one-on-one-prep

One-on-One Prep Skill

The 1:1 is the highest-leverage meeting you have — and it's wasted when it defaults to status (which

belongs in writing). This skill preps an agenda built around the outcomes you want: the decisions to

unblock, the asks to make, the feedback to exchange, and the career threads to keep warm — so 30 minutes

moves things instead of just reporting them.

Required Inputs

Ask for these only if they aren't already provided:

• Direction — prepping for a 1:1 with your manager (managing up) or with your report (managing down)? The agenda differs.
• What's on your mind — blockers, decisions, tensions, wins, career topics (rough notes are fine).
• Anything time-sensitive or any hard thing you've been avoiding raising.
• Last 1:1's follow-ups, if any.

Output Format

1:1 Prep — with [name], [date]

1. Top topics (most important first) — for each: the topic, the outcome you want, and the framing. Lead with what needs a decision or unblock, not updates.

| Topic | Outcome I want | How I'll frame it |

|---|---|---|

2. Asks — explicit requests (a decision, air cover, a connection, time). Naming the ask is the point of the meeting.

3. Status — kept brief — 2–3 bullets of what they genuinely need to know; link the rest. Don't let this eat the meeting.

4. Feedback (both ways) — feedback to give (specific, kind, actionable) and a prompt to ask for feedback on yourself.

5. Growth / career — the longer-game thread to keep warm (a stretch goal, a development area, a promotion track).

6. Follow-ups — from last time, and what you'll commit to from this one.

Direction note: managing up → lead with decisions you need and asks; surface risks early; make it easy to help you. Managing down → lead with their agenda and growth, listen more than you talk, end with clear next steps.

Quality Checks

• [ ] Topics lead with a desired outcome, not a status recap
• [ ] At least one explicit ask is named
• [ ] Status is condensed to a few bullets (the rest written/linked)
• [ ] Feedback flows both ways, and is specific and actionable
• [ ] A growth/career thread is kept on the agenda, not just the urgent stuff
• [ ] The agenda is tuned to direction (managing up vs. down)

Anti-Patterns

• [ ] Do not turn the 1:1 into a status report — status belongs in writing; use the live time for decisions, feedback, and growth
• [ ] Do not avoid the hard topic — name it, framed constructively; the 1:1 is the safest place to raise it
• [ ] Do not arrive without an ask — "anything you need?" wastes the leverage
• [ ] Do not let career/growth fall off when things are busy — it's the first thing dropped and the most costly
• [ ] Do not over-pack — 3 real topics beat 10 skimmed

Based On

1:1 management practice (Andy Grove, High Output Management; manager-tools 1:1 cadence) — outcome-led agendas, managing up and down.