What to Talk About and How to Do It

Learn what to talk about in your one-on-ones and the best ways to run the meeting.

With the initial one-on-ones handled by the contracting exercise, you have a clear structure for those initial meetings. However, what about the next meeting and every meeting after that, forever more?

I tend to use some simple repeating patterns for content. First off, it’s essential that you prepare. I have a recurring to-do list item that repeats on the day of each direct report’s one-on-one to remind me to spend some time before the meeting putting the agenda in order. If I haven’t already noted down some items to talk about, I’ll have a think and pre-fill the agenda with some items. These can be anything from:

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