Design a recurring one-to-one structure with an agenda the direct report owns and prepares.
Leadership & Management
Running One-to-One Meetings with Direct Reports
Gives managers a repeatable structure for one-to-one meetings that surfaces problems early, builds trust and supports career growth instead of becoming a routine status update.
🗓️Duration5 training days
📚Content4 modules · 8 sessions
🎓On completionAccredited attendance certificate
About the programme
Course Overview
Many managers run one-to-ones every week yet still miss the problem that later causes a resignation, because the meeting has quietly become a status update read from a task list. This course rebuilds the one-to-one as a tool for coaching, early warning and career development, starting with who should actually own the agenda and how long a meaningful conversation needs to run. Participants practise the GROW structure for coaching questions, learn to use silence and open questions instead of filling every gap with advice, and rehearse the specific conversations that one-to-ones are best placed to carry: career aspirations, workload concerns, and early signs of disengagement. The course also covers the practical realities managers face today, including running one-to-ones with remote or hybrid direct reports over video, keeping a shared living document of commitments, and adjusting frequency and depth for new starters compared with experienced staff. Participants leave with a personal one-to-one template, a bank of coaching questions, and a method for tracking actions so commitments made in the room are not forgotten by the next session.
Expected Learning Outcomes
Apply the GROW model to turn a one-to-one into a coaching conversation rather than a status update.
Use open questions and deliberate silence to surface problems a direct report has not yet raised.
Hold a career development conversation that identifies concrete next steps within the current role.
Deliver in-the-moment feedback inside a one-to-one using a clear, low-drama structure.
Adapt one-to-one cadence and depth for remote, hybrid, new-starter and experienced direct reports.
Track commitments from each one-to-one in a shared document and review follow-through consistently.
Who Should Attend
New and experienced line managers responsible for regular one-to-ones.
Team leaders managing a mix of remote, hybrid and office-based direct reports.
Supervisors who currently use one-to-ones mainly for task updates.
HR business partners coaching managers on one-to-one practice.
Project leads holding informal one-to-ones without a fixed structure.
Senior managers reviewing one-to-one quality across their leadership team.
Course Modules
Select any module to see its sessions and points.
01Designing a One-to-One That Earns Its Place in the Diary
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1Setting Purpose, Cadence and Agenda Ownership
- Define the specific purposes a one-to-one serves that team meetings and email cannot cover.
- Set cadence and length based on role complexity, tenure and the direct report's experience.
- Hand agenda ownership to the direct report using a shared template of standing topics.
- Separate one-to-one time from project status updates that belong in other meetings.
Session 2Building a Recurring Structure That Avoids the Status Trap
- Open each one-to-one with a consistent question that shifts focus away from task lists.
- Reserve fixed time within the structure for career, wellbeing and blockers each cycle.
- Close with a clear summary of commitments and who owns each next step.
- Recognise the warning signs that a one-to-one has drifted back into a reporting session.
02Coaching Skills for the Conversation Itself
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1Applying the GROW Model and Powerful Questions
- Use the Goal, Reality, Options, Will structure to move a stuck problem towards a decision.
- Build a personal bank of open questions that invite reflection instead of yes-or-no answers.
- Resist the urge to solve a direct report's problem before they have finished framing it.
- Convert vague concerns raised in conversation into a specific, testable next action.
Session 2Listening for What Is Not Being Said
- Use active listening techniques, including reflecting and summarising, to check understanding.
- Hold deliberate silence after a question instead of rushing to fill the gap.
- Read changes in tone, energy or engagement as signals worth following up directly.
- Create enough psychological safety that a direct report will raise a problem early.
03Career, Feedback and Harder Conversations
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1Holding Career and Development Conversations
- Ask stay-interview style questions to understand what keeps a direct report engaged.
- Map a direct report's stated ambitions against realistic next steps inside the team.
- Agree a small development action after every few one-to-ones rather than an annual plan alone.
- Distinguish between career conversations you can act on and those to escalate upward.
Session 2Giving Feedback and Raising Concerns in the Room
- Apply the Situation-Behaviour-Impact model to raise a specific concern inside a one-to-one.
- Separate a single piece of feedback from a broader character judgement about the person.
- Document a performance concern raised one-to-one so a pattern can be shown if it continues.
- Check understanding by asking the direct report to restate the concern in their own words.
04Sustaining the Practice Across Contexts and Teams
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1Running One-to-Ones with Remote and Hybrid Reports
- Adjust camera, screen-share and turn-taking habits so a video one-to-one still feels personal.
- Compensate for lost corridor conversations by adding a short informal check-in each time.
- Manage time-zone and asynchronous constraints without cutting the one-to-one to a formality.
- Read engagement over video using cues beyond tone of voice and camera presence alone.
Session 2Tracking Actions and Avoiding Common Failure Modes
- Maintain a shared living document that carries commitments forward from one session to the next.
- Review completion of prior actions at the start of each one-to-one before raising new topics.
- Identify the most common failure modes, including cancelling, rushing and manager monologue.
- Calibrate one-to-one frequency and depth as a direct report gains experience and autonomy.
What the participant receives
4 course modules
A structured syllabus
8 training sessions
across 5 days
32 detailed points
Applied, detailed content
Accredited attendance certificate
On completing the programme
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