How does a successful one-on-one meeting look like?
Originally published on LinkedIn May 1, 2023
Managers share with me how essential one-on-ones are, especially for remote teams, yet meetings are rushed, postponed, and often disorganized. The main reason (or excuse?) - managers are too busy and don't have time. Yet, from my experience, the lack of effective one-on-ones leads to manager and employee frustration, with missed deadlines that cost even more time. In this blog post, I will share with you how to conduct effective on-on-ones, leveraging my experience and learnings from my favorite books, such as High Output Management by Andrew Grove and The Great CEO Within: The Tactical Guide to Company Building by Matt Mochary, not to mention magazines such as Harvard Business Review (see articles in issues Nov 2022, Dec 2021, and Aug 2016).
One-on-ones have grown in importance for me because the nature of product management itself has evolved, and keeping aligned with remote team members for effective execution and coaching has become very challenging. As product development became more complex, cross-functional, and iterative, it became increasingly vital for me as a product leader to maintain strong communication with my team. One-on-one meetings now serve for me as a channel for capturing feedback, addressing concerns, aligning on objectives, and fostering personal and professional growth. These meetings have become a cornerstone for my effective remote product leadership, ensuring accountability, coaching, transparency, team cohesion, and group success.
Let's dive right into the one-on-one best practices:
Who is the one-on-one meeting for?
The meeting is for your team member, and he/she should set the tone and include the discussion points for the agenda. Only if time permits should you cover your topics at the end.
How often should you meet?
Weekly would be best. In a fast-paced environment, a lot changes every week to wait 2-3 weeks for the next one-on-one.
Reserve a weekly time on the calendar to ensure availability, and at the end of each meeting, confirm the next week still works or make an appropriate adjustment together.
If the meetings are always packed, focus on coaching and transparency, and do accountability biweekly or in a separate meeting.
How long should the meeting be?
Meetings should be long enough to get into thorny issues. I've found mine to be 60-90 minutes long, and they can always end earlier if need be. Important matters sometimes pop up towards the end, and having a buffer to work with will allow you to cover them adequately.
How do you keep track of the meetings?
Meeting topics are filled out and shared by the team member ahead of time, giving you, as the manager, the opportunity to review ahead of time.
Store meetings in a document that the team member and manager can access. It can be a Google Doc, Microsoft Word, or a tool like Small Improvements (and their guide to 1:1 meetings). It's essential that both of you can access the document and keep it as a reference.
To help you start your own effective one-on-one product management meetings, I put together the following agenda template:
(special thanks to Matt Mochary for the content ideas)
One-on-One Meeting Agenda
Meeting Date: [Insert date]
Attendees: [Manager], [Team Member]
Duration: 75 minutes
Location: [Insert location or conference call details]
I. Introduction and Check-in (5 minutes)
Greet and establish a comfortable atmosphere.
Briefly discuss any updates or recent events relevant to the meeting.
II. Review Actions from Last Week (10 minutes)
Discuss actions completed, noting whether they were completed on time (yes/no).
Address any blockers encountered and improvements planned to avoid similar issues in the future.
Action 1:
Action 2:
Action 3:
III. Team Member's OKR Status (5 minutes)
Review the team member's OKRs, identifying them as Green (on track), Yellow (off track), or Red (not likely to achieve the objective on time).
OKR 1:
OKR 2:
OKR 3:
IV. Actions for Next Week (10 minutes)
Discuss the team member's plans to advance their OKRs. The manager provides feedback to ensure the actions are as direct as possible to achieve the desired outcome.
Plan for OKR 1:
Plan for OKR 2:
Plan for OKR 3:
V. KPIs and Pipelines (10 minutes)
Review KPIs (features/fixes shipped, feature adoption, etc.).
KPI 1:
KPI 2:
KPI 3:
Discuss pipelines (customer meetings, roadmap, etc.).
Pipeline 1:
Pipeline 2:
Pipeline 3:
VI. Issues and Proposed Solutions (10 minutes)
Address any issues with peers, department, company, product, personal life, etc. For each issue, discuss the team member's proposed solution or starting point for further discussion.
Issue 1:
Issue 2:
Issue 3:
VII. Feedback on Manager (5 minutes)
Solicit feedback from the team member on the manager's performance, including what they did well and what could have been done differently.
NOTE: This is not easy and will often require encouragement. Also, don't solicit feedback if you don't intend to accept or reject it. If you accept, follow up, and if you don't accept, be clear why not.
VIII. Feedback to Team Member (5 minutes)
Provide feedback to the team member, highlighting well-executed actions and areas for improvement, with specific examples such as: "I wish that you would coordinate the product launch with product marketing earlier to give them time to prepare.
IX. Review and Update OKRs (5 minutes)
Revisit OKRs for relevancy and ensure any proposed solutions are as efficient and effective as possible.
X. Action Item Tracking and Transparency (5 minutes)
Capture and track action items using a transparent project management tool (e.g., JIRA, Asana, or Monday).
Confirm any follow-up needed from both the manager and team member.
XI. Closing and Next Meeting Scheduling (5 minutes)
Thank the team member for their time and participation in the one-on-one meeting.
Schedule the next one-on-one meeting, confirming the date, time, and location.
End the meeting on a positive note, reinforcing the value of open communication and collaboration.
To ensure the one-on-ones are most effective, pay special attention to the following:
Establish clear goals and outcomes for the one-on-ones: Define the purpose and objectives, ensuring you and your team members align on what you hope to achieve.
Create a supportive environment: Foster a sense of psychological safety, encouraging open communication and expressing unconventional ideas without fear of judgment or criticism.
Practice active listening: Engage in active listening to ensure you fully understand your team member's perspective and can respond empathetically and constructively.
Emphasize emotional intelligence: Demonstrate empathy, self-awareness, and emotional regulation to create a more meaningful and productive meeting experience.
Adapt to individual needs: Tailor your approach to each team member's specific needs and goals, recognizing that a one-size-fits-all approach may not be effective for everyone.
Conclusion
Effective one-on-one meetings have been critical to successful product management for me. By focusing on key elements such as emotional intelligence, active listening, and individualized support, you can create meaningful and productive meeting experiences that drive team performance, foster personal growth, and contribute to overall team success. By continually refining the approach and embracing outside-the-box thinking, a product leader can ensure that the one-on-one meeting can remain a valuable tool for team growth and innovation.