1 on 1 Meeting Template for Managers (Plus an AI Prep Prompt)

What is a good 1 on 1 meeting template?

A good 1 on 1 meeting template is a short, repeatable agenda that gives your direct report the first word, covers current work and blockers, makes room for feedback in both directions, touches on career growth, and ends with written action items. It fits on one page and takes 30 minutes. The meeting belongs to the employee, not to you. The template below is built around that idea. Copy it, use it for your next meeting, and change it after a month once you see what your team actually uses.

The 1 on 1 template, ready to copy

Paste this into a shared document (Google Docs, Word, Notion, whatever your team already uses). Make one document per direct report and add a new entry at the top for each meeting, newest first.

1:1: [Employee name] and [Manager name]
Shared running doc. Newest meeting at the top.

DATE: [date]

BEFORE THE MEETING (employee fills in, manager adds below)
Employee topics (what I want to talk about):
1.
2.
3.

Manager topics (what I want to cover, kept short):
1.
2.

AGENDA (30 minutes)
1. Check-in (3 min)
   How are you doing, in work and outside it?
   Workload this week: light / right / heavy

2. Employee topics (10 min)
   Notes:

3. Work and blockers (8 min)
   Top priorities this week or sprint:
   Anything stuck, unclear or waiting on someone?
   Where do you need a decision or help from me?

4. Feedback and growth (6 min)
   Feedback for you from me (specific, recent):
   Feedback for me from you (what could I do differently?):
   Growth: skill, stretch project or career topic to move forward:

5. Action items and close (3 min)
   Who / What / By when
   - [Employee]:
   - [Manager]:
   Anything to carry to next time:

PARKING LOT (topics for a future 1:1, not today)
-

PRIVATE MANAGER NOTES (not shared; follow your company policy)
Patterns I'm noticing:
Things to follow up on outside the 1:1:

The same agenda as a quick reference:

If you have a 45 or 60 minute slot, give the extra time to the employee topics and growth blocks. Do not add more status updates.

How do you fill in the template? A worked example

Here is one filled-in entry. The names are made up, and the role does not matter. The same shape works for an analyst, a recruiter, an engineer or an account executive.

Manager: Dana. Employee: Priya, a marketing analyst, 14 months on the team.

DATE: Tuesday, 10:00

Employee topics:
1. The quarterly report deadline overlaps with the survey project.
2. I'd like to present to the leadership group sometime this year.
3. Unsure whether to take the data visualization course.

Manager topics:
1. Positive feedback from the sales team on last week's dashboard.
2. Need her input on the reporting handoff plan.

1. Check-in
   Priya says she is tired but fine. Heavy workload this week.

2. Employee topics
   - Deadline overlap: agreed the survey analysis can slip one week.
     Dana will tell the survey stakeholders.
   - Presenting: Dana suggests the July planning review. Priya
     will draft a 5-minute outline.
   - Course: Priya will check cost and hours; decide next 1:1.

3. Work and blockers
   Priorities: quarterly report, survey cleanup.
   Blocker: waiting on a data export from finance for 4 days.
   Dana will ask finance directly.

4. Feedback and growth
   From Dana: the dashboard commentary was clear and the sales team
   used it in their meeting. Next step is shorter first slides.
   From Priya: would like agendas from Dana a day earlier.

5. Action items
   - Priya: draft presentation outline by Friday.
   - Priya: course cost and time estimate by next 1:1.
   - Dana: tell survey stakeholders about the one-week slip (today).
   - Dana: follow up with finance on the export (today).
   - Dana: send her topics a day ahead next time.

Notice three things. The feedback is specific and refers to something Priya did. The blocker turned into a manager action with a date. And Priya's feedback for Dana produced a change Dana can make this week. That last item is what makes people believe the meeting is worth their time.

What questions should you ask in a 1 on 1?

Do not read from a list. Pick two or three that fit the moment, ask them, and then stay quiet long enough for a real answer.

Check-in and workload

• What's taking most of your energy this week?
• On a scale of light, right or heavy, how's your workload?
• What's one thing that went well since we last talked?

Work and blockers

• What's the one thing that, if it got fixed, would make your week easier?
• Where are you waiting on someone else?
• Is there a decision you're holding that I can make or unblock?
• What's unclear about priorities right now?

Feedback

• What's one thing I could do differently that would help you?
• Is there feedback you've been meaning to give me?
• How do you like to get feedback: in the moment, in writing, or in 1:1s?

Growth and career

• What work have you enjoyed most lately, and what has drained you?
• What skill do you want to be better at in six months?
• Which project would you want to be part of, even if you're not ready for it?
• What would you want your role to look like in a year?

Team and environment

• Is anything about how the team works getting in your way?
• Who has been helpful lately that I should know about?

Avoid questions that only have a yes or no answer, and avoid "Any updates?" as an opener. It invites a status report.

How do you use AI to prep for a 1 on 1?

Preparation is where most managers lose the thread. You have six or eight direct reports, each with open action items, and by the time you sit down you have forgotten what you promised last time. AI is good at one narrow job here: reading your own notes and giving you a short prep sheet.

Open an AI tool your company approves, and paste this prompt. Fill in the brackets with your own material.

You are helping a manager prepare for a 30-minute 1:1 meeting with
a direct report. Use only the notes I provide below. Do not invent
facts, events or feelings that are not in my notes. If something
is missing, say "not in notes" instead of guessing.

Employee: [first name], role: [role], time in role: [months or years]
Meeting date: [date]

NOTES FROM THE LAST TWO 1:1s:
[paste your notes]

OPEN ACTION ITEMS (mine and theirs):
[paste list]

RECENT WORK CONTEXT (projects, wins, problems I know about):
[paste a few bullets]

TOPICS THE EMPLOYEE HAS ALREADY SENT ME:
[paste, or write "none yet"]

Produce a one-page prep sheet with these sections:
1. Follow-ups: every open action item, who owns it, due date,
   and whether it looks overdue.
2. What I promised last time that I still need to do.
3. Themes across the last two meetings (only what the notes support).
4. Three suggested questions to ask, each tied to something in
   the notes, with a one-line reason.
5. One piece of specific, recent positive feedback I could give,
   if the notes support one. Otherwise write "none in notes".
6. One growth or career thread worth checking in on.
7. Anything I should avoid assuming.

Keep it under 350 words. Plain language. No praise filler.

A good result looks like a checklist you can read in two minutes before the meeting. If the output is long, vague or full of generic advice like "build trust," tell the AI to cut it and stick to the notes.

A second prompt for after the meeting

Right after the meeting, spend three minutes turning your messy notes into a clean entry:

Turn my rough meeting notes into a clean entry for our shared
1:1 document. Use this structure: Topics discussed (one line
each), Decisions made, Action items (Who / What / By when),
Feedback given each way, Carry to next time. Use only what is in
my notes. If an action item has no owner or date, list it under
"Needs owner or date" instead of making one up.

Rough notes:
[paste]

Send the action items to your employee the same day. That small habit does more for trust than any agenda.

What should you check in AI's output, and what should you never give it?

Check these every time:

• Dates and owners. Compare the action items against your notes. AI sometimes assigns a task to the wrong person or fills in a due date that nobody said.
• Anything that sounds like a fact about the person. If the prep sheet says "Priya seems burned out," find that in your notes. If it is not there, delete it. The AI is guessing.
• Praise. Positive feedback must be about something real and recent. If the AI invents a compliment, the employee will notice.
• Tone. Suggested questions can come out stiff. Rewrite them in your own words.

Do not rely on AI for:

• Judging performance, ratings, promotions or pay. Those decisions are yours and your company's process.
• Reading emotions. It cannot tell if someone is struggling. You can, by listening.
• Scripts for hard conversations. It can help you list points, but the conversation has to come from you.

Be careful with what you paste. Employee information is sensitive. Check your company's policy on AI tools before you paste anything, and use only the tool your company approves. Leave out health details, family matters, complaints about other people, investigation details and anything from a formal performance process. Use first names or initials if your policy allows. When in doubt, paste less.

How often and how long should 1:1s be?

Weekly for 30 minutes is a common default, and it works well for most teams. Some other patterns:

Whatever you pick, protect the slot. Canceling a 1:1 tells the person where they rank. If you must move it, move it to another time the same week instead of dropping it.

What are the most common 1 on 1 mistakes?

• Turning it into a status meeting. If you only talk about tasks, you can get that from a project tool. Use the time for what a tool cannot do.
• Talking more than the employee. Aim to speak less than half the time.
• No written follow-through. If action items are not written down, they fade.
• Saving all feedback for the review. Small, specific, timely feedback is easier to hear and act on.
• Skipping when things are fine. Quiet weeks are when you learn about career interests and small frustrations before they grow.
• Using the meeting for surprises. Do not raise a serious problem for the first time in a 1:1. Raise it privately and early, with specifics.
• Never asking for feedback on yourself. If you ask and then change something visible, people start telling you the truth.

Is there a better place than a spreadsheet to track 1:1s?

If you manage several people, the notes, action items and follow-ups can sprawl across documents, chat and your own memory. Some managers want a single private tool: one page per direct report, open action items that carry over, a due-date view, and a prep sheet that appears before each meeting. With Remy, you can describe that tool in plain English and it builds and deploys a full-stack app with a database and sign-in, so notes sit behind a login and not in a shared folder. Check with your company first about where employee notes are allowed to live. Remy can also add AI features inside the app, such as the prep prompt above running on your own saved notes.