What is a one-on-one?
A one-on-one is a recurring private meeting between a manager and a direct report about deals, development and obstacles. It belongs to the direct report as much as to the manager. Done well, it is where a seller raises what they would not say in a team meeting: a stuck deal, a skill they want to build, or a process that keeps costing them time.
Why it matters to a revenue leader
For a front-line manager, the one-on-one is the main place to coach and to hear about problems early. Steven Rogelberg's research, summarized in HBR, found these meetings work best when topics that matter to the direct report dominate, and when managers make sure the meetings happen at all. When one-on-ones get skipped or turn into a second forecast review, sellers stop bringing problems forward, and the manager learns about risk late. For a revenue leader, the habit is worth checking across every team, because it decides how early deal risk reaches the forecast.
Example
A branch manager at an environmental services company holds regular one-on-ones with each of six sellers. For a month, every meeting is a rerun of the pipeline review. The manager starts letting each seller's own topics lead the conversation. Within weeks, two sellers raise a slow pricing approval that has been costing them bids, and the manager gets it fixed.
"In our last one-on-ones, who did most of the talking, and whose topics filled the time?"
Sources
- Make the Most of Your One-on-One Meetings checked 9 Oct 2026