One-On-One Meetings

Tomasz Tunguz, Managing Director, Redpoint Ventures

Tomasz explains how adding structure to 1:1 meetings can take them from being mediocre to being great. He covers the framework used by the legendary CEO coach, Bill Campbell: the manager and direct report should each compile a list of their perceived top-5 priorities before the meeting, and review those at the beginning of the meeting. After that, they can cover four standard meeting topics.

Mathilde Collin, CEO & Founder, Front

Front, which as an employee NPS of 97, structures three different types of 1:1s: standard 1:1s every week; higher-level pulse checks every month; and career development 1:1s every six months.

Rushabh Doshi, Senior Director of Product Management, Facebook

Rushabh provides an overview of different types of 1:1s: the "No Agenda Chill", the "Everything Is On Fire", the "That Team (or Person) is Terrible", the "It’s Urgent", the "Feedback Hour", the "Promote Me", and the "I Quit".

Lara Hogan, VP, Engineering, Kickstarter

Lara provides with sections and question for what to cover in your first 1:1 with a new direct report. She covers topics such as Grumpiness, Feedback & Recognition, and Goals and Support.

GitLab, Editorial Team, GitLab

GitLab's internal manual for 1:1s includes a 30 minute training video and covers 12 tips on how to conduct them. This manual also includes a training video on how to do career mapping, and steps on how transition 1:1s between managers.

Marco Rogers, Director Of Engineering, Lever

Marco goes through about 20 different prompts across five categories that he uses in 1:1 meetings. The five categories are: • How are you doing? • I've got some feedback for you. • Let's talk about what's happening around the org. • Let's talk about your career path. • Let me tell you my thoughts on the direction of the team.

Mark Rabkin, VP Ads & Business Platform, Facebook

Mark provides advice on how to push through the surface layer of status updates and create a safe space to discuss the awkward stuff that really matters, with examples of awkward content such as "extra honest feedback" and "humble advice seeking".

Amy Chantasirivisal, Director of Engineering, Unicycle

Amy begins by asking, if you're using 1:1s for status updates, why isn't your project management tooling covering that so that you can spend 1:1 time on other topics? Instead, she recommends covering: • Overall sentiment • Team member's topics • Growth and development • Giving feedback • Asking for feedback • Self-care • Leaving space She also recommends asking yourself these questions as a manager: If you're a leader reading this, my challenge for you today is to mull over these questions, and seek out the answers if you don't know: • How much of my time is spent being reactive instead of proactive? • Do I have a plan for how I can help set each of my employees up for success? • If members of my team were to resign today, what would reason(s) would they cite?

Katie Wilde, VP of Engineering, Buffer

Katie describes an experience where the 1:1s with a direct report became toxic over time. She recommends a 4-step solution to prevent this in the future: 1. Set expectations during recruitment 2. Set expectations during onboarding 3. Set boundaries and be firm about acceptable behavior 4. Teach ‘disagree and commit’.