Remote one-on-one meetings provide dedicated time for the managers and their direct reports to evaluate progress and build a trusting relationship. Use this free template to facilitate your remote meeting.
Start with light, open-ended questions.Â
What’s been keeping you busy lately?
How do you feel about working remotely?
Note progresses in important projects and make a summary.
What achievements have been made since our last check-in?
How's the progress toward your goals?
Top priorities we should work on until the next meeting.
Point 1
This is the part where employees share challenges and concerns with the manager to get help.
What’s stopping you from being more productive?
Leave some time for free discussions, not limited to work. This helps build trust.
Do you enjoy working remotely?
Talking point
Item 1
In the wake of the pandemic, virtual meetings have become the new norm. It is an exciting development helping businesses worldwide boost inclusion and maintain work-life balance.
In this case, periodic one-on-one meetings are a great opportunity to engage with your direct report through video platforms such as Slack, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams.Â
As the remote teams may be located in different time zones or geographical areas, these one-on-one meetings help you interact in real-time with your colleagues to ensure productivity, good communication, and the well-being of remote employees.
Remote one-on-one meetings provide dedicated time for the managers and their direct reports to build rapport and have a trusting work relationship.Â
Besides this, it allows the manager to share feedback in a personal environment and provide actionable insights and suggestions on employee performance.Â
These meetings also allow the employees to share their challenges at work and make them feel heard. This, in turn, results in better collaboration amongst the teams as everyone feels appreciated.Â
Overall, the purposes of a remote one-on-one meeting include:
Checking in on how an employee is feeling and discussing the challenges
Goal setting to align the goals with the team’s objectives
Framing a clear performance action plan
Providing a private venue for sharing feedback among remote professionals
Many organizations have weekly one-on-one meetings. However, you should have them at least once in two weeks to foster trust and communication.
According to a report, most managers prefer a 30-minute one-on-one meeting every week. However, the duration and frequency of the meeting depend primarily on the manager and employee relationship and the agenda of the meeting.
Here are a few steps to guide you to a successful virtual one-on-one meeting.
Step 1: Schedule a meeting
The first step is to send an email invitation to the employee, informing them about the date, time, and location of the meeting.Â
You can also directly schedule a meeting through a Google Calendar and pre-book the time slots. In the description field, you can also provide any references to read beforehand.
Step 2: Prepare a meeting agenda
Next, the manager should prepare the agenda as it ensures that nothing important is left out from the discussion, and being ready helps everyone save time.Â
You can directly use the remote one-on-one meeting template the Airgram team has provided and make changes as you like.
Here is a list of some common one-on-one questions that will come in handy:
Do you feel that you have a good work-life balance?
Do you enjoy your current responsibilities?
Do you feel your present role aligns with your future aspirations?
Do you need any support from me to accomplish any tasks?
How do you feel working along with other members of the team?
Is there anything you would have done differently if you were in my shoes?
You can also refer to the exhaustive list of questions while preparing the agenda.
Step 3: Document during the meeting
More than meeting templates, Airgram is a meeting assistant that helps you conduct one-on-one meetings easily and effectively. It offers real-time transcription for Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams so that you can focus on communicating with the employee without worrying about jotting down notes.Â
It also enables you to take a quick look at your last one-on-one meeting with the help of associated recurring meeting notes to continue your talk smoothly.