Taking Notes For One-on-One Meetings
The form for taking notes during a one-on-one conversation does not need to be overly complex, but it does need to be thorough.
It is important to capture both sides of the discussion. If there is additional commentary from one person on an agenda item from the other, make notation on this. If you are a computer, this is fairly simple by using italics, underlines, bold, different font colors, etc. If you are taking notes by hand, think about what notations you can use: initials, symbols, indention, etc.
While we provide samples for both methods below, we strongly recommend notes in electronic format for easier storage, backup, searching, and reference. Your notes can also be much more thorough in a smaller space by using typed notes. Our downloadable template could be used for either mechanism.
You can access our templates in Microsoft Word or PDF Format. We also recommend using OneNote or similar applications for easy collections of meeting notes. Please contact us if you would like a OneNote template.
Sample Usage
This is a sample set of notes for a one-on-one meeting between Kimberly and her employee Joe. In this sample, we utilize red italicized text for updates from Kimberly on Joe’s topics and vice versa.
This is an example of hand-written notes in a simple notebook. Although not as tidily formatted, you can still determine comments from Kimberly or Joe (noted by K: / J:) and any action items (noted by asterisks *).