How effective are your touch base meetings with your direct reports? Every manager needs regular one-on-one meetings with their team, but if these meetings aren’t structured and well-disciplined, they can quickly drain time and resources. Here’s what you need to know about making the most of a quick touch base.

What Is the Purpose of a Touch Base Meeting?

A touch-base meeting, sometimes 1:1, is a routine check-in between a leader and each team member. Depending on the department size, these meetings usually happen weekly, biweekly, or monthly.

In an ideal world, having one-on-one meetings with each of your direct reports allows you to monitor projects, set goals, troubleshoot obstacles, give feedback, clarify objectives and expectations, and build relationships with your team.

In practice, however, too many touch-base meetings are wasted time. If your one-on-ones regularly run long, don’t result in substantive discussions, or are something you dread seeing on your calendar, it’s time to make a change.

Crafting a Touch Base Meeting Agenda

I think the key to keeping your meetings concise and productive is to send an agenda or pre-established outline to all parties beforehand. This agenda should have questions answered by your direct reports in advance so they arrive at the meeting prepared to discuss them. The questions will vary slightly depending on your needs, but should be goal-focused and action-oriented.

Here are some examples of questions you should include on your touch-base meeting agenda. Some of these are questions I successfully used when I managed a large staff. The trick is to ensure that your direct reports work through these questions beforehand so they have answers ready.

• Since we last met, could you give me a quick overview of your department’s progress and metrics?
• What was your top accomplishment this week/month?
• Please update me on the status of each of your personal goals.
• What’s the one thing you should do this week that would take you nearer to your goal?
• Prioritize and describe your top 5-10 urgent and important to-dos for this month.
• Who on your team is excelling and why?
• Who on your team needs help? Why?
• What should you be doing less (or more) of that would help you move forward with your goals?
• What is your biggest challenge right now?
• If you had an extra hour this week to work on a non-priority project, what would it be and why?
• What can I do to help you succeed?

Asking open-ended questions like these encourages productive discussion. Please be careful not to overload the agenda with too many discussion points; keeping meetings short and sweet is better. Once you find the right combination of talking points for your team, you can start making the most of your one-on-ones.

Action-oriented touch-base meetings with your direct reports are essential to achieving workplace goals. A business coach can help you get more out of your meetings. You can schedule a complimentary coaching session here to improve your meeting management skills.

Coach Dave