“How Do I Make the Most of 1:1s with My Manager?”

Welcome to Ask a Girlboss! It's our advice column where real experts answer your burning career questions. Have a dilemma that needs solving? DM us on Instagram and we'll get right on it.

The dilemma: “I just started a new role, and I want to ensure the 1:1s with my manager are as effective and well-documented as possible. She's chill but a bit more traditional than I'm used to. Additionally, I have more OKRs and projects under my belt than ever before. I feel overwhelmed and don't want the details to get lost in the sauce. A good balance between identifying the current state of projects, identifying wins (hello, year-end reviews), and any other information would be awesome. Maybe a template? I leave it up to you, oh wise ones. Thank you!”

The expert: Amanda Goetz, a 2x founder, 4x CMO, high-performance coach, and the brains behind Life's a Game, an anti-hustle newsletter that provides professional and personal growth tips and frameworks every week.

“I’ve worked for some amazing bosses, some difficult ones, and everything in between during my 20+ year career as a marketing executive.

But one special kind of manager taught me the importance of documentation: I like to call them the seagull managers. They stay out of your way for weeks. You think you’re good. And then, out of nowhere, they swoop in. Ask a thousand questions. Drop their opinions on everything you've already made decisions on. Chaos. Working under seagull leadership taught me a critical truth:

If you don’t own the narrative of your work, someone else will fill in the blanks for you.

And when your plate is overflowing with more OKRs and projects than ever before, that’s not just annoying….it’s dangerous.

So, if you just started a new role and want to make your 1:1s with your manager count, here’s how I would approach it. Especially when your manager is a bit more traditional than you’re used to and you don’t want important wins—or red flags—to get lost.

Let’s talk systems. You need an operating system to protect your time, your energy, and your outcomes. Not just for you, but so your manager can actually support you, instead of unknowingly bottlenecking you.

Here are three tools I now recommend to anyone navigating a new role, a manager who’s hands-off (until they’re not), or a workload that feels like it doubled overnight:

Tool 1: Parking Lot vs. Priorities

I keep this running in a single Notion doc (or Google Doc if your team is less techy) and update it before every 1:1.

Section 1: This Week’s Priorities

These are the 2–3 most impactful things I’m focused on right now.

Priorities ≠ busy work.
Priorities = leverage.

Examples:

Finalize Q2 email nurture sequence
Kick off onboarding for new agency partner
Deliver training deck for Product team

Section 2: Parking Lot

This is where I put everything that needs discussion or alignment but isn’t urgent.

Examples:

Feedback needed on team structure proposal
Request for budget increase on paid channels
Potential workshop for leadership offsite

Why this works:

✅ Reduces the mental load of tracking it all
✅ Protects your time and focus
✅ Gives your manager clarity into your workload
✅ Helps you both zoom out and see what’s sliding vs. what’s moving

Tool 2: Start - Stop - Continue

Sometimes you need to give your manager feedback, but you don’t want it to feel like feedback. That’s where this tool comes in. This simple framework helps you articulate what’s working and what needs to shift without emotion.

Use it weekly:

✅ Start: What would help you be more successful if your manager started doing it?
→ “Start giving feedback on project outlines earlier in the process.”

🔴 Stop: What is your manager doing that’s getting in the way?
→ “Stop jumping into Slack threads and redirecting decisions without context.”

💪 Continue: What’s going well that you want to see more of from your manager?
→ “Continue providing context from leadership meetings. It really helps with prioritization.”

Pro tip: Bring this to your 1:1 and ask if they want to do it too. A little mutual reflection goes a long way, especially for continuing growth in your role.

Tool 3: The “Managing Up Monday” Email

This one’s a game changer. Every Monday morning, I would send a short, bulleted email that includes:

A link to the Parking Lot vs. Priorities doc (so they can browse ahead of our 1:1)
Any wins from last week (trust me, future-you will thank you during performance review season)
Metrics that matter (be brief—don’t paste in a dashboard, just pull the highlights)
Any roadblocks you need help removing

Sample:

Subject: Managing Up Monday – Week of May 20

Hi [Manager Name] –
Here’s where I’m focused this week:

🎯 Top Priorities

Finalizing nurture sequence
Kicking off onboarding
Drafting DE&I deck

🚧 Roadblocks

Waiting on copy approval from legal
Budget freeze impacting tool upgrade

📊 Key Metrics

Email open rates up 18% from last week
New subscriber growth flat (more on that in our 1:1)

🔗 [Link to Parking Lot & Priorities]

See you Tuesday!

Why it works:

✅ Builds a track record of your work
✅ Protects you from “what are you even doing all day?” energy
✅ Keeps alignment without chasing your manager down

It’s easy to get overwhelmed in a new role, especially when the expectations are big, the pace is fast, and the leadership style is less structured than you’d like.

But here’s the truth: You don’t need a perfect manager to have a great working relationship. You just need a solid system.

One that helps you track your own impact.
One that invites collaboration instead of micromanagement.
One that gives you language to navigate hard conversations with clarity and confidence.

So whether you’re trying to build trust, show receipts, or just keep your own head above water…

Try these three tools:

Parking Lot vs. Priorities – for clarity
Start-Stop-Continue - for feedback
Managing Up Monday - for visibility

Let me know if you try these! I share more about systems and navigating life as a mom of 3, 2x founder, and 4x CMO in my newsletter, Life’s a Game. Click here to subscribe.”