Meetings with managers are crucial for career development. We keep one shared document to prepare one-on-ones better. We fill this document during the week. Everyone writes down what they have in mind so we don’t forget anything. We list achievements, things we ask for feedback and action items. The document is not perfect in itself. However, whenever we have something in our mind to talk about during the one-one-one, we open the document and write it there.
This document opened many topics for us to discuss. We don’t forget things anymore. We don’t confuse the topics. Having the structure forces us to use time efficiently and prevents wasting time.
Each person writes to their column. There is no requirement to fill every line. Because sometimes you don’t have any blockers. My goal is to have at least one item in the learnings and “things that went well.” Because these are celebration points.
Before, we had 30-minute one-one-one sessions. Now, we’re in the process of increasing the time. Because if you just randomly talk about a topic, thirty minutes is a lot. When you put structure, it’s nothing. The meetings have an agenda; they are very effective and full of constructive discussions. That’s why we decided to increase the time. We don’t see this as a waste of time.
So here are the exact titles in our document:
- What’s on top of my mind?
- Things that went well
- Learnings
- Priorities (since we last met)
- Priorities until we meet again
- Challenges & Blockers
- Feedback
- Action Items
