One-on-one meetings with your manager are more than just routine check-ins, they’re your opportunity to shine, build trust, and accelerate your career growth. Whether you meet weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly, these dedicated conversations are your chance to demonstrate your value, tackle obstacles head-on, and align your efforts with your manager’s expectations.
Yet many professionals approach their 1:1s passively, waiting for their manager to drive the agenda or simply providing surface-level updates. This is a missed opportunity. The most successful employees understand that owning their 1:1 meetings is a strategic career move that builds confidence, establishes credibility, and creates stronger working relationships.
Here’s how you’re going to kill your 1:1 moving forward:
1. Start by showing what you’ve been working on and have successfully accomplished.
Focus on the tasks you’ve already completed to build trust and confidence. When you’re sharing them, mention the processes you went through to achieve them. For instance: “I built a PR outreach plan for the new project launch and reached out to the brands team to ensure the plan was aligned with our overall brand positioning. The brands team took 2 days to get back to me and asked me to make a few corrections, which I did. Now, everything looks great and is ready to launch.”
2. Speak about your challenges and ask for help.
When discussing your challenges, tell your manager about the solutions you tried that didn’t work, and let them know how much effort you put in before raising it with them. This will show that you take ownership of your role and are solution-oriented. It also means they can trust you to be independent and proactive. Then, ask for their help and opinion. Ask if there are any blind spots they might have noticed that you can pay attention to. Is there someone they can recommend you speak to? Involve them in the process.
3. Share what you’ll do next.
Tell them what your next steps will be and ask if there are any additional steps they’d like you to take. It’s important to leave your 1:1 with a clear action plan. Do you need to send emails to anyone? Is there a different approach you should take to your work? What do you need to do? Then do it.
Remember, this is your personal time with your manager. Make a good impression, show you’re hardworking, and most importantly, show that you can be trusted to do excellent work.
Hopefully these tips can help you take your 1:1 to the next level. If you have any questions about implementing these strategies, feel free to reach out, I’d be happy to discuss how you can make these techniques work for your specific situation.
