How to fill out a 1:1

What is a 1:1, how the My 1:1s page works, and how respond to the questions in a 1:1

Britta avatar
Written by Britta
Updated over a week ago

What is a 1:1?

1:1s (or "one-on-ones") in Uptick are recurring meetings, every or every-other week, for 15-60 minutes.

A 1:1 is between two people, and one person is in the "manager" role (the person who is managing the 1:1 setup) and one person is in the "team member" role (the person responding to the prompts).

1:1s are private between those two people – the only parts that are visible to someone else on the account (an Admin) are any set Goals and Action Items for the team member. All comments and any other questions used in a 1:1 are always private.


How do 1:1s work in Uptick?

Once a 1:1 has been set up you'll receive an email from Uptick with an invitation to login to your account.

(Bookmark that page for easy access!)

Your 1:1 is a recurring meeting, and generates automatically each week or every two weeks (based on your meeting cadence), with questions for you to respond to prior to your meeting time.

Once you login, the first page you'll see is the My 1:1s page (read more below). This is the main page that you'll always use to access your upcoming 1:1, see past 1:1s, add talking points, etc.

We always recommend that managers and team members communicate about how far in advance the manager would like the team member to have their responses shared with them. Some managers prefer to have responses completed 24 hours in advance of the meeting, and some managers are OK with an hour or less before the meeting time. If your manager hasn't communicated an expectation, ask them!


Getting started: the My 1:1s page

Once a 1:1 has been set up, the My 1:1s page is the first page that you see:

If you do not see a 1:1 set up for you, either you were invited to your Uptick account before the 1:1 was set up, or perhaps you are supposed to initiate the setup. Talk to your manager if you are not sure!

The My 1:1s page is not your actual 1:1 – it's like an overview page for you. When you are just getting started, there is very little content on the page, but it becomes populated with information over time as you continue to meet.

To view your upcoming 1:1 and respond to the questions, click the blue "Fill out 1:1" button in the top right. (Jump to: How to fill out your 1:1)

Your upcoming 1:1

Your upcoming 1:1 meeting information is shown in two places - in the left sidebar, and up at the top of the page. This is when your 1:1 meeting will take place.

Your 1:1 responses will need to be submitted prior to this date/time - ideally with plenty of time beforehand for your manager to review your responses and come prepared to your meeting.

Past 1:1s / 1:1 history

At the bottom of the My 1:1s page you will see your past 1:1 dates that you can click on to view. At first this section is blank, but 1:1 dates are listed here once you start meeting.


How to fill out your 1:1

Click the blue "Fill out 1:1" button in the top right to open up your 1:1:

As you scroll down the page, you'll see the 1:1 questions your manager has set up for you. To respond to the questions, write a comment and click the blue "Add" button:

Share your 1:1 responses

At the very bottom of the page you'll see a blue button that says "Share 1:1 responses". Until this button is clicked, your manager can't see anything that you've written except for any action items you have listed.

Click "Share 1:1" when you are ready to share your responses with your manager. Your manager will receive an email notification.

You can continue to edit or add additional responses even after you have shared your 1:1. They will automatically be visible to your manager, and they will also receive an email notification.


Goals and Action Items

There are two key sections built into Uptick that are used to track work progress:

  • Goals: these are usually higher-level, longer-term projects or other goals. Anyone can create a goal – a team member can create a goal and add their manager to be "In the Loop" on it, a manager can create goals for their team members, or someone else can create a goal and assign it to you. Your goals are managed on the Goals page.

  • Action Items: they can be connected to a goal, or they can be other things added to your prioritized list in a 1:1. The action items that you set in a 1:1 are meant to be the things you're committing to working on between now and your next 1:1, and they're added by the team member when filling out a 1:1. The manager has the ability to edit the list of action items after the 1:1 responses have been shared.

If you and your manager are using the Goals and/or Action Items sections in Uptick, here's how they work:

Goals

A list view of your goals can be seen in the middle of the My 1:1s page, but you'll want to go to the Goals page to see the full details.

Record progress on your goal(s) when you are filling out a 1:1, or directly on the detail page of a goal.

Action Items

The Action Items section on the My 1:1s page is blank at first, if you haven't started meeting yet or haven't been using action items. Once action items are added, you can see them on the My 1:1s page:

Action items are the things you are focusing on doing between "now" and your next 1:1.

In your very first 1:1, there is only one question on action items, where you can write your action items in a list format, or drag and drop from the right side any action items that are connected to goals.

Once you share your 1:1 responses your manager will also be able to edit your list of action items. We recommend you talk through this list in your 1:1 meeting to make sure you're in agreement about what you will focus on.

In following 1:1s you will see two questions on action items. In the first question you can check off which action items have been completed or carry over unfinished ones, and in the second question is where you set new action items and repeat this process.


Questions? Use the blue chat icon in the bottom right of Uptick to send us a message - we would love to help!

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