---
name: one-on-one-prep
description: "Prepare for a 1:1 so it drives outcomes instead of becoming a status update. Use when asked to prep for a one-on-one, build a 1:1 agenda, prepare to talk to your manager (or a report), or raise something hard in a 1:1. Produces a focused 1:1 agenda — your top topics with the outcome you want for each, the asks, updates kept brief, and growth/feedback threads, tuned to direction (with your manager vs. with a report)."
---

# One-on-One Prep Skill

The 1:1 is the highest-leverage meeting you have — and it's wasted when it defaults to status (which
belongs in writing). This skill preps an agenda built around the **outcomes you want**: the decisions to
unblock, the asks to make, the feedback to exchange, and the career threads to keep warm — so 30 minutes
moves things instead of just reporting them.

## Required Inputs

Ask for these only if they aren't already provided:

- **Direction** — prepping for a 1:1 **with your manager** (managing up) or **with your report** (managing down)? The agenda differs.
- **What's on your mind** — blockers, decisions, tensions, wins, career topics (rough notes are fine).
- **Anything time-sensitive** or any hard thing you've been avoiding raising.
- **Last 1:1's follow-ups**, if any.

## Output Format

### 1:1 Prep — with [name], [date]

**1. Top topics (most important first)** — for each: the topic, **the outcome you want**, and the framing. Lead with what needs a decision or unblock, not updates.

| Topic | Outcome I want | How I'll frame it |
|---|---|---|

**2. Asks** — explicit requests (a decision, air cover, a connection, time). Naming the ask is the point of the meeting.

**3. Status — kept brief** — 2–3 bullets of what they genuinely need to know; link the rest. Don't let this eat the meeting.

**4. Feedback (both ways)** — feedback to give (specific, kind, actionable) and a prompt to ask for feedback on yourself.

**5. Growth / career** — the longer-game thread to keep warm (a stretch goal, a development area, a promotion track).

**6. Follow-ups** — from last time, and what you'll commit to from this one.

*Direction note:* **managing up** → lead with decisions you need and asks; surface risks early; make it easy to help you. **Managing down** → lead with their agenda and growth, listen more than you talk, end with clear next steps.

## Quality Checks

- [ ] Topics lead with a desired **outcome**, not a status recap
- [ ] At least one explicit **ask** is named
- [ ] Status is condensed to a few bullets (the rest written/linked)
- [ ] Feedback flows both ways, and is specific and actionable
- [ ] A growth/career thread is kept on the agenda, not just the urgent stuff
- [ ] The agenda is tuned to direction (managing up vs. down)

## Anti-Patterns

- [ ] Do not turn the 1:1 into a status report — status belongs in writing; use the live time for decisions, feedback, and growth
- [ ] Do not avoid the hard topic — name it, framed constructively; the 1:1 is the safest place to raise it
- [ ] Do not arrive without an ask — "anything you need?" wastes the leverage
- [ ] Do not let career/growth fall off when things are busy — it's the first thing dropped and the most costly
- [ ] Do not over-pack — 3 real topics beat 10 skimmed

## Based On

1:1 management practice (Andy Grove, *High Output Management*; manager-tools 1:1 cadence) — outcome-led agendas, managing up and down.
