03/28/2025

Six Do’s and Don'ts for Better One-on-one Meetings

Improve one-on-one meetings with these tips

As a leadership coach, I often hear complaints from team members about check-in meetings with their leaders:

• The meeting gets canceled more often than not. 
• My boss just talks at me and doesn’t save time for my questions. 
• The meeting has no structure, and we end when we run out of things to talk about. 
• It’s the same thing every week: He asks if I’m okay. I say yes. He says good. Meeting over.

Sound familiar? One-on-one meetings often become routine, whether they are scheduled check-ins or spontaneous chats in the hallway. By following the boring routine, we are missing opportunities to show care, develop our teammates, provide guidance and build trust.

(For more on routine and other signs your conversation is stuck, see this article on the RUTS: conversations that need help because they are routine, uncertain, tense or serious.)

Please select this link to read the complete article from SmartBrief.