Why Every Team Member Needs a Weekly One-to-One

In healthy teams, relationships are not left to chance—they’re built intentionally. One of the simplest and most effective ways to build a thriving culture is through a weekly 30-minute one-to-one meeting between each team member and their overseer. At SAINTS CHURCH, we’ve implemented this model, and the impact has been transformational—not just for productivity, but for people.

The Framework: Weekly, Intentional, Pastoral

Here’s the principle: every team member meets weekly with their direct overseer, and no overseer has more than five direct reports. This simple structure ensures that everyone is known, led, and developed.

Each meeting is guided by a pre-filled One-to-One Meeting Template, completed by the team member beforehand. This allows the overseer to lead with insight, not just instinct.

These meetings cover five holistic areas:

1. Personal Check-In

How are you really doing? Personally? With your family? Financially? What brought you joy this week? This portion invites honesty and vulnerability.

2. Work and Strategic Initiatives

What’s working? Where are you seeing wins? What’s on your radar that I need to know about?

3. Support and Empowerment

What do you need from me? What’s blocking you? How can I serve you better? This flips the script on traditional top-down management.

4. Spiritual Health

How’s your soul? What’s God saying to you through Scripture? How can I pray for you?

5. Development and Clarity

Any tension? Any hard conversations we need to have? Any issues brewing that we can resolve before they boil over?

Why It Works: Beyond HR—Into Real Relationship

This model works because it’s more than a meeting. It’s relational leadership at its best—creating regular, sacred space for care, clarity, and connection.

Here’s what we’ve seen:

• Deeper relationships. Trust grows over time when people know they’ll be seen and heard every week.

• Real-time HR insights. You’re essentially receiving a weekly mini-HR form—offering data, context, and awareness.

• Conflict prevention. Simmering issues are addressed while they’re still small. Awkward conversations become normalized, not avoided.

• Spiritual growth. Overseers become shepherds, not just supervisors.

For the Employer: A Culture of Care + Clarity

As a leader, this system gives you what spreadsheets can’t: a pulse on your people. You’ll understand workloads, personal struggles, and team dynamics in real-time. You’re also giving your team something invaluable—a predictable time and place where they can bring their whole selves.

CLICK HERE and I’ll send you the One-to-One Meeting Template we use at SAINTS CHURCH.

Let’s lead with clarity. Let’s care deeply. Let’s do both, every single week.

P.S. Looking for a rhythm that sustains you in leadership?

Check out The Hope Habit—a field guide I wrote for leaders who want to build resilient hope in a world that doesn’t make it easy. It’s not about blind optimism, but about daily, grounded rhythms that keep you anchored when the pressure is high and the path is unclear. If you’ve ever felt the tension between believing for the best and facing hard realities, this book is for you.