Template
Remote one-on-one template
A one-on-one for a manager and someone who works away from the office: the work, and the things a video call hides — workload, isolation and what does not reach them from the team.
The agenda, with a time for each part
- How working remotely is going5 min
- What is easier from home right now, and what is harder?
- What you are hearing late, or not at all6 min
- What did you find out after everybody in the office already knew?
- Your week, in priorities7 min
- What is the one thing that has to move this week?
- Workload and hours6 min
- Are you finishing at a reasonable time, or is the laptop never closed?
- Feedback, both ways4 min
- What should I do differently as your manager from a distance?
- What we will write down2 min
- What goes in our shared notes so neither of us has to remember it?
How the notes read afterwards
A made-up example, so you can see the shape. In a real call each line carries the words that were said and who said them.
How it is going. Easier to focus; lonelier than expected on Fridays.
Heard late. The pricing change — found out from a customer.
Workload. Logging on again at 9pm most nights; agreed to stop.
Written down. I copy her into the pricing channel; she blocks Friday afternoon for a co-working call with two teammates.
Running it well
- Keep cameras on and the time fixed. When the only contact is a video call, a cancelled one-on-one is the whole relationship that week.
- Ask what they heard late. Remote people miss the corridor conversations where plans change, and they rarely complain about it.
- Keep a shared document for every one-on-one, so the conversation carries on between calls in writing.
Ways to change it
When to skip it. Never skip two in a row; if a week is impossible, swap it for a written check-in.
Questions
How often should remote one-on-ones happen?
Weekly or every two weeks; remote staff usually need them at least as often as office staff, because there is less informal contact.
What should a remote one-on-one cover?
Priorities and blockers, as in any one-on-one, plus workload, isolation and information the person may be missing by not being in the office.
Should cameras be on in a remote one-on-one?
Usually yes — seeing each other matters more when it is the main contact you have.
What happens in the room
Everybody joins from the link, with no account. The agenda sits beside the call and each item fills in with what was said about it, under the name of the person who said it.
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