How to Prepare for One-on-One Meetings

Do you have standing one-on-one (1:1) meetings with your Project Manager, People Leader, or Senior Leader in your organization?

Do you dread those meetings because you don't know what to say? Do they come around too soon?

Don't! These meetings are valuable.

Dreading those meetings come from a lack of preparation and strategy.

Preparing for your one-on-one meeting will depend on whom you are meeting with and the context of the meeting.

If you're working on a project, your one-on-one with your Project Manager (PM) will focus on your participation towards the successful delivery of the project. You will want to talk about what's on track and what is at risk. You can use the traffic light colors in preparing?for your meeting. ??, ?? and ??(or you can flip it and start with ??). Your goal for this meeting is to let your PM know how things are going and demonstrate your confidence and ability to carry out your required tasks. In these meetings, you want to build trust and emphasize your competence.

Your one-on-one meeting with your Manager or People Leader is an opportunity for you to give an overall picture of how you are doing based on the goals you set at the beginning of the year and any other items you are working on such as personal development (ongoing courses, certifications, etc.) Your approach for preparing for this meeting can be under three categories: What's going well, What could be going better, and What You will do or are doing differently.?Your goal for this meeting is to give your Manager or People Leader a summary of what you're doing and how you're spending your time as you're working towards the goals you set. This is very important for your Performance Evaluations and any Mid- Year Evaluations and consideration for new roles or promotions, leading high visibility projects if your leader is involved with resource allocation. You don't want your leader scratching their head trying to figure out what you've been doing.?This is important since your leader is not involved in your day-to-day tasks.

If you're lucky to meet with a senior leader such as a Director, AVP, VP, or higher. You want to keep things super high level. I would suspect that it will not be a weekly meeting.?Your goal for this meeting is to highlight what you have done since the last time you met with the leader. You want to demonstrate your ability to go beyond the confines of your job description for the good of the company. Did you help save the company X amount of money by taking quick action or anticipating the impact of a recent regulation? Let your senior leader in on it. Your goal is for your leader to be your champion. You want them to mention your name in meetings and discussions you are not privy to.

To wrap up. Start preparing for your 1:1 days before the meeting. Don't wait until the last minute to prepare for your meeting; I find that using bullet points and categories helps. Write things down as they come up in a notebook or your digital notetaking app like OneNote. Keep things simple. Go into your meeting with a positive attitude.

?How do you prepare for your 1:1 meetings? Let's discuss this in the comments