One-on-One Coaching Template

One of the cornerstones of building a productive workforce is to make employees feel cared for. By showing interest in employees' career growth and personal well-being, you create a team of highly motivated individuals. A one-on-one employee coaching is where to start.

In a coaching session, the conversation rises above the employee deliverables. Here, a manager makes deliberate efforts to make every member of their team a better version of themselves.

The power of one on one conversation lies in its employee-focused approach. A well-planned one-on-one is a key medium for employees to share their idea, challenges, and goals with the right person, a manager who was once like them.

What is 1-on-1 coaching?

One-on-one coaching is the process of one person helping employees or team members overcome challenges or improve performance.

Its frequency and duration are at the manager's discretion. However, as a rule of thumb, a manager should meet at least one team member per month. And spending 30 to 60 minutes with each employee is ideal for a fruitful meeting.

Suggested topics for a one-on-one coaching template  

Committing to regular checks on employee development can be somewhat tricky without a solid blueprint. Below are some one-on-one coaching topics to guide your conversation.

Talk outside of work

Do you open up to strangers? Not likely. Neither do your employees. You need to create a comfortable atmosphere for the conversation to flow. Look at questions like this for a start. 

1. What are you most proud of since joining this company? 

2. What are your hobbies and extra activities?

What’s going well?

Allow employees to share the latest achievement since your last meeting and give actionable advice based on your experience. Before your one-on-one meeting, you can highlight your achievement as a professional at your organization. And share with team members to inspire them. Ask and advise.

1. What’s your biggest personal achievement lately?

2. What project are you proud of in recent times?

What are the challenges?

 Each member of your team has individual challenges. They are only waiting for the right person to share them. That’s where you come in as a manager. Your journey to the upper office was not a smooth ride. Now that they are in your shoe, how best can you help? 

• What do you feel is holding you back? 

• What support do you need from me?

Career growth

Employees are more likely to stay with a business that offers career improvement. To maintain retention rate, it’s in a manager’s best interest to lend a helping hand toward employees’ career growth. Questions like these could be of great help:

• What skills are you working on?

• Where do you see yourself in the next 6 months?

• Who in the company would you like to learn from?

Two-way feedback

Two-way feedback allows the managers and the employees to gather insight into the progress of their conversations. 

Encouraging employees to give feedback makes them feel heard. Likewise, feedback from the manager should be constructive and fortified with guidance on what the employees can do better. That way, both parties know they are headed in the right direction. Here are a few ways to get feedback:

• If you are to add one item to this conversation, what will it be?

• How effective do you think this conversation is?

How to conduct a successful 1:1 coaching session 

Now you are sure of what to discuss in a coaching meeting. But you also need to be aware that topics alone are not enough to attain fruition. There are one-on-one coaching etiquettes you must imbibe to make the most out of your conversation. Follow these 5 strategies to conduct a successful 1:1 coaching session.

1. Set clear goals

Before you start a session, it’s important to figure out what’s your gal for this meeting, i.e., what you and the employee want to achieve. 

You may also ask the attendee directly what they want to work on today. As a rule of thumb, if you can’t come up with a clear goal, maybe the session is unnecessary, or you may expect too much from it.

2. Prepare for the meeting

Review your past meeting notes, create a list of subjects to cover, and double-check that you are upholding your promises from the last meeting before entering your next one-on-one meeting.

You don’t want to come along as a manager who doesn’t remember where the last meeting stops. Not to talk of where to continue. Your attitude should show that you prioritize these meetings. That way, employees will see it as important and will also corporate to get the most value from it.

Tip: put all your meeting notes in one central place using Airgram.

3. Make it personal

One-on-ones are personal conversations between a manager and individual team members. A manager needs to take note of employee differences to make the meetings fruitful. Since team members face different challenges at different stages of their careers, a one-size-fits-all approach will not work.

Managers must work with each employee to find out what works for them. Using a personalized approach ensures that the meeting is employee-centric. 

4. Listen well

If you want to have successful one-on-one coaching conversations, your listening skill is what you should up. The 80/20 rule applies here to managers. You should listen for 80% of the session and let employees do the talking. 

By listening carefully, you can scoop up on employees' problems and ask pertinent follow-up questions to gain a deeper understanding. And, if required, steer the meeting in the path you believe will be most beneficial to them. Asking open-ended questions is a great strategy to achieve this. We look at it next. 

5. Be clear on what’s next

A One-on-one meeting without action is of no point. A manager and employee should work together to create an actionable plan to solve the issue raised. 

 At the end of every one-on-one, they should arrive at specific objectives and how to make progress with itemized actions. Reviewing these items should be the kickoff point for the next meeting.