The Ultimate Guide to One-on-One Meeting Templates

It’s easy to get caught up in your own to-do list as a manager.

You’ve got deadlines, meetings, and a long list of priorities, meaning regular check-ins with your team don’t happen as often as you’d like to. In fact, only 21% of employees say they meet with their manager every week, according to the 2024 Workhuman iQ Survey.

But having consistent one-on-ones doesn’t have to feel like another task on your plate. With a few ready-to-go one-on-one meeting templates (designed for different types of conversations), you can save time, stay organized, and show up for your team with less stress.

Read on this guide to learn how to run effective 1:1s with your team, plus grab our free meeting templates for different types of meetings.

A one-on-one meeting (or 1:1) is a dedicated time for you and your direct report to connect. It’s typically a recurring meeting—weekly, biweekly, or monthly—focused on open, two-way communication.

Unlike a project meeting or a status update, the goal of a 1:1 is to check in on the person, not just the work. It’s a space to talk about how things are going, where support is needed, and how the employee is feeling about their growth, motivation, and goals.

Think of it as a regular touchpoint to:

• Strengthen your working relationship
• Offer support or unblock challenges
• Align on goals and priorities
• Give and receive feedback
• Discuss career development

Grab our free 1:1 meeting template below. Looking for other types of templates? Skip the rest and jump straight to them.

Regular one-on-one meetings are one of the simplest ways to become a more effective manager. When they’re done well (and happen consistently), they can positively impact nearly every part of your team’s experience at work.

Here are the key benefits of holding these meetings with your staff:

• Increased productivity: 1:1s give you a chance to unblock issues your employees might be facing, clarify priorities, and keep your team aligned on what matters most.
• Improved performance and development: These meetings create space to talk about goals, challenges, and career growth. With regular feedback and coaching, your employees can build new skills and feel supported in their development.
• Higher employee engagement: Studies show that 79% of employees are disengaged at work. And it’s a growing issue. 1:1s give your team a chance to feel seen and heard by giving them a voice. They also help you catch signs of burnout and disengagement early.
• Stronger manager-employee relationships: Consistent 1:1s build trust and rapport over time. They show your team that you’re invested in their success—not just in the work they do, but in how they’re doing as people. These meetings are especially helpful in remote workplaces, where chances to have a natural, random chat with your team are much lower than in an in-office environment.

If you’re turning up to employee check-ins without a plan, don’t expect them to work or benefit anyone.

But, in all honesty, it’s not really about having the perfect agenda; it’s about the environment you create. If your team doesn’t feel safe enough to open up, you’ll end up with surface-level conversations that don’t lead anywhere. And you don’t want that.

The team at Spinach, a meeting transcribing tool, offers a simple but powerful framework to help you make the most of 1:1s with your staff. At its core, the framework says a great 1:1 should deliver three things for your team:

✅ High psychological safety. Employees need to feel safe sharing what’s really on their mind—whether it’s feedback, frustrations, or future goals. That starts with you, the manager. When you’re open, vulnerable, and truly listening, you create the kind of trust where honest conversations can happen.

✅ High benefit for the employee. If someone shares something with you in a 1:1, they should feel like it mattered. You don’t have to act on everything, but acknowledging their input and following up when needed makes a huge difference. Even a quick “let me think on that and circle back” builds credibility over time.

✅ Low effort for the employee. Giving feedback shouldn’t feel like climbing a mountain. If your team has to mentally gear up just to bring something up, that’s a problem. Make your 1:1s feel like a safe, supportive space—not a debate club.

📹 Want a deeper dive on how to get your staff open up? Check out the video below.

You can talk about life. You can talk about work. You can pretty much talk about anything and everything. And precisely because you can cover almost anything in a 1:1, it’s helpful to have some kind of framework, so you don’t wander too far off track and can keep the meeting productive.

Having a few key themes in mind can help you stay focused while still keeping things open and flexible. Here are five meaningful areas to guide your conversations 👇

Use your 1:1s to explore how your direct report wants to grow within your business. 

• What skills are they excited to build? 
• Are there new projects or responsibilities they’d like to take on?
• Do they feel supported in their roles?

These meetings are a great space to connect their day-to-day work with their long-term career goals. You can also check in on promotion readiness or development milestones.

Understanding what drives your team is just as important as knowing what they’re working on. Use your 1:1s to learn what energizes them—and what drains them. 

Ask about the kinds of work environments, projects, or team dynamics where they thrive. Do they prefer quiet, deep work or cross-functional brainstorming? Do they feel excited about their current projects?

These insights can help you shape roles, delegate smarter, and make work more fulfilling overall.

One of the biggest traps in 1:1s is turning them into mini status meetings. That’s what your project management tools are for. 

Instead, use this time to make sure you and your direct report are aligned on bigger picture goals, like: 

• What does “productive” look like to them—and to you? 
• Are there processes they find frustrating or unnecessary? 
• What goals are they focused on, and are they on track?

1:1s are a great opportunity to talk about how information is flowing—or not. Are there any communication breakdowns on the team or across departments? Are you, as their manager, sharing enough (or too much)? 

Ask about what’s working well, too: when have they felt most “in the loop,” and why? These insights can help you refine your communication style and pinpoint small adjustments that make a significant impact on team culture.

Make feedback a two-way street. Your 1:1s are one of the safest spaces to give constructive feedback and ask for it in return. Be open, ask clear questions, and genuinely listen. If something’s off, talk about it early before it turns into a bigger issue. 

And when things are going well, say so. Too many managers fail to provide positive feedback. Be one who does—it's one of the best ways to build employee confidence.

Even with a good structure in place, one-on-ones can sometimes hit a wall if you’re not asking the right questions. These meetings are your best chance to really understand what’s going on with your team beyond just tasks and deadlines.

Here are 15 open-ended, thoughtful questions you can pull from to guide better conversations:

🌱 Questions about growth and development

• What’s a skill you’d like to develop in the next few months?
• Are there any projects you’d love to be more involved in?
• Is your current role aligned with where you want to go in your career?

💡 Questions about motivation and mindset

• What’s something that made you feel proud recently—at work or outside of it?
• What kind of work energizes you the most?
• If you could change one part of your day-to-day, what would it be?
• What does a great day at work look like for you?

📊 Questions about alignment and productivity

• Are your current goals clear and achievable?
• Is anything you’re working on feeling unclear or off track?
• What feels harder than it should be in your workflow or process?

💬 Questions about communication and collaboration

• Is there anything about how we communicate that could be improved?
• Do you feel looped in on the right conversations and decisions?
• Are there any team dynamics or silos that have been getting in the way?

🗣️ Feedback questions

• How can I better support you right now?
• Is there anything you wish I did more or less of as a manager?

Right, let’s get to the templates! We’ve prepared a set of ready-to-use 1:1 meeting templates you can adapt for any situation.

Your first 1:1 with a new hire sets the tone for your working relationship. This template helps you establish rapport, clarify expectations, and make sure they feel supported from day one.

Weekly check-in template ensures you stay in sync on progress, address blockers quickly, and maintain a strong feedback loop throughout the week.

Monthly 1:1s allow for deeper conversations beyond day-to-day updates. Use this template to review progress toward goals, discuss long-term projects, and provide meaningful coaching and development support.

Peer 1:1s help foster collaboration and strengthen cross-functional relationships. This template gives structure to discussions between colleagues, helping share insights, align on projects, and support each other’s work.

Performance reviews are an opportunity for reflection and growth. This template helps guide a constructive conversation about achievements, challenges, and actionable next steps for development.

You’ve got the templates. Now follow these best practices to make your 1:1s truly productive.

One-on-ones are most impactful when they happen regularly—not just when something’s wrong. Set a recurring weekly, biweekly, or monthly cadence, and stick to it.

Want to be totally pro at this? Don’t waste time going back and forth with your team over email trying to find a time to meet. Instead, use an online scheduling tool like YouCanBookMe (YCBM).

With YCBM, you can create a simple, personalized booking page so employees can choose a time that works for them. It’s perfect for skip-level 1:1s, monthly check-ins, performance reviews, and managing across time zones. Bonus: It sends meeting invites and automatic meeting reminders, so you don’t have to worry about your staff accidentally forgetting these meetings.

Take the hassle out of scheduling your 1:1s

Consistent 1:1s are the foundation of strong teams. YouCanBookMe helps you stick to that commitment by automating the scheduling process and sending reminders.

A great 1:1 starts before the meeting even begins. Create a simple meeting agenda and send it out ahead of time to give your direct report a chance to contribute. Spend a few minutes adding your own talking points as well. You want to keep the conversation focused and make the most of your time together.

If you’re doing most of the talking in a 1:1, something’s off. After all, it’s called a one-on-one—not a one-man show. This time is for your employee to speak, reflect, and raise what’s on their mind. Ask thoughtful questions, embrace a little silence, and hold back on jumping in too quickly with solutions.

Don’t rely on memory alone, especially if you’re juggling multiple 1:1s each week. Capture key takeaways, open questions, and follow-ups during the meeting, then share those notes afterward. It keeps everyone aligned and makes next steps crystal clear.

This is an obvious one, really. You shouldn’t be late to any meeting without a good reason—and the same applies to employee 1:1s. Being late sends the message that something (or someone) else is more important. Even a few minutes here and there can start to add up, making your direct report feel like their time isn’t valued. Treat these meetings with the same level of respect you’d give to a client or exec.

This one’s a little unconventional but worth trying: consider switching up the format now and then. Instead of sitting across a desk, take a walk together. Instead of a Zoom call at your computer, try a virtual “walk and talk” while both of you step outside. You’ll notice that a more casual setting can ease nerves and help your team open up. And that’s what you want, isn’t it?

Following best practices will help you get the most out of your 1:1s, but just as important is knowing what to steer clear of.

Canceling too often sends the message that your employees aren’t a priority. That said, if there’s genuinely nothing to talk about, it’s okay to skip—so long as both sides are aligned. As Ben Saitz, Chief Customer Officer at RocketFuel, put it: 

If there's nothing to discuss, it’s ok to cancel. People, too often, view 1-on-1 meetings as mandatory, but it's refreshing when you both acknowledge that things are OK for now, or the time may be better spent other ways… and you can do this as long as you both agree not to take a request to cancel personally.”

This is your employee’s space, not yours. Try to spend more time asking thoughtful questions and actively listening than talking. If you’re doing most of the talking, you may be missing what your employee actually needs.

If your 1:1s are just a rundown of what your employee got done that month, you’re missing the point. This meeting should be a space for deeper conversations, such as how they’re feeling about their work, what they’re struggling with, and where they want to grow. Avoid turning it into a checklist of completed tasks.

One-on-ones might seem small, but they’re one of your most powerful tools as a manager. With a little preparation and the right mindset, you can turn these meetings into something your employees look forward to rather than dread. And the best thing about these meetings is that in the long run, they can make your team more engaged and productive.

If you need a solid scheduling tool to help you run your 1:1s more smoothly, definitely check out YouCanBookMe.

Try it for free today.

How long should one-on-one meetings be?

Most one-on-one meetings should be between 30 to 60 minutes, depending on how often they happen. If you're meeting weekly, 30 minutes is usually enough to check in, address challenges, and plan next steps. If it’s biweekly or less frequent, aim for closer to an hour to make space for deeper conversations.

How do you document one-on-one meetings?

The simplest way to document 1:1s is by using a shared meeting doc or template. Include the agenda, notes from your conversation, and any action items. Tools like Google Docs or Notion work well, or you can use a meeting management tool.

Are weekly one-on-one meetings micromanaging?

They can feel that way for your employees if the meetings are overly focused on small tasks or if you’re doing most of the talking. If every conversation feels like you’re checking up rather than checking in, your team might start to feel like they’re not trusted to do their work. But when done right, weekly one-on-ones should be about support and connection. They give employees a chance to raise issues, ask for help, and talk about their growth.