1. Help Library
  2. 1-on-1s
  3. Administrator Functions

How to Create a 1-on-1 Template and Cycle

Overview

As an admin, learn how to create 1-on-1 templates to create guiding templates that encourage productive conversations between employees and their managers. You'll also learn how to personalize and launch the right 1-on-1 cycle for your purposes. 

Click here for instructions on how to create a 1-on-1 template as an employee using Quantum Workplace. 

How to Create a 1-on-1 Template

As an admin, creating 1-on-1 templates gives you the opportunity to facilitate discussions between employees and their managers. Template questions are reviewed and completed by each participant before meeting in-person or virtually for a guided and productive conversation. 

Once created, templates can be reused or modified for future 1-on-1s.

To create a 1-on-1 template, click and expand Administration in the left-hand navigation menu, then click 1-on-1s. Click the Templates card. 

 

On this page, you'll find all templates accessible to your organization. This includes admin-created and user-created 1-on-1 templates. 

To create a new 1-on-1 template, click New Template in the top-right corner. 

 

In the modal, name your template and click Save and Continue.  

 

From this page, you can add questions and further customize your new 1-on-1 template. 

  1. Draft Mode/ Active: Indicates whether a template is still in draft mode or has been published.
  2. Template Options: Specify who can use and launch the template, and what languages it should be offered in.
  3. Preview/ Finalize & Activate: Test out the template with Preview and publish the template with Finalize & Activate.
  4. Add Question/ Sections: Click this to add questions or sections.
  5. Conversation Boosters: Click this to incorporate the Goals and Feedback features into your template for a more thorough 1-on-1 experience. 

Template Options

Click Template Options to see more controls to further tailor your 1-on-1 template.

Each section can be clicked and expanded to reveal additional options. 

  1. Template Name: Click to edit the name of the title.
  2. Can be used by: Click to specify the users or demographics with access to the template.
  3. Can be launched by: Click to specify if Admin-Initiated or User-Initiated 1-on-1s can use the template.
  4. Can be launched in: Click to specify if the template is to be available in additional languages. 

Add Questions/Sections

To add your questions to the 1-on-1 template, click the icon (Figure 1).

  1. Add Question/Section: Click to choose between Add Question or Add Section.
  2. Add Conversation Boosters: Click to add Goal Review and/or Feedback Booster to the template.
  3. Question Type: Specify the individual question's type:  
    • Open Ended: Respond via open-ended entries.
    • Multichoice: Respond via selecting between specified choices
    • Scaled: Respond via selecting a specified scale, i.e. 3 Point, 5 Point, etc. 
    • Bullet Point: Respond via multiple in-list inputs 
    • NPS: Respond via a scale to the question, How likely are you to recommend your organization to a friend or colleague?  Learn more about this unique question type.
    • Agenda: Respond via entries and Smart Topics for a more organized and collaborative agenda
  1. Who is the Respondent?: Specify who is expected to answer the question.
  2. Employee/Facilitator Text: Enter the text that the Employee and Facilitator will see. You can also click Add from Library to choose from Quantum Workplace's best practice questions. 
    • The Show help text/description checkbox can be used to provide additional information or context. 
  3. Required: Toggle to determine if the question requires a response to finalize the 1-on-1.

As you add questions and content to your template, use the Preview Template button to see the template from your participant's perspective. 

When you're satisfied with the template, click Finalize & Activate to publish the template and use it for future 1-on-1s. 

How to Launch a 1-on-1 Cycle

To launch a 1-on-1 cycle, click and expand Administration in the left-hand navigation menu, then click 1-on-1s. 

For single, non-recurring cycles, click Single Cycles. Then, click New Cycle in the top-right. 

For ongoing, automated cycles, click Automated Cycles. Then, click New Automation in the top-right.

Note: The rest of this section will cover a Single Cycle. Click to learn how to launch an Automated Cycle. 

Cycle Setup

  1. Cycle Type: Leave Single selected to launch a Single Cycle. 
  2. Cycle Name: Enter a title for your cycle. It's typically recommended to name a Single Cycle after the intended date of use. 
  3. About This Cycle: Optionally, enter any content or additional information about the cycle. 
    • Check the Include in emails box to include this information in the email invitation sent to participants. 
  4. Manager Analytics: Optionally, check this box to give managers access to aggregate, non-attributed analytics for their employees. This includes direct reports and all down-line employees. 
    • Managers and Upline Managers can always view 1-on-1s that occur in their downline individually.
  5. Share Settings: Customize the settings for the 1-on-1. The most popular configuration is to select box 1 and box 3. 
Click Save and Continue to complete this step and proceed to the Participants step. 

Note on Share Settings: If you specify that Facilitators must Submit for Approval before Sharing, your managers will not share their 1-on-1 directly with their employees and employees will not be notified when their manager submits the 1-on-1 for approval. By default, once an Admin (or upline manager) approves the manager's 1-on-1 responses, the employee will be able to view them. Please contact your CSM if you would prefer to require managers to share their responses with the employee once they have been approved by an Admin or upline manager. 


Participants

Click Add Participants to select the employees who will participate in this 1-on-1 cycle with their managers. 

Note: by default, employees added to a 1-on-1 cycle will automatically have their managers invited to participate in the 1-on-1. If necessary, the employee's manager can be manually removed and replaced by another employee to fill-in the manager's expectations. 

 

Use the People Search and Filter by demographic functionality to find employees and to invite a specific subset of your employees, i.e. by department or location, etc. to participate in this 1-on-1. 

Then, select the template for the selected employee(s). (Fig. 2) When all participants have been added and a template chosen, click Add People. 

To use a different template on a different group of employees, repeat the steps above. 

When all participants have been added and templates have been chosen, click All Done. 

 

You will then see employees and their managers populated in the Participants section. 

To change facilitators or delete employees from the cycle, click their corresponding ☐ icon for the employee(s) and select the relevant action. 

 

Note: A red exclamation mark next to an employee's name indicates that they have no manager on file and will not be able to engage in the 1-on-1 cycle until you manually add a facilitator for them.

Click the employee's icon and click Add Facilitator

Set Schedule & Milestones

Enter the dates and times for each milestone in the cycle. Specify the times by clicking the date/time field and using the calendar picker. 

The final milestone, Cycle Locks, is the last date to fill out a 1-on-1. Neither, Employee or Facilitator can complete the 1-on-1 after this date and time. To extend a 1-on-1 cycle, return to this section and update the milestone date before the Cycle Lock date. 



After confirming your dates and times, click Save and Continue. This opens a modal with your cycle's information. 

To keep your cycle as a draft, click I'm not ready. Click Launch Now to go live and publish the cycle.