1. Send the invite yourself. Recurring, 30 minutes, weekly or fortnightly — never ad hoc.

2. Tell them the meeting is theirs, and that you will not cancel it.

3. Share the agenda structure in advance so they can prepare.

4. Create a shared running document only the two of you can see.

5. Block ten minutes beforehand to re-read your last set of notes.

6. Start with them, not with status. Status has other meetings.

7. Ask your opening question, then stop talking.

8. Take notes visibly, and say out loud what you are writing down.

9. Ask what is slowing them down that you could remove.

10. Ask what you missed this week.

11. Listen for the thing mentioned once, quietly, near the end.

12. Do not solve a problem they are still describing.

13. Say "I don't know, I'll find out by Friday" whenever it is true.

14. Cover career direction at least monthly — not only when someone resigns.

15. Give one specific piece of positive feedback, with evidence.

16. Check the ratio. If you spoke more than half the time, correct it next week.

17. Write up your commitments within the hour, not the day.

18. Close out last week's commitments before accepting new ones.

19. Never reschedule a 1:1 twice. Cancel instead of drifting it.

20. Read across all your 1:1 notes monthly and look for the pattern.

How to Run Your First 1:1

Working through your first year as a manager?