What You Need to Prepare for One on One

Meetings With Your Boss

So your one-on-

one meeting with

your boss is your

most

important work meeting

But only when

you do it

right

Here are some best

practice suggestions

that will turn your one-

on-ones with your boss

into a place to solve

your problems and

advance your

career

These are the

items you need to

be prepared to

discuss with your

boss…

#1 Status

update for the

week before (or

since the last one-

on-one)

• What you’ve done

• What you’ve done

• Outcomes/ results achieved

• What you’ve done

• Outcomes/ results achieved

• Difficulties you’ve faced and overcome

• What you’ve done

• Outcomes/ results achieved

• Difficulties you’ve faced and overcome

• Any important decisions your boss should be informed about

• What you’ve done

• Outcomes/ results achieved

• Difficulties you’ve faced and overcome

• Any important decisions your boss should be informed about

• Any other FYI topics that you think the boss would like to be informed about

Don’t forget that if your

boss has given you

work to do but you

haven’t yet

done it they

still want to know…

• That you haven’t forgotten about it and,

• That you haven’t forgotten about it and,

• When you are planning to do it

• That you haven’t forgotten about it and,

• When you are planning to do it

• In particular the action items from prior agendas

P.S This is your

time with your

boss.

You choose how

to prioritize and what is

important to share

It’s also a chance

to catch up with your boss on

a more personal

level too

#2 Your

plan for the

week ahead

• What you plan to work on in the week ahead, defined in tangible deliverables

• What you plan to work on in the week ahead, defined in tangible deliverables

• Your priorities

• What you plan to work on in the week ahead, defined in tangible deliverables

• Your priorities

• Important events or interruptions (work or personal)

• What you plan to work on in the week ahead, defined in tangible deliverables

• Your priorities

• Important events or interruptions (work or personal)

• What you may need from your boss in the week ahead e.g. when you may need the boss to do something for you or make a decision

#3 Items for

input from

your boss

• Input on any problems that need to be solved

• Input on any problems that need to be solved

• Decisions beyond your authority (that you need your boss to make)

• Input on any problems that need to be solved

• Decisions beyond your authority (that you need your boss to make)

• Direction and priorities for the week ahead

#4 NB Any

potential

issues

boiling up

• Bosses don’t like surprises

Has your boss

ever said to

you,

“I don’t like

surprises”

?

Even if they

haven’t, trust me

they don’t.

This is your

chance to

discuss any

important issues

building up

• Bosses don’t like surprises

• Gives your boss a chance to pre-empt problems

• Bosses don’t like surprises

• Gives your boss a chance to pre-empt problems

• Put simple, if things go pear shaped, you’ll get into less trouble

Got personal

issues that may

affect your work –

this is a good time

to share them

#5 Your

growth (you

may not need

to cover this

every week)

• What roles you are aiming at

• What roles you are aiming at

• Additional responsibilities that interest you or support your career growth

• What roles you are aiming at

• Additional responsibilities that interest you or support your career growth

• Any training you need to get better at current role or prepare for future roles

Secret Ninja Manager Trick

Asking the hard questions…

The following is a

simple technique that is

going to help

prevent getting in

trouble and getting bad

surprises in your

performance review

But it needs you

to do the

opposite of

what most people

want to do

Because most

people don’t like

finding out what

they are doing

wrong

• It’s not nice to find out that you are doing something wrong

• It’s not nice to find out that you are doing something wrong

• But it’s always better to know if you’re not meeting expectations

Even if your boss

has totally

unrealistic

expectations, it’s better to get

these out in the open

early on so you can

do something about

it.

Rather than get

a

disappointing surprise later on

down the road.

And how you do

this is that you

check in with

performance

expectations

Which is as simple

as asking:

“How am I meeting

your performance

expectations?”

Okay so that wraps up

what you need to prepare and do as

your part of creating a

well functioning

workplace

It looks like

a lot…

But it’s like a yoga practice

– you will get better at it over time

And you don’t

need to do

everything

every time

But I’m also sure

you can see

that following this

one-on-one

process is going

to…

• Save you time

• Save you time

• Improve your work performance by working smarter, not harder

• Save you time

• Improve your work performance by working smarter, not harder

• It’s going to lead to better bonuses, promotions and increases and,

• Save you time

• Improve your work performance by working smarter, not harder

• It’s going to lead to better bonuses, promotions and increases and,

• Ultimately lead to better happiness in the workplace

This module is part of a mini course on one-on-ones with

your boss

Includes One on One Templates and Best Practices

Would you like to build a better relationship with your boss, plus better your bonuses and promotions?

Let the experts show you how:

www.managerfoundation.com/one-on-one-meetings-with-your-boss

What You Need to Prepare for One on One

Meetings With Your Boss