34 Topics for a One-On-One As we've already established ownership, the next thing to cover are the most useful topics for a one-on-one. A 1:1 should be focused and topics shouldn't be left to the chance that they'll be covered. Instead a formal agenda should be created with the intention to go over all if not a majority of the discussion points.
One of the preeminent topics for a 1:1 is that of status updates. As the meeting is driven by the employee, this is a great opportunity to discuss current progress since the last meeting, progression towards goals and what went well and not so well. This becomes a great way of ensuring your manager is informed of your efforts while also giving one a chance to talk about their accomplishments as well as where they might need help or assistance. Most often this is a bilateral dialog with room for the manager to ask questions, help determine next steps and any course corrections that might need to happen. Anticipate some discussion and ensure that this topic has room to breathe without needing to beat the clock.
As the topic on status updates is generally about what's happened in the past, you'll want to consider the future as well by potentially having a discussion regarding strategy, next project steps and goal setting. All of these items will help give you a direction either short term between one 1:1 to the next, or even longer term over the course of a month, quarter or even year. This topic, although looking down the road, can be invaluable as it will help you when you're working through day-to-day efforts by giving you insight to the final destination and strategies to get there. Sometimes this might simply be a brainstorming session, but other times this topic might be used to formally set deliverables and goals.
The next most frequent topic for discussion are career plans and aspirations. One should have a goal in mind, either for their overall career or at the very least, the next step. This should be discussed semi-frequently with your manager not just to keep them informed but also to garner support and guidance along the way. Any manager worth their salt, will keep this in the back of their mind and actively find opportunities that can help expand an employee's skillset, line them up for their next achievement or simply consider them when opportunities arise within the organization. Be prepared for this to be a make or break conversation with your manager. Most managers should be supportive of your goals, but if you happen across one that is reluctant, unwilling to help or might negatively impact your aspirations, you'll know you likely need to move elsewhere within your career.
Another frequent topic for a 1:1 is discussion with your supervisor about your performance. Are you meeting their expectations? What are you excelling at? What things could you improve upon? What things would they like you to do different? This doesn't have to be a formal performance review, but instead plan on this being mile markers within your journey with your manager that help to determine if you're going in the right direction, took a wrong turn somewhere or you're not heading down the road fast enough. Depending upon the cadence of your 1:1s, this could be a topic every session or one that happens at particular intervals. At the very least, plan on having this discussion with your manager once a quarter and potentially as often as once a month.
The final frequently utilized agenda item for a 1:1 is that of open time for your manager. As the meeting itself is your own, you'll generally want to ensure that your manager has time to bring their own topics to the table. You can touch base with them before the meeting or even at the start, to confirm that they have topics they want to discuss with you, otherwise you can remove this agenda item and provide more time for existing topics, add other topics to fill the void, or simply end the 1:1 early.
This is just the start of the most useful and helpful topics for a one-on-one. The meeting is your own and as such, feel free to brainstorm, adjust and put your own mark on the meeting. By now you should have the gist and can begin see the power of having regular 1:1s with your manager.