The One-on-One Meeting: Your Most Important Business Meeting

Love them or hate them, meetings make the business world go round. They help us communicate, solve problems, brainstorm, plan, connect, make decisions, and keep our team moving in the right direction.

But of all the types of meetings you could implement in your business, one stands above the rest as your team grows—the one-on-one meeting. In fact, Ramsey Solutions President Daniel Ramsey calls one-on-ones “the most important meeting to actually advance your business.”

When you regularly meet face to face with the people you lead, you show them you care and you have a prime opportunity to coach them to new heights. Even better, one-on-ones create space for team members to talk about how they’re doing and where they need support. The result? More trust, higher engagement, lower turnover—and a lot more fun together!

Seems like a no-brainer thing to do, right?

Apparently not.

Only 16% of employees say their last conversation with their leader was truly meaningful.¹ Yikes. So what does “meaningful” even mean? It’s about consistent time together for feedback, recognition, collaboration and setting clear expectations.² Sounds a lot like a one-on-one, right? So let’s walk through how to make your one-on-ones more meaningful as we answer these questions:

• What is a one-on-one meeting?
• What if I don’t have time for one-on-ones?
• Why are one-on-one meetings important?
• How do I structure my one-on-ones?
• What’s a good one-on-one meeting template to follow?
• What questions should I ask in my one-on-ones?
• What are some meeting do’s and don’ts?

A one-on-one meeting (also known as a 1:1 meeting or check-in) is a regularly scheduled time for team members to share with their leaders how they’re doing and any work concerns they have. It’s also a space for the leader to provide feedback, accountability, problem solving (aka blocker clearing) and coaching.

As a leader, your main job is to listen carefully as your team member fills you in on life, work and where they’re moving forward or feeling stuck. You’ll share information and give feedback, too, but for the most part, let the team member steer these conversations. We’ll talk about that more in a few minutes.

All that sharing and coaching sounds great, but you’re probably already firing on all cylinders to lead your team and grow your business. How in the heck do you carve out time for more meetings?

We get it. The time math doesn’t always seem to add up. Not at first anyway. So here’s what to do if having one-on-one meetings seems impossible:

• Take an honest look at how many people report directly to you. If you’re leading too many people to meet with regularly, develop new leaders who are ready to help guide your team members. That’s healthy delegation.
• Next, refresh yourself on productivity tips so you’ve got bandwidth to work on your business, not just in it.
• Finally, take a leap of faith. Decide how often you’ll meet, let your team know you’re starting regular one-on-ones, and get them on everyone’s calendar.

That’s when the magic happens.

Once you establish a regular meeting cadence, you and your team will have a dedicated time to share updates, solve problems, and give feedback. Before you know it, you’ll have built up trust, you’ll all save non-urgent questions for one-on-ones, and you’ll interrupt each other less day to day. Say goodbye to frustration and distrust and hello to momentum and productivity.

Risks of Not Doing One-on-One Meetings

Fielding disruptions all day, every day is bad enough, but skipping regular one-on-one meetings leads to even bigger headaches like these:

• Team misalignment
• Lack of role clarity
• A toxic work environment
• Low motivation and underperformance
• Poor work ethic

Are you picking up what we’re laying down? You need consistent one-on-one meetings.

Still not convinced? Regular one-on-ones give your team members the space to:

• Share personal wins and struggles
• Get clear on expectations
• Brainstorm ideas
• Communicate conflicts
• Give and get feedback
• Talk through roadblocks
• Share their personal and professional goals

And they give you as their leader a chance to:

• Celebrate team member wins and support them through struggles
• Clarify expectations and hold them accountable
• Weigh in on their ideas and help them prioritize work
• Guide conflict resolution
• Give and receive feedback
• Clear blockers and help solve problems
• Help with goal setting
• Become a better coach

There’s no one-size-fits-all to one-on-one meetings. You and your team members get to shape them to fit your needs and personalities. The main thing is actually adding them to everyone’s calendars and sticking to them. Just like those regular phone calls with Mom or your best friend—regular one-on-ones create a rhythm you all know you can count on. That said, the following guidelines will help you make the most of your time together.

How often should we meet?
Plan 30 to 60 minutes every week or two with each person you lead. Agree on the best one-on-one rhythm to meet both your needs.

Where should we meet?
This can be as different as your team members. Go for a walk, meet over coffee, or connect in a meeting room. Just make sure your conversations are private and the environment is safe and inviting.

What needs to happen before each meeting?
Even if your schedule is packed, take a few minutes before each one-on-one meeting to look over your notes from the last time you met or write down a few things you want to talk about. Do you need updates on a project or to follow up on something? Would you like to give feedback on something or coach your team member through a challenge?

Who drives a one-on-one?
Let the team member steer the meeting and do most of the talking. If they’re unsure what to talk about, jump in with good questions and coach them on ways to make the time meaningful.

What do we talk about?
Rotate through these topics based on what the team member needs most: relationship building, clarifying areas of confusion, accountability, highs and lows, coaching and accelerating, and problem solving. (More on this topic when we look at templates and questions).

What if I don’t know the answer to a question?
If you don’t have an answer or immediate response, no problem. It’s better to hold your tongue than make up an answer that’s wrong. Let the team member know you’ll think on their comment or track down the answer to their question and get back to them.

How do I help them solve problems?
As tempting as it may be to tell your team member exactly what to do, don’t do that. The more they own their problem, the more confident they’ll be that they can solve it. We recommend using the GROW model to guide your conversation and help your team member grow in how they work through difficult issues. It helps you ask questions that help the team member find the answers inside themselves:

G – Goal
What do you want? Get them to verbalize the best-case scenario to help them move that direction.

R – Reality
Where are you now? Help them see what’s holding them back to sharpen their focus.

O – Options
What could you do? Draw out options by asking them questions. You can give ideas, too, once you’ve pulled out theirs.

W – Will
What will you do? Convert your discussion into a decision and hold them accountable.

What if I need to have a hard conversation with them?
Great question! It’s important to handle uncomfortable conversations about performance, team conflict or some other hard topic as soon as possible. Don’t wait for your one-on-one meeting. Not only could too much time pass, but it could also break the trust you’ve built around regular check-ins. Once you’ve had the initial hard talk, you and the team member can agree to follow up in your regular one-on-one meeting.

Now comes the fun part—putting one-on-one best practices into two simple templates. We’ll cover these two types of meetings: your initial one-on-one and regular one-on-ones.

Initial One-on-One Meeting Template

Section 1: About One-on-Ones

• Gauge how familiar the team member is with one-on-ones and share your vision for the meeting.
  
  Explain that you’ll use this time to talk about life and share wins but also to hold them accountable, help clear blockers, and coach them on anything they need. You’ll both come in prepared, but ultimately the time, tone and talking points are theirs.
   
• Clarify that they get to steer the agenda going forward.
  
  Invite them to ask questions to clear up any confusion so you can help them win in their role. And reassure them you’ll help guide the meetings too. Together, you’ll make the meetings meaningful.

Section 2: About the Team Member

• Build rapport.
  We’ve provided a full list of questions you can use in the next section, but these are especially helpful for your first meeting:
  
  - Tell me about yourself.
  - What attracted you to this role?
  - In everyday life and work, what gives you energy and what drains it?

Section 3: About Their Work

• Shift the conversation to work.
  Explain how you see their role and strengths fit with the team. Then ask:
  
  - What ideas or questions do you have about your work?
  - What feedback would you like me to give when we meet?
  (Invite them to give you feedback too.)
  - Is there anything else you’d like to cover?
  - Share any work or other information they need to know.

Section 4: Action Items and Close

• Recap the conversation and any action items.
  
  Remind them to come prepared to talk through wins, questions and problems in future meetings.
  
  Extend an open invitation for them to let you know if the meeting rhythm isn’t working or they’re not getting what they need from the one-on-one.
  
  Let them know they can request a skip-level meeting with another leader if something’s ever unaddressed.
   
• Send a quick email later if necessary to follow up on something you discussed.

Regular One-on-One Meeting Template

Section 1: About the Team Member

• Build rapport and have fun getting to know each other better. Check on how they’re doing overall, but be mindful of time so you don’t accidentally spend 20 minutes sharing weird neighbor stories and only have 10 left for business.
  
  Relationship-building questions:
  - What did you do over the weekend?
  - How are you feeling this week?
  - What’s been a highlight or low point of your week?
  - Would you describe last week as red, yellow or green? Why?
  - Tell me more about what you shared in your weekly report about [insert the topic].
   
• Transition to what’s on their mind today and hand them the conversational reins.

Section 2: About Their Work

• Get a quick status update and give feedback.
  
  Accountability and progress questions:
  - What are you working on and how’s it going?
  - What are you most proud of that you’re working on?
  - Where do you feel the most or least momentum?
   
• Listen for highlights you can celebrate and roadblocks and confusion you need to clear.
  
  Clarifying and problem-solving questions:
  - Is there any confusion I can clear up?
  - What roadblocks are you facing?
  - Where are you facing a problem?
  - What are some options for solving it?
  - How can I help you with your current tasks?
   
• If your company uses team member weekly reports, follow up on anything they shared that would be helpful to know more about.

Section 3: About Their Goals and Development

• Encourage them to talk about goals and growth areas.
  
  Coaching and acceleration questions:
  - What are some goals you’d like to work on?
  - Are there any skills you’d like to develop?
  - How can I support your growth and development?
  - How can I help you?

Section 4: About Your Notes

• Give feedback on today’s discussion, follow up from a previous one-on-one, and share other helpful information.

Section 5: Action Items and Close

• Recap the conversation, invite their feedback, and share any action items.
  
  Feedback and improvement questions:
  - Is there anything else you’d like to talk about today?
  - Do you have any feedback for me or the team?
  - Is there anything we could improve as a team?
  - What topics would you like to focus on in the future?
  - Send a quick email later if you need to follow up on something you discussed.

Sometimes your team members will come in with guns blazing on what they want to discuss. Other times, you may feel like you’re pulling teeth to get them to share. What do you do then? Ask this simple, powerful question to help them open up: What’s on your mind right now?

From there, these three phrases will help you draw out even more:

• Tell me more.
• How does that make you feel?
• What do you think?

When you need extra inspiration, choose questions from this handy list to guide your conversation. (These are the same questions we used in the regular one-on-one template but compiled in one place.)

1. Relationship-Building Questions

• What did you do over the weekend?
• How are you feeling this week?
• What’s been a highlight or low point of your week?
• Would you describe last week as red, yellow or green? Why?
• Tell me more about what you shared in your weekly report about [insert the topic].

2. Accountability and Progress Questions

• What are you working on and how’s it going?
• What are you most proud of that you’re working on?
• Where do you feel the most or least momentum?

3. Clarifying and Problem-Solving Questions

• Is there any confusion I can clear up?
• What roadblocks are you facing?
• Where are you facing a problem? What are some options for solving it?
• How can I help you with your current tasks?

4. Coaching and Acceleration Questions

• What are some goals you’d like to work on?
• Are there any skills you’d like to develop?
• How can I support your growth and development?
• How can I help you?

5. Feedback and Improvement Questions

• Anything else you’d like to talk about today?
• Do you have any feedback for me or the team?
• Is there anything we could improve as a team?
• What topics would you like to focus on in the future?

You may feel weird showing up to your one-on-one with a template or list of questions. But we get that you want all your ducks in a row. Your team members will respect you more for caring enough to use a guide that keeps the conversation focused and meaningful.

They’ll also appreciate your curiosity—and by that we don’t mean nosiness. Asking your team members questions about things that interest them builds connections. Think of yourself as a newspaper reporter interviewing someone. When they mention a hobby, favorite food or something they’re passionate about, ask more about it. They’ll light up as they talk, and you’ll learn some cool new things!

You’re ready to rock your one-on-ones and make those meetings something you and your team members look forward to. But before sending out meeting invites, here are the final things you must know: the essential do’s and don’ts for creating meetings that really matter.

Meeting Do’s

• Meet regularly.
• Foster open conversation—no backlash for honesty.
• Remember what matters to your team member (like their spouse and kids’ names, favorite hobby, or a sports team they love).
• Encourage questions and give them time to share thoughts.
• Listen actively and ask good questions.
• Provide clear feedback and genuine encouragement.
• Support their growth and success.
• End with clear action items.
• Follow through on promises (like connecting them to resources or setting another meeting).

Meeting Don’ts

• Don’t cancel or mismanage time. Have a conflict you can’t work around? Reschedule promptly.
• Don’t share confidential information with people who can’t help.
• Don’t be robotic, judgmental or disrespectful.
• Don’t allow interruptions like buzzing phones or people barging in.
• Don’t dominate the conversation.
• Don’t miss chances to provide clarity or show appreciation.
• Don’t turn the meeting into just a status update.
• Don’t end without clear action steps.
• Don’t forget to act on anything in your court.

When you make meaningful one-on-one meetings a priority, you’re not just leading—you’re creating a culture where everyone can thrive. It’s time well spent that creates a stronger, more connected and higher-performing team.