What It Means
A one-on-one meeting, often written 1:1, is a recurring private conversation between a manager and one person on their team. It's the place for progress on current work, feedback in both directions, problems that need help and longer-term goals. Harvard Business Review's guidance stresses that the meeting belongs to the employee, so their topics should drive the agenda.
Try It: Work Out Your Monthly One-on-One Hours
Example numbers to start. Change them to your team and see the hours and the pay those meetings take each month.
That's more than two full workdays a month. Shorter or less frequent meetings, with written check-ins between, may fit better.
Pay only; benefits would add to an employer's cost.
How People Say It at Work
- "Can we move our one-on-one to Thursday?"
- "I'll bring that up in my 1:1."
- "Let's keep the 1:1 even if there's nothing urgent."
The Breakdown
Worked example. A manager has 5 people reporting to them and meets each one weekly for 30 minutes. The pay figures are examples.
| Item | Number |
|---|---|
| Meetings a month | 5 people x 4 = 20 |
| Manager's hours a month | 20 x 30 minutes = 1010,000 stepsA popular daily step goal that began as the name of a 1960s Japanese pedometer; later studies find health benefits begin well below it. See more hours |
| Pay for both sides | 10 hours x ($45 + $35) = $800 |
What the result means. Ten hours a month is a real share of a manager's time, which is why the meeting needs an agenda. Move to every two weeks and the same team takes 5 hours.
A simple agenda, from HBR's guidance
- A quick personal catch-up.
- Current projects and goals: what's moving and what's stuck.
- Feedback, going both ways.
- Next steps, with who does what.
Share the points a day or two ahead so the other person can add theirs.
Good to Know
How often to meet depends on team size. HBR's articles describe weekly as common and suggest every two weeks or monthly for a larger team, with short written check-ins between. Whatever the rhythm, put it on the calendar as a repeating event so it doesn't depend on someone remembering to book it.
FAQ
What should I talk about in a one-on-one with my manager?
Progress on your work, anything blocking you, feedback you'd like or want to give, and your longer-term goals. HBR's guidance says the employee's topics should drive the agenda.
How long should a one-on-one meeting be?
Long enough to get through the agenda without rushing. The calculator uses 30 minutes as an example, and shows how quickly that adds up across a whole team.
What does 1:1 mean at work?
It's shorthand for a one-on-one meeting, a regular private conversation between a manager and one person on their team.
Do It in Buhata
Calendar and Team Space
Set each one-on-one as a repeating event on the Calendar and keep a shared agenda thread for it on a board in your Team Space.
Open BuhataRelated Terms and Categories
- Meeting cost
What a meeting costs in pay: the number of people in the room, times the hours it runs, times each person's hourly pay.
- Constructive feedback
Specific, fact-based feedback that describes what someone did and its effect, so they can keep doing it or change it.
- Performance review
A formal look back, usually once a year, where a manager rates how an employee's work measured up to the standards set for that period.
- Managing up
Working deliberately with your boss to get the best results for both of you and the organization, by understanding how they work and what they need.
- Delegation
Handing a task, and the authority needed to finish it, to someone else, while you stay responsible for the result.
Sources
Harvard Business Review, "How to Lead Your First One-on-One Meeting" (2024); Harvard Business Review, "Get More Out of One-on-One Meetings with Your Direct Reports" (2016); Harvard Business Review, "Make the Most of One-on-One Meetings with Your Manager" (2021); Harvard Business Review, "Supercharge Your One-on-One Meetings" (podcast, 2024)
- hbr.org/2024/04/how-to-lead-your-first-one-on-one-meeting
- hbr.org/tip/2016/11/get-more-out-of-one-on-one-meetings-with-your-direct-reports
- hbr.org/2021/12/make-the-most-of-one-on-one-meetings-with-your-manager
- hbr.org/podcast/2024/01/supercharge-your-one-on-one-meetings
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