“Managers account for at least 70% of variance in employee engagement scores.”
State of the American Manager –
Managers are where strategy meets the work. They cascade priorities, clear blockers, develop people, and shape how employees see the company. Gallup’s research finds the manager is the single biggest driver of whether a team is engaged.
One of the simplest tools a manager has is the regular one-on-one. We ask leaders at our partner companies to make 1:1s standard practice for every manager, and we train managers on a few principles and one agenda.
Seven principles
- Make it the norm. Every manager holds 1:1s with every direct report. Employees should feel free to flag when they aren’t happening.
- Keep it regular. Weekly or every other week, 30 or 60 minutes. Keep time roughly even across a team, except when someone is on a high-pressure deliverable or underperforming.
- Give it structure. Keep the person’s priorities and KPIs, laddered from the company’s, in a shared document with notes, projects and action items.
- Let the employee lead. They set the agenda and run the conversation. Managers listen first, then listen more. Ownership of the 1:1 tends to track ownership of the work.
- Focus on support. The manager’s job is to remove roadblocks and help. Give timely, direct feedback, but save a full performance conversation for a separate meeting.
- Notice how they’re doing. Body language, offhand comments and out-of-pattern behavior matter. Whatever the KPIs say, people should feel safe enough to set them aside and raise a worry.
- Look ahead once a quarter. Use at least one 1:1 a quarter for career development (more below).
A simple agenda
| Step | What happens |
|---|---|
| Check-in | Start with an open-ended question about how they’re doing. |
| Progress | The employee walks through goals, priorities and last week’s actions using the shared document. The manager seeks to understand and offers help. |
| Support | Go deep together wherever help or advice is needed. |
| Actions | Agree on next steps, owners and timing, and record them in the shared document. |
Once a quarter, make it about growth
Most development happens on the job, not in a classroom. We use the 70-20-10 model as a rule of thumb:
- 70% from experience. Doing the work, with stretch built in. Someone learning to give feedback does it two or three times a week.
- 20% from other people. Coaching and feedback from a manager or colleague who sees the work.
- 10% from formal learning. A course, a workshop, or a well-chosen reading.
Use the quarterly 1:1 to agree on a short development plan: where the person wants to be in six, twelve and twenty-four months, the two or three skills that will get them there, and actions across all three types of learning. The employee owns their development; the manager’s job is to support it.