One-on-One Meeting Template

This free one-on-one meeting template gives managers a simple agenda and notes sheet for regular check-ins with each person on their team. The employee’s topics come first, then wins, blockers, feedback both ways, and growth. Every meeting ends with action items that each have an owner and a due date. A third page holds 15 good questions to ask when the conversation needs a push.

What you get

A seven-page PDF and an editable Word file, sized for US Letter paper:

• Pages 1–3: the blank one-on-one meeting template: agenda and notes on two pages, and a page of questions.
• Pages 4–6: the same pages filled in for a fictional bike shop, so you can see what useful notes look like.
• Page 7: step-by-step notes and good habits for running one-on-ones.

Page one records who is meeting, the dates of the last and next meetings, and how often you meet. It also covers the open actions from last time, the employee’s topics, wins, and blockers. Page two covers feedback from the manager, feedback for the manager, growth and development, the action items table and other notes. Page three is the question bank, with a tick box to mark what you asked and a column for the answer.

What a good one-on-one includes

• A regular slot that doesn’t move. Weekly or every two weeks, at the same time.
• The employee’s agenda first. It’s their meeting; the manager mostly listens.
• Wins as well as problems. Small wins are worth noticing out loud.
• Blockers, and what the manager will do about them. This is where one-on-ones pay for themselves.
• Feedback both ways. One thing to keep doing, one thing to change, and a question about what you could do better.
• Growth, at least once a month. Skills, training and where the person wants to go.
• Action items with one owner and a date. Then check them at the next meeting.

How to run a one-on-one meeting

1. Book a recurring 30-minute slot somewhere private.
2. A day or two before, ask the employee to add their topics to page 1. Copy over any open actions from last time.
3. Start by checking the open actions, then go to the employee’s topics.
4. Ask about wins and blockers. For each blocker, agree what you will do about it.
5. Give one piece of feedback, and ask for one. Cover growth if it’s been a month.
6. Write the action items together, each with one owner and a due date, and read them back.
7. Keep a copy each, and start the next meeting with whatever is still open.

Completed example

The example is a one-on-one between the owner of a fictional bike shop and her lead mechanic, held every two weeks. He comes with three topics: a six-day repair backlog, whether a junior mechanic is ready to work alone, and a week off at Thanksgiving. The wins section notes a 40-bike school fleet job finished two days early. The blocker is slow parts deliveries. The owner gives one piece of praise and one change, and he asks for faster answers on parts orders. They agree five action items with owners and dates, and a plan for the backlog. On the questions page, eight questions are ticked with a short answer beside each.

One-on-one meeting questions

The questions page groups 15 questions by topic: getting started, workload and priorities, blockers, feedback, growth, and the team and the business. A few that work in almost any meeting:

• “What’s on your mind this week?”
• “How is your workload: too much, too little or about right?”
• “What is getting in your way?”
• “What is one thing I could do differently to help you?”
• “What skill would you like to build this year?”

There’s also space for the employee’s questions to the manager. Good ones include “What should I focus on?” and “What would you like me to do more of?”

Weekly, every two weeks or monthly

A weekly one-on-one suits new hires, people in new roles, and busy periods. Every two weeks suits most experienced staff. Monthly can work when you already talk every day, but cover growth and development every time. Whichever you choose, use the same agenda, so both of you know what to bring. The notes also make the next performance review much easier to write.

Common one-on-one mistakes

• Cancelling when things get busy. Busy weeks are when blockers pile up. Shorten the meeting instead.
• Turning it into a status update. Updates can go in a message; this time is for problems, feedback and growth.
• The manager doing most of the talking. Ask, then listen. Aim for the employee to talk at least half the time.
• No follow-through. If the same action item shows up three meetings in a row, deal with it or drop it.
• Saving feedback for the annual review. Small, recent feedback is easier to give and easier to hear.

When a one-on-one turns serious

One-on-ones are where employees often raise problems first. If someone raises discrimination or harassment, or asks for an accommodation for a disability or a religious practice, write it down, act on it, and pass it to whoever handles HR. The EEOC treats these as protected activity, so make sure nothing that follows looks like punishment for speaking up (EEOC: Retaliation).

Not sure how to handle something an employee raised in a one-on-one? That’s what hrsupport.io is for: HR answers for your state, with the law behind every answer.