🤔 Why do these?

You want to be the architect of your career, not a passenger. No one is going to invest more in your career than you, because no one else has as much skin in the game.

Here’s a secret from the perspective of a manager — seeing someone be proactive about sharing their goals, reflecting on their own performance and seeking out feedback… you just naturally want to help them more than someone who isn’t.

🥜 Before you start

Typically people do these every 3, 6, 12-ish months but do it when you need it (like maybe your personal situation has changed, or there’s a particular role you’ve got your eye on).

This is different to a typical Performance Review meeting (which is mostly reflective and linked to company compensation systems), but there’s some overlap so think about how a 1:1 like this sits with your company's formal process (if they have one).

• [ ] Give your manager a heads-up

  • Ask them if they have a format, otherwise use the one below.
  • Share the agenda and questions you plan to ask in the calendar invite.
  • 60mins is usually enough time, in-person is best if you can swing it.
  • Sharing the agenda helps your manager prep more thoughtful answers for you.

• [ ] BYO Feedback

  • Feedback is soooooo important but it’s usually tough hearing it right? Being the one to reflect and raise it first, often feels better than someone else dumping it on you.
  • A conversation about your career goals is naturally a good time to talk about feedback on how you’re doing so I find it’s helpful to have both a reflective and forward-looking conversation in this one meeting.

🗺️ Templates & planning

Adapt this to what works for you, everyone might structure this a little differently.

Notion

Career Goals & Personal Dev Meeting

Additionally, use this question bank as inspiration for framing questions during the meeting.

Google Doc

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GfLHGj6zgWv7LBcqKotgnMoFdWrg4mcKCF0pm41L4zU/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.6wq0hhd9ga63