Coaching practices for What to Talk About in One on Ones

Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For What to Talk About in One on Ones, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.

Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?

• Every single one-on-one we only ever talk about this week’s deliverables, and we never once zoom out to where they’re headed
• I walk in with my list of things to check on and immediately steer the whole hour into my project review
• The one-on-ones I do across a desk feel stiff, and the honest stuff and the good ideas never quite come out face to face
• My one-on-ones always open with a status check
• My one-on-ones sprawl and end with nothing decided

Practices that may help

1. Effective One-on-Ones, Made Practical
   An effective one-on-one is a recurring, protected meeting that belongs to your report: they own the agenda, and your job is to listen, unblock, and support their growth — not to run a status update. The relational mechanisms (regular contact, voice, support) are well grounded; the specific cadence and format are practitioner craft built on top of them.
2. Spend real time on growth, not just tasks
   Regularly leave the weeds and talk about career, skills, and where they’re headed.
   Effective One-on-Ones, Made Practical
3. Let the report own the agenda
   It’s their meeting — they bring what matters to them, and you adapt to it.
   Effective One-on-Ones, Made Practical
4. Walking meetings and conversations
   Move one-on-ones and brainstorms onto a walk instead of a table.
   Walking for Creativity
5. Open with "What’s on your mind?"
   The best opening question is also the most open — it invites exactly what the person most needs to talk about.
   The Coaching Habit: Seven Questions to Be More Coach-Like
6. Set the Goal — establish what the conversation is for
   Begin every coaching conversation by clarifying what the person wants to achieve in this session.
   The GROW Model: Coaching Conversations That Actually Move People
7. Make one-on-ones genuinely theirs, not yours
   One-on-ones that serve the manager’s agenda demonstrate the opposite of caring personally.
   Caring Personally: The Foundation of Radical Candor
8. Make feedback flow in both directions
   Give timely, specific feedback — and ask for it on your own management.
   Effective One-on-Ones, Made Practical
9. Listen far more than you talk
   Aim to talk a fraction of the time; your silence is what makes space for the real issues.
   Effective One-on-Ones, Made Practical
10. Make it recurring and genuinely protected
    A standing slot you almost never cancel beats a longer meeting held only when there’s a "reason."
    Effective One-on-Ones, Made Practical

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