We’ve received some great feedback on the NEW One-on-One Meeting Template since we released it.
If you missed the announcement, you can read it here – One-On-One Meetings that Work – NEW Template!
What people are saying
WOW! Super helpful! Great guidance and practical strategies. As someone who participates in a weekly meeting with my supervisor, this will be a powerful tool to help me guide the meeting better from my side of the desk. Chad Miller, Finance Manager
I like the structure that the template provides – meet at a regular time and 30 minutes maximum. This requires both parties to prepare for the meeting and keeps it from being a time waster. I love the challenge to prepare to listen and follow-up after them meeting. Todd Linder, Executive Director
The perfect study guide before you have a meeting with your boss. You’ll be prepared for anything! Lee Tomlin, Associate Director, BBFI
I really like the meeting agenda for team members that you provide as a part of the guide and template. And love the idea of more frequent one-on-one meetings, especially for the purpose of assessing work flow. TJ Ward, Lead Pastor
I love the list of specific questions in each area. As a manager, this template could help me tremendously make better use of my meeting planning time because I have somewhere to start instead of starting from scratch. Dennis Scheidt, University Director
The guide is extremely helpful – both for leaders to use to prepare for one-on-one meetings, and for team members to use when their boss hasn’t provided an agenda to help them prepare for One-on-One Meetings. Paul O’Rear, Author
A great guide! I loved the sample questions! Lindsey Hartz, Executive Assistant
I like the three categories that make up the guide and template. They’re valuable principles to follow for a good meeting. And I really like the action plan portion. Great tool! Matthew Heavener, Director of Development
I particularly found the section on listening important. In far too many settings the leader is a poor listener. Yet the ability to listen well is the mark of the most respected leaders. I love your structured plan for the meetings – a terrific tool! And immediate follow-up is brilliant – it is another area where too many in leadership fall short. Tammy Condray, College Professor
Everything in this book is right-on. It should be required reading for new college graduates about to enter the job market! Brian Parks, Software Developer
Excellent! People want to be part of something that’s worthwhile. And it’s our job as leaders to help them feel worthy and valued in their role. It’s very helpful to have a template to use as a guide to get started. Curtis Barrett, Nonprofit Leader
New and Improved
Even with all this positive feedback, we’ve made several updates this week to the guide and template download!
The most significant update is the addition of a Team Member Agenda Form. The download now includes an agenda form that is similar to the agenda I provide to my team members to help them prepare for our meetings.
Here is some of the agenda content:
- Accomplishments & Status – Bring a list of all current projects, with one or two sentences describing progress and status of each.
- Blocked/Waiting on – Note any roadblocks that are currently keeping projects from progressing. Describe the roadblock for each in one or two sentences.
- To do – Make a high-level to-do list of what you would like to accomplish within the next week.
- Areas to develop – Note areas of personal and professional development and what activities you have undertaken/would like to undertake to develop in those areas.
- Goal tracking – Review your monthly, quarterly or yearly goals. Note progress – You should be making steady progress toward fulfilling those goals.
- Action Plans – Record the results of previously established action plans including whether or not they are complete.
Now this new agenda form comes with the template download. You can provide it to your team members to help them prepare for your meetings. Or use it to prepare for your One-on-One Meeting with your boss.
Click Here to Download the Guide & Template now.
Then, let me know what you think. Send me an email or leave a comment below with your candid feedback. What do you like about it? How would you improve it? What would you add? What are your pressing questions?
And if you’re feeling really helpful, tweet a link to your friends! They’ll love you for it!
Click Here to Download the Guide & Template now.
Question: What do you like about the template and guide? How would you improve them? What would you add? What are your pressing questions? Shoot me an email or share your ideas in the comments below.
I love this helpful guide. Thank you. I am already planning out my schedule for 1-1’s for 2014. This will come in handy to keep me on track of the interactions.
Marilyn
Goodie Bag Marketing
Thanks Marilyn! Have a great day!
Unsubcribe
Thank you for your book, it will be possible to get a version in Spanish
Unfortunately it is not available in Spanish.
I love the materials. I don’t know if the new and improved version is different than what I have. Is PDF the only format available?
Glad to work on this. Email me using the email link on the “about” page. We’ll see if we can help you.
Thanks! Will do.
Perfect!
I like the structure of the form… but I really like the participant agenda piece. I think that is the most helpful part of this.
Thanks my friend! Enjoy your weekend.
Great post! I would love to hear about the “meetings” structure at your church. How often do you do one-on-ones? Weekly? Bi-monthly? Do you do a monthly “all staff”? Weekly tacticals? etc Do you have any recommended resources on this subject?
I prefer weekly One-on-Ones with my direct reports because our work is project and process driven.
Feedback? It looks good–though I’d like it as something that doesn’t quite exist: an Evernote template, because that’s where I keep notes like this. So, I’ll use it like I do a few other PDF forms: attach the blank form, type into the note by area the related data. It looks good–and keeps the importance of personal interaction forward.
I do something similar – record my notes electronically.
In the meeting, I don’t make as many notes as one might think. This is for a couple of reasons –
1) I try to focus on listening (vs. writing). Immediately after the meeting, I will make some notes (or ask the team member to send me items).
2) If I am typing notes into an iPad or computer, the team member is going to want to know what I’m writing. So it would become a distraction.
When I do need to record an action item in the meeting or something I want to remember about the team member, I use the template sheet (or a legal pad) to make a quick note.
Something else to keep in mind – you may often be reviewing other documents in the meeting as well (projects, processes, timelines, reports, etc.), so you’ll be able to make notes on the actual documents.
Rarely do I need to make lengthy notes because I am primarily coaching – helping the team member coach himself/herself.
When the meeting is over, I compile all my notes from the meeting electronically (I use a proprietary coaching software but this could easily be done in Evernote, Excel, Word, etc.).
What do you think?
I’m not a big take notes in one-on-one meetings, either. I like to have my calendar with me, because when someone says “I have this need related to this date” being visible to mark it down on that date shows that I am listening to them.
Too often, making lots of notes shows a “this is to check-off my list” attitude.
When I have multiple documents, they are usually attached to the Evernote note for the whole meeting. If I know I need them, I have them ahead of time, otherwise it’s part of the post-meeting record keeping.
When I was in corporate work, I could tell the bosses that were listening from the ones who were checking off a list, based on whether or not they held a pen and clipboard and looked at me, or the paper, the whole time. That illustrated a lot to me.
Sounds like this is working well for you. If think think of additional feedback, let me know. I’m interested in how others are using a template and the process they’re using. I like the Evernote idea.