Mini-masterclass with Rachael Fitzjohn, people & culture expert from Emerging Engines.
Rachael Fitzjohn is back! After tackling performance reviews and conflict, she’s focusing on one of our most powrful people tools: one-on-one meetings. Rachael’s been on both sides of countless one-on-ones and knows the difference between meetings that energise vs drain.
The biggest issue? Most treat one-on-ones as work status updates, missing the chance to build genuine engagement.
Five ways to fix your one-on-ones:
1️⃣ Support, not status: Ask ‘How’s your week feeling?’ instead of ‘How’s that project going?’ You want to catch problems when they’re small. Meet weekly, fortnightly or monthly – less and you’ll miss warning signs.
2️⃣ Keep feedback separate: Save tough conversations for their own time. Use one-on-ones for quick checks: ‘Is anything I’m doing making your job harder?’
3️⃣ Show up prepared: Come with two things to discuss. Be present and follow through. If you’re always distracted, people stop sharing the important stuff.
4️⃣ Share the agenda: Start with ‘What do you want to talk about?’ Both people should get value, not just whoever’s running it.
5️⃣ Mix it up: Walking chats when energy is low, reset chats when tension is rising, career talks when they’re ready to grow.
Busy team? Don’t let one-on-ones become another project meeting. You have other meetings for work updates. This one is for the human stuff – how people are doing, what they need, and where they want to go.
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"So many gems! Thank you. Missed this one live so glad to be able to catchup this evening. I got some great inspiration and ideas to ask for and switch up my one on ones with my coach and manager. "
