One On One Meetings
One-on-one (1:1) meetings are essential check-in sessions between the company and individual employees. They serve as scheduled opportunities to discuss various aspects of the employee experience, ensuring a direct line of communication.
Two kind of 1:1 meetings usually take place in SparkFabrik.
The first one is with HR professionals, and are focused on addressing concerns, providing support, and maintaining a pulse on employee well-being. Those kind of meetings are organized by the HR departement at specific cadence, as described in this page.
The second one may happen on demand, when the need arise, between team mates - usually between a Team Leader, a Project Manager or in general who has more experience or responsibilities and an employee working in their team. These meetings are focused on performance review, career progression, and setting goals.
If you need advice on how to conduct such events, please read the dedicated guide.
Foreward note
Our one-on-one meeting is heavily inspired in spirit and practice by the 24 questions to ask in your next 1:1 meeting post by Jason Lauritsen on the Small improvements blog.
HR representatives and team leads engaging in one-on-ones with employees and team mates are required to read the whole post and take inspiration.
Cadence
The company will make sure that every employee has at least two one-on-one meetings each year. All employees with a role in operations will attend the meeting with a designated HR representative.
There are no prerequisites for one-to-ones, and an effective agenda for the meeting is detailed below, but each employee who wants to take the most out of the event must come prepared with topics to discuss.
One-on-ones with your Team Leader, responsible or direct report are great opportunities to talk about your career, your performance, and your professional goals. If you feel this is important, we strongly advise you get ready for the meeting with a self-assessment.
Optionally you can ask for an assessment from your responsible or senior teammate - this is especially recommended for junior developers.
Goal
The one-on-one meeting is not an occasion for control or top-down education. It is a meeting of the employee and for the employee, with the following goals:
- Receive honest feedback
- Provide honest feedback
- Discuss impediments
- Setting short-term goals and checking the former ones
Agenda
To achieve meeting goals we set the following agenda over a 40 minutes meeting:
- Warm-up (5 mins): What is the single most important thing we need to discuss today? (Adjust the agenda accordingly, if there is a main topic)
- Celebration (10 mins): What are your most significant accomplishments since we last met? Did you already match the goals you set last time?
- Impediments (15 mins): What obstacles are you encountering right now? Where do you struggle?
- Next goals (15 mins): What are the most important things you will focus on before we meet next (relates to point 1)? Can we state it as a SMART goal?
- Offer to help (10 mins): What can we as your managers do better or differently to support you?
- Facilitator feedback (5 mins): What are your feelings on this one-on-one? How should I improve as a facilitator?
Outcome
The HR representative will summarize the outcome in a record on PeopleForce (our HR-management tool).
Talking points, action items and notes of the meeting will always be available for scrutiny on that platform, accessible to the sole participants. Comments may be added even after the event is over.
When relevant, the outcome of the meeting will be shared with the company governance, and potentially with team leaders, if applicable.
See the mentioned guide on 1:1s for details on the 1:1 records.