How to Decide Between One-On-One and Team Meetings

Meetings are an essential tool for any company. Understanding the critical differences between a one-on-one meeting and a team meeting allows you to plan ahead of time what you will discuss, when, and with whom.

One-on-one meetings allow managers and their direct reports to engage directly on issues such as the employee's career aspirations and personal workload.

On the other hand, team meetings provide an opportunity for everyone to get together and align on common goals and collaborative projects.

The main differences between one-on-one meetings and team meetings

1. Purpose

Team and one-on-one meetings' aims, goals, and outcomes are typically distinct. The goal of getting together as a team could be to unify a specific result to which everyone contributes. One-on-ones could be used to connect with or support team members individually.

2. Format and structure

Each meeting type's structure and presentation are also often distinct. A one-on-one meeting can quickly turn into a discussion, even if it is centred on your talking points or meeting agenda. On the other hand, team relationships may be less dynamic or more timed out because they contain more people.

3. Frequency

Both meetings should occur regularly, although most managers prioritise one-on-one meetings above team meetings. Furthermore, team meetings are likely to feel more regular to employees than individual touch points with their managers. This is simply because managers meet with each team member individually, but how frequently you have one-on-ones will depend on your context.

Why one-on-one meetings are important

• It helps employees advance in their careers. You want your employees to grow professionally, and you want them to succeed in your company. These sessions allow managers to discuss each employee's career goals and assist them in developing a plan to accomplish those goals.

• You can coach employee performance through it. Giving employees timely, detailed feedback and helping them through problems helps them succeed in their roles. And addressing any performance issue early on helps avoid affecting an employee's confidence or the team's success.

• The opportunity to interact on a more personal level. Knowing, understanding, and engaging with your people are integral to being a great manager. One-on-one meetings, which often have more conversational agendas, are ideal for this.

Why team meetings are important

• It brings everyone up to speed. Team meetings are an excellent method to foster the kind of team alignment that leads to high performance. When people communicate often, they are more in tune with what they are striving toward as a group and their individual roles in that purpose.

• It develops trust and rapport. High-performing teams are also cohesive, knowing, trusting, and understanding one another. Bringing everyone together allows for the exchange of ideas, the sharing of viewpoints, the asking of questions, and the raising of difficulties.

• It drives understanding. Team meetings can also help your team grasp its objectives, goals, and duties. This also assists individual team members in understanding their role in the larger picture.

Who is in charge of one-on-one meetings?

There are no hard and fast rules for conducting a one-on-one meeting. It is sometimes appropriate for the manager to take the lead in going over agenda items and asking one-on-one questions. At other times, let the employee lead the talk while the boss takes meeting notes. This will be determined by factors such as:

• What is being discussed, and what type of session you are having,

• Whether this is your first one-on-one meeting,

• Who scheduled the meeting or created the meeting agenda, and 

• The communication style emerged between the two participants.

Who is in charge of team meetings?

Anyone can lead a team meeting. However, managers are generally in charge of these types of meetings. However, allowing employees to steer some team dialogues is also beneficial.

Some team meetings may be led in rotation, or specific employees may take the lead on meetings involving the projects they lead.

Consider identifying opportunities for many employees to chip in on meeting execution by taking on duties such as: 

• Leading a meeting check-in to set the tone for the next session,

• Being a timekeeper to ensure you stick to the meeting agenda,

• Taking meeting notes and then sending out a summary of significant topics,

• Assisting as a mediator and ensuring that everyone gets an opportunity to speak,

• Requesting volunteers to carry out any action items that the team establishes.

The types of one-on-one meetings

1. Sharing input: Managers can provide feedback to help employees progress, or employees can give feedback to help their manager support the team more effectively.

2. Setting employee objectives: Employees should outline some development goals with their manager every 3 to 6 months to help drive their career success.

3. Performance appraisals: Managers should do a more formal performance review at least twice a year to inform employees of their roles, duties, and expectations.

4. Difficult discussions: During these individual interactions, managers may need to talk one-on-one with a difficult team member or resolve team problems.

The types of team meetings

1. Daily status reports: Taking 15 minutes for everyone to explain what they are working on and how far they have come helps the team stay on track and remove any roadblocks that arise.

2. Weekly team meetings: an excellent opportunity to coordinate priorities, plan for absences or vacation time, and discuss team concerns or challenges. They are also a perfect opportunity for managers to express gratitude.

3. Staff meetings every three months: This is a great time to go through strategy and create roadmaps, and it can even be a larger meeting to bring people together from different teams or departments.

4. One-time meetings: These are meetings managers organise when urgent issues arise that must be addressed quickly. For example, if there is a significant change that will influence the team, such as a departure, strategy shift, or restructure.

5. Retrospective meetings: They are crucial because they allow the team to reflect on their work, teamwork, and what they have accomplished together. Retrospective meetings assist a team in improving their methods and growing as a unit.

The basic message is that one-on-one and team meetings serve different functions, yet both are equally necessary. One-on-one meetings allow you to interact with your colleagues individually, whereas team meetings allow you to address your team as a whole.

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