The perfect one on one meeting request email sample

Setting up new one one one meetings can be a daunting proposition. If done well, this is the start of a beautiful collaboration. If not, it will take months to course correct. It is very important to set the right context via a meeting request email. Here are some things you must cover:

• The importance of one on one meetings
• How you usually conduct it 
• What are the usual discussion points
• How can the team member add their talking points to the agenda
• A few preferred time slots and frequency

Feel free to copy & edit the email sample below when sending a meeting request to the team member. 

Subject: Let’s set up our one on one meetings cadence

Hi Jane, 

I am excited to start working more closely with you in the marketing team! I would love to set aside dedicated time for us to meet 1 on 1 privately. This is a standard cadence I follow with all team members :) We usually meet once every 2 weeks for 45 minutes or so to discuss:

• Your career goals and progress
• The team’s vision and your thoughts on it 
• Which areas of work can I help you with 
• Your energy levels & reducing burn out etc

This is an opportunity for us to introspect and think strategically about success. I also like to use this meeting to get feedback from you on myself as a leader. Remember - this is not about status updates! And neither is this a performance review meeting. 

Everything we discuss will always remain 100% private between us! This is how it usually works:

1. We decide a cadence (I recommend every second Friday at 2 PM, does that work for you?)
2. We decide on a meeting template (I usually follow this in a Google Doc). You should own the agenda of the meeting. It is your meeting after all! We can add one new page of the same document for every meeting.
3. We must decide an agenda for every meeting in advance. Here are some questions that I love to ask. Feel free to add your own 
4. During the meeting, we will take a separate note of any action items that come up. 

I am looking forward to doing our first one :) I recommend that you suggest changes to this, if any! Every partnership is different, and we should change our frameworks accordingly. 

Thanks,

John