency

Consistent check-ins can help establish a relationship of trust between you and your employee. Consider them as high-priority in your schedule and conduct them as often as weekly or biweekly if you have the opportunity.

Avoid cancellations

If you cancel or reschedule a meeting, this could potentially reduce trust between you and your employee. In the circumstance that you have to urgently reschedule, consider communicating this as soon as possible with your employee and explaining why in some detail.

One-on-one meeting topics to consider

Some topics your one-on-one could cover include:

• Preliminary personal check-in with the employee: Before addressing more professional concerns, check in with an employee’s personal life in a sensitive manner. This could include asking about family life, pets or hobbies outside of work. Consider keeping this brief and confidential if an employee has requested it.
• Business-facing check-in: Ultimately, a one-on-one meeting is an opportunity to find out about an employee’s current career progress. Ask questions related to job satisfaction, challenges and any help they need to improve productivity.
• Comments and suggestions: Offer time for the employee to share comments and suggestions related to the business, even if they aren’t directly related to their position and goals. This encourages employees at all levels to propose ideas and solutions that could improve the company.
• Employee’s future goals: Talk about employee goals and what tools and resources they might need to help achieve them. Identify if there are any resources you can provide that they don’t currently have.
• How you can best support the employee and team: Ask about the support and resources the individual and their team could use to improve their work.

8 steps to effective and productive one-on-ones with employees

As a leader, you can make your one-on-ones effective with the right preparation. The following steps give you a basic framework to get started:

• Set aside regular time. One-to-ones work best when they’re not one-offs. Make time to meet weekly or monthly. Schedule them well in advance to ensure they make it on the calendar. Reschedule the one-on-one employee meeting right away if you have to cancel. One-on-one meeting frequency depends on the size of your company and your purpose for the meetings.
• Create an agenda. Let your team know what you’re going to discuss ahead of time to reduce anxiety and help them prepare. It also keeps the meeting on topic and increases productivity. Ask them if there’s a specific topic they want to discuss and include it on the agenda.
• Prep the employee. Give them a copy of the agenda. If you want them to do any tasks before the meeting, such as thinking about their career growth, include specific action points in the invitation.
• Prepare specific, open-ended questions. Asking the right questions makes the meeting efficient and gives you more useful feedback.
• Start with a general check-in or conversation. Asking general or personal questions before diving in helps put the employee at ease.
• Address goals and objectives. Include a check-in on goals and objectives, including where the employee is with them and what challenges they’re experiencing.
• Recognize achievements. Take time to praise the team member for their accomplishments and contributions since your last meeting.
• Provide time for feedback. This encourages them to open up and gives you important information that can help you improve your organization.

Tips to make one-on-one meetings with employees effective

The following tips can help you improve the results you get from your one-to-one meetings with your team:

Actively listen to your employee

These meetings help build rapport with your employees and are most effective when you listen and show you’re engaged. Turn off your cell phone and remove other distractions. Use communication skills to demonstrate your active listening. This could look like resisting the urge to interrupt, lead answers or argue a point your employee makes.

Learn about what matters to an employee

One-on-one meetings with individual employees provide an opportunity to discuss their own personal and professional development, rather than team or business objectives overall. This means focusing on the employee’s performance, goals and concerns.

These meetings give you a chance to discuss the employee’s future, including career goals and paths within the company. This can help inspire the employee and make them feel more engaged.

Problem solve together

Frequent 1:1 meetings let you identify and work on issues when they happen instead of letting them grow. Encourage employees to share their work-related problems and collaborate on possible solutions.

Help your employee to trust you

Since you are inviting employees to share concerns with you in confidence, employees may be reassured if you are transparent about what the conversation means. For example, if an employee has concerns about medical leave, talk to them about how you could provide reasonable adjustments during their absence.

Keep it flexible

The agenda should guide the one-on-one without restricting you and the employee from discussing other things that may also be important. While creating allotted time for the main agenda of the meeting, also factor in some extra time for the discussion to go off topic.

8 ways to ease into a one-on-one meeting

For one-on-one meetings with employees to be effective, they often need to be comfortable opening up to you. Here are some questions to ask to start the conversation:

Question: “How was your weekend?”

Start meetings that occur earlier in the week with this simple question to demonstrate interest in the employee’s well-being outside of work. You may also have a chance to share with them about your weekend and can bond as a result, creating better communication between you in the future.

Question: “Do you have any achievements from the past week that you would like to share?”

Meetings that are career- or goal-oriented might be too formal to start with a casual question about an employee’s life outside of work. In these instances, consider asking this question, which prompts them to reflect on their recent workplace accomplishments.

Their answer also gives you a chance to see what aspects of their contribution to the company they value the most and how comfortable they are talking about their performance.

Question: “Is there anyone on our team that you feel deserves special recognition for their efforts this week?”

Sometimes, starting a conversation by taking the focus off the employee is the best way to help them relax. Use this question to help highlight work done by their colleagues.

Question: “How do you feel about your work-life balance?”

Asking employees about their work-life balance signals that you understand the necessity of having a personal life and interests outside the workplace. When an employer advocates for a healthy work-life balance, they encourage employees to prioritize their well-being and avoid burnout.

Question: “What kind of support from your manager helps you to achieve your goals?”

This question helps you understand what management styles an employee responds best to, helping them to meet their professional goals and those of their team. It can also be a good moment to identify what feedback approaches they prefer and what helps to keep them motivated.

Question: “Is your team facing any challenges or bottlenecks that are important for me to be aware of?”

While you might choose to ask this question later in the conversation, this can help you to quickly address any leading concerns an employee might have about their role and their responsibilities. Asking this question shows your employee you trust their input and want them to feel comfortable confiding in you. In discussing challenges, you and your employee can constructively work through some potential solutions.

Question: “How satisfied are you with things at work at the moment?”

Checking in on how satisfied an employee is at work can be a thoughtful and productive way to begin a one-on-one meeting. By asking employees about their satisfaction in the workplace, you can uncover insights about what motivates them, how supported they feel and whether they are happy with their current career progression opportunities.

Regular, well-prepared one-on-one meetings can be a powerful tool for building trust, boosting morale, solving problems early and driving individual and team success. By listening actively, staying consistent and fostering open dialogue, you may create a supportive environment where employees thrive and your organization grows stronger.