1:1 Agenda

The 1:1 is the manager's highest-leverage meeting. It belongs to the report. This skill structures it so it covers the human, not just the tasks.

Core principle

The 1:1 is their meeting. Status updates should mostly happen elsewhere; protect this time for the things that don't fit in standups: blockers, growth, feedback, and how they're actually doing.

Rolling agenda doc

Keep a shared, persistent doc per report. Both parties add items between meetings. This avoids "so... how's it going?" and ensures continuity.

# 1:1 — <Manager> & <Report>

## This week
- [Their topics first]
- [Your topics]

## Parking lot
- <bigger items to schedule time for>

## Action items (carried over)
- [ ] <item> — owner — due

## Career & growth (revisit monthly)
- Goals: <...>
- Development areas: <...>

A balanced agenda

Cover these over time (not all every week):

1. Check-in (always): "How are you doing — really?" Energy, workload, life.
2. Their topics (first): blockers, decisions they need, things on their mind.
3. Current work: only the parts that need you — unblocking, prioritization, context.
4. Feedback (both ways): give specific feedback (SBI); ask "what could I do better?"
5. Career & growth (recurring): progress toward goals, skills, opportunities.

Cadence and timing

• Weekly for most reports; biweekly only for very senior, autonomous people.
• 30 minutes minimum; never cancel without rescheduling — cancelling signals they don't matter.
• Same time, recurring — predictability builds trust.

Question bank

Rotate questions to go deeper than status:

• "What's the most frustrating part of your work right now?"
• "What would make next week better than this one?"
• "Where do you want to grow that you're not getting to?"
• "Is there anything I'm doing (or not doing) that's making your job harder?"
• "What are you most proud of since we last talked?"

Following up

• Capture action items with owners; review them next time. Following through is how

trust compounds.

• Note career conversations so you can advocate for them at review/promo time.

Anti-patterns

• Turning the 1:1 into a status report — that's what standups/updates are for.
• Doing all the talking — aim for them to lead 70% of it.
• Skipping or routinely cutting it short — it tells the report they're low priority.
• Never discussing career until review season — growth should be continuous.