Purpose

The One-on-One (or 1-1) meeting is a weekly or bi-weekly personal touchpoint between a senior team leader and their direct report for the purpose of coaching, problem solving, and developing the direct report.

Running a 1-1 results in the following:

• Increase accountability. We’re discussing issues that matter to our direct report.
• Gain buy-in and trust. We’re supporting our direct report with their challenges and helping them get the tools they need to unblock their progress.

Notes on Great Coaching

Great coaches function as a "mirror" to help another person think and reflect. By asking well-designed questions, we give others an opportunity to reflect on their challenge. Often, the answers they are looking for lie inward—not outward. Coaching helps them reconcile their own beliefs, strategies, goals, and plans and builds confidence toward achieving them.

Great coaches rarely give advice or opinions. When coaches share advice or opinions, we risk sharing information without the full context of their challenge, and we rob our mentee an opportunity to grow and develop.

Great coaches may share their own experiences and how they dealt with a similar problem. By sharing experiences, we share statements that are true for us, but we also acknowledge that it may not be fully true for the other individual. By sharing experiences, another person can reflect and takeaway from your story, which is part of the process of them working through the challenge.

• Ask thoughtful questions
• Actively listen to their answer
• Restate their answer back to them
• Point out connections or recurring thought patterns
• Ask about their biggest takeaways or learnings

Great coaching happens in quiet environments with plenty of time and space. Great coaching happens without notifications or phone calls distracting from creating presence in the conversation.

Use these questions as a guide to coach your direct report (or peer), specifically to: