What belongs in a one on one
A one on one meeting template has one job the group templates do not: it has to work across months, for one person, without turning into a status update. Each section in the template above exists because of a way 1:1s go wrong.
- Carried over. Last meeting's actions, ticked or moved. This is what makes the meetings a thread. Without it, every 1:1 starts from zero and the same blocker gets raised in April and again in June.
- Check-in. Five minutes, and it is optional for the report to say anything personal. The point is to notice when "fine" means something else, as it did in the second example.
- Their topics first. The report's items go before yours, and get the biggest time box. If you consistently run out of time before their topics, the meeting is yours, not theirs.
- Priorities and blockers. One line each. Not a ticket walk-through.
- Feedback, both ways. One specific observation each, with the example it comes from. "Good job this week" is not feedback; "the PR latency numbers moved the conversation in ten seconds" is.
- Growth, on a cadence. Every fourth meeting, or whenever they raise it. Otherwise it is always next time.
- Actions for both people. The manager leaves with actions too. A 1:1 where only the report has homework is a review, not a conversation.
- Note to self. Patterns you notice over time. Not shared, clearly marked.
Who owns the agenda
The report. Share the note or the structure before the meeting and ask them to fill Their topics. Your topics go into Feedback and, occasionally, into a section of your own. The order matters more than people expect: a 1:1 that opens with the manager's items trains the report to wait, and after a few months they stop bringing anything.
For a new hire this takes a few weeks. The first example on this page shows a manager setting the agenda for the first two meetings and handing it over in week three, with a written note that says so.
Keeping a running record over months
This is what most 1:1 templates skip. A good 1:1 note is not the meeting; it is the entry in a record that will be read at review time, at promotion time, and when the person moves teams.
- One note per meeting, linked to one note per person. The person's note is the index. Every 1:1 links to it, so the backlinks list is the history. You never search for "that conversation about on-call in the autumn."
- Actions carry forward explicitly. Copy last week's open actions into Carried over and tick them in the first minute. An action carried three times is a decision in disguise: drop it, or escalate it.
- Write the growth agreements down and date them. The third example shows the shape: not "work on influence" but three concrete items with a target cycle. Six months later the record either shows the items done or it does not, and the promotion conversation is about evidence instead of memory.
- Review the record before each quarter. Twenty minutes reading the last twelve notes for one person will show you the patterns the notes to self were pointing at.
Questions that work
The questions in the top-ranking 1:1 guides are mostly fine. The ones that get real answers share a shape: specific, about the recent past, and easy to answer honestly.
- What was the most annoying part of your week?
- What did you spend time on that you think was a waste?
- Is there a decision you are waiting on from me?
- What would you change about how the team runs if you could change one thing?
- What have I done recently that made your work harder?
Ask one. Wait. The useful answer usually arrives after the pause.
Common mistakes
- Cancelling when busy. The report reads it as "you are the lowest priority on my calendar." Shorten it to fifteen minutes instead.
- Running it as a status meeting. Ticket progress is in the tracker. If the 1:1 is where you learn what someone did this week, the tracker is broken or the 1:1 is.
- Feedback only in one direction. Ask what you could do differently, every time, and act on the answer visibly at least once. The fourth example shows what it sounds like when a report finally tells you.
- No record. Twelve months of 1:1s with no notes means the promotion case is built from memory, and memory favors the last six weeks.
- Promising timelines you have not checked. "Probably January" becomes a commitment in the report's mind. Say what would need to be true, and write it down.
When to use a different template
A formal review conversation with ratings and a written outcome belongs in the performance review template; a 1:1 is where the material for it accumulates. If you are coaching someone outside a reporting line, the coaching session notes template drops the priorities and blockers sections and spends the time on goals. For the report's own side of the growth conversation, the personal development plan template is the place to write the plan the 1:1 keeps referring to. And a group meeting with decisions is a different animal: use the meeting notes template.
One running record per person, not fifty scattered notes
Save this 1:1 template in Scribelet, link every meeting to the person's note, and let actions carry forward as tracked tasks. When the review cycle comes, ask your notes what you agreed in March. Encrypted, free to start.
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