run-a-one-on-one

name	run-a-one-on-one
category	start
description	Plan and run a recurring one-on-one that surfaces priorities, support needs, feedback, growth, and commitments. Use when a manager and team member need a reliable meeting rhythm.

run-a-one-on-one

Protect space for the team member's agenda while making decisions and follow-through explicit.

Procedure

1. Confirm cadence, duration, ownership, privacy, cancellation norms, and where shared notes will live.
2. Review prior commitments, current priorities, workload signals, blockers, feedback, and development goals.
3. Invite agenda items in advance without requiring sensitive topics in shared notes.
4. Structure the meeting around check-in, team-member topics, priorities, support, feedback, growth, and decisions.
5. Ask open questions, listen for evidence, and distinguish a request from exploration.
6. Address workload by changing scope, order, resources, or dates rather than offering encouragement alone.
7. Give behavior-specific feedback with context and impact, and invite correction.
8. Record only appropriate decisions, actions, owners, and dates; keep private material in the proper channel.
9. Start the next meeting by reconciling commitments and explaining misses.

Failure plan

• Do not use the meeting for surveillance, surprise discipline, therapy, or forced disclosure.
• Never record health, family, identity, or complaint details in broadly shared notes.
• If safety, harassment, discrimination, or employment rights arise, preserve the person's agency and route appropriately.
• Repeated cancellations require a new operating arrangement, not silent abandonment.

Done

• The agenda includes both participant priorities and previous commitments
• Decisions and actions are recorded with owners and dates
• Follow-through is checked at the next meeting and unresolved support needs remain visible