The simple thought of a one-on-one meeting with your manager may overwhelm you. It could be anxiety over a potential performance review, excitement to hear constructive feedback and discuss career goals, or maybe you’re simply wondering what on Earth your manager wants to talk about.
Whatever the context—whether it’s your first or hundredth check-in—these one-on-one conversations represent a valuable opportunity. How you use those 30 or 60 minutes can significantly impact your job performance and long-term professional development.
So, how can you make the most of a one-on-one meeting with your manager? Let’s look at why these meetings matter, how to prepare, what to do during them, and even how to follow up in a way that builds trust with your boss.
Why you might need a one-on-one meeting with your manager
There’s another emotion you may feel about a looming one-on-one meeting: annoyance. The average professional spends 21.5 hours a week in meetings—or over half of their workweek. Chances are, you’re looking for ways to cut meetings from your calendar, not prepare for more.
While many meetings are a waste of time, that’s not true of a one-on-one with your manager. Whether in-person or virtual, one-to-ones are worth your time—if you use them well.
A meeting between you and your manager is a chance to connect and build rapport. It sets the stage for you to discuss your career aspirations with your boss. A one-on-one is an opportunity for constructive feedback in both directions, laying a foundation for better team meetings.
Ultimately, one-on-ones are a chance to enhance your performance and increase your enjoyment at work—and greater enjoyment leads to better engagement. Employees who have regular one-on-one meetings with their manager are 430% more likely to be engaged at work. Engaged employees are more focused, more productive, and more fulfilled.
If your direct supervisor isn’t receptive, you may want to seek out a skip-level meeting with your manager’s boss. Skip-level meetings are always valuable for building relationships with other leaders, and they can also provide an opportunity to stress your desire for one-on-one time to someone above your manager.
Preparing for a one-on-one meeting with your manager
Meeting with your manager doesn’t guarantee you’ll experience the benefits of these one-on-one conversations. A successful meeting starts long before the meeting begins—and it hinges on your preparation.
Here are a few steps to take to get ready for a one-on-one:
Know your goals for the meeting
One-to-one meetings may be a bi-weekly ritual with your boss or an off chance to discuss your career path. Whatever the reason, it should shape how you prepare for the meeting.
Before you outline an agenda, take a few minutes to consider your overarching goal in sitting down with your boss. You may want to:
Check in on a project
Talk about work-life balance
Seek constructive feedback or a full performance review
Improve your working relationship with your manager
Choosing a larger goal can help you stay focused and make the most of the time. Sometimes, it may help you decide whether the conversation is worth a meeting at all. Maybe you can check in on that project over Slack and save the meeting for a more important conversation. Or perhaps you can cover everything in a five-minute stand-up meeting.
Review your agenda items
Now that your objectives are clear, you can jot down an agenda and list key talking points you’d like to cover.
Write down any questions, resources you require, or input you have for your manager. If you’re checking in on a specific project, consider any updates you should share or clarification you’d like about tasks and deadlines.
While you’re at it, you can even use Loom to create a pre-meeting video to share with your boss. The video could cover your agenda items or preview an update on your latest project to set the stage for a more fruitful conversation.
If you didn’t initiate the one-on-one meeting, ask your manager for their meeting template or agenda ahead of time. That way, you can gather answers to any questions and come prepared.
Conduct research to support your points
When you’re planning to ask your boss for something, it’s critical to back it up with good reasons. Researching performance numbers, competitor information, or other critical in-house data can help you make a compelling case.
Say you’re going to request a budget for professional development to purchase books for yourself or take your team to a few conferences each year. To convince your manager to add this expense, you could look for data showing the ROI other companies have gotten for investing in their teams in similar ways. Showing definitive metrics or results will be much more likely to secure buy-in from your manager.
Be open to direction and critique
A one-on-one isn’t a one-way street, even if you initiated the meeting. Your manager likely has feedback on your performance or guidance to help you execute your job better. Part of preparing is making sure you’re open and ready to receive that input.
The best way to be open is to make it a line item on your agenda. Write it down and highlight it as a key request you plan to make during the meeting. Make it clear that you want to improve, whether it’s in your day-to-day execution or in becoming a better team player.
Practice your spiel
Despite your best preparations, you may still be uneasy about meeting with your boss. Maybe you’re getting ready to ask for a raise or a promotion, and some extra rehearsal could help you build confidence.
Of course, you can always practice in front of the mirror. But nowadays, tools like Loom offer an even better way to rehearse and refine what you’ll say. You can record a video of yourself giving your spiel, then review it yourself or send it to a colleague for feedback. Unlike practicing in front of a mirror, this allows you to “demo” your speech more naturally.
Conducting a one-on-one meeting with your manager
Now, it’s time for the meeting. All your preparation should pay off during your conversation, but there are still a few best practices for meetings to help ensure it goes smoothly.
Ease into the meeting agenda
Remember, one-on-ones allow managers and their direct reports to build rapport. Strengthening your working relationship may be more intangible than your to-do list, but it’s no less important.
Before you jump straight to the agenda, look for simple icebreakers like talking about last night’s game or a show you’ve been watching. Share something interesting that happened at home or your kid’s choir concert. Ask how your boss’s weekend was.
To a degree, your comfort level depends on your relationship with your manager, but even small efforts can move that relationship forward.
Take notes
Meeting with your manager is a critical opportunity for you to demonstrate initiative. That starts with taking note of any important points or next actions that come up in the conversation. Your boss doesn’t expect you to keep everything organized in your head, and they might be skeptical if you try.
Add any task or performance feedback your manager mentions to your meeting notes. As a bonus, you might even offer to take notes for the meeting and share them for collaboration later.
Ask for constructive feedback and receive it openly
It’s essential to prepare to receive constructive feedback, but once you’re in the meeting, you actually need to ask for it.
Rather than plowing through a list of requests, leave some room to ask questions like “What parts of my job can I do better?” or “What do you need from me to better manage the team?” Make sure they’re open-ended questions, not yes-or-no asks.
If your manager critiques your performance in some way, don’t respond defensively. Stay calm and ask follow-up questions to show you want to understand the issue. If you disagree, make your case constructively rather than simply offering excuses.
Present your agenda respectfully
As you present your requests, remember to keep them in context. Your manager likely has numerous direct reports and team members on their radar, and your asks may add to an already long list. Acknowledge this fact and share your wishes not merely as items that would make your job easier but as tools that would help you do your best work. Be sure you only present truly high-priority requests to increase your chances of success.
Being respectful with your requests can go a long way in building trust with your manager. When you come across not as needy or complaining but as proactive and problem-solving, your boss will see you as a team player.
Make actionable plans
One-on-one meetings should always lead to actionable next steps. Whether checking in on a project or working through a performance review, you can turn feedback into an action plan. It could be as simple as your next three tasks on the project or steps you’re committing to take for career development in the next six months.
Set the next meeting
Don’t wrap up the meeting without setting a date and time for your next one. Scheduling a follow-up meeting helps you continue building your relationship with your boss and keeps you both accountable for completing any action items. That time may change, but it’s better to have it on the calendar than to leave it TBD. If you need to reschedule or decline the meeting later, try to provide as much notice as possible and offer alternative slots for a follow-up.
Following up after a one-on-one meeting with your manager
One-on-ones don’t end when you step out of your boss’s office. The steps you take after the meeting are just as important as everything else you’ve done up to this point.
Send a follow-up message
Soon after the meeting, take some time to follow up with your boss. Send a brief email or Slack message recapping the key points and action steps. If you offer to send meeting notes, include them as an attachment. Take this opportunity to ask any clarifying questions.
However, typing another email can get cumbersome, and your boss only has so much time to review messages. Instead, consider making a short Loom video where you organize your meeting notes and talk through key points.
This makes your message more personal and gives your boss an easily digestible conversation summary.
Provide status updates
In the days following the meeting, provide your boss with quick updates on your progress. You can also share any new requests or inform your boss of any roadblocks preventing you from completing tasks.
Again, Loom videos are a great way to pass on this information quickly and with visual support. Say one of your tasks was to create a document detailing a new proposed workflow for your team. Instead of simply sharing the document, you could create a Loom video covering the highlights.
Make one-on-ones better with Loom
One-on-one meetings with your manager are about more than performance management. They foster deeper employee engagement, help you build rapport, and move you toward your professional goals. Preparing well and approaching these meetings with the right perspective can help you maximize the opportunity.
A tool like Loom can enhance your preparation, execution, and follow-up for one-on-ones. It’s an especially great resource for remote workplaces, where you may not get as much in-person time with your boss.
Loom helps you prepare video updates or summaries before meetings to share progress and pinpoint discussion topics. This can save you time during your one-on-one and allows for more focused and productive discussions. Post-meeting, you can use Loom to send follow-up videos that recap the meeting and outline next steps, ensuring clarity and accountability.
Ready to use Loom to make your one-on-one meetings more productive? Start your free trial today!
