# The Weekly Manager 1:1 — a template for franchise owners

The difference between owning a store and being owned by one is a manager you can hand
things to. The difference between a manager who grows and one who quits is usually thirty
structured minutes a week. This is the agenda. Same order every week, so neither of you
prepares from scratch and nothing important waits for a blow-up to get said.

Works for a GM, an assistant manager, or your first shift lead. Weekly, 30 minutes, on
the calendar as a standing event. Miss it twice in a row and it stops existing; guard it.

## The agenda (same five blocks, every week)

**1. Numbers first — 5 minutes.**
Three numbers, the same three every week: sales vs. last year (or vs. plan), labor %,
and one you're working on together this quarter (COGS %, review score, speed of service).
The manager brings them; you don't announce them. Whoever owns the numbers owns the store.

**2. The stuck list — 10 minutes.**
"What's stuck that I can unstick?" Broken equipment waiting on a vendor, an approval they
need, a policy question, a supplier issue. Your job in this block is removing blockers,
not assigning work. Write each one down with a date; open last week's list first. A 1:1
where the owner's items roll over dead is a 1:1 that teaches the manager not to bring things.

**3. People — 10 minutes.**
Every week, by name: who's excelling (what are we doing about it), who's struggling
(coaching plan or countdown), any brewing conflicts, upcoming schedule risks (school
starting, someone's second job). Turnover surprises are almost always visible here three
weeks before the two-weeks notice.

**4. One development thing — 3 minutes.**
One skill you're deliberately handing over: this month it's "you run the produce order,"
next month "you do the schedule without me reviewing it." Name the current one and how
it's going. This block is why your manager stays.

**5. Anything for me? — 2 minutes.**
Ask it every single week, exactly that way. Most weeks: "no, we're good." The week it
isn't, this question is the only reason you hear it early.

## The two rules

- **The manager keeps the doc.** One running note (shared doc, same file every week),
  agenda on top, decisions and action items below with names and dates. If you keep the
  doc, it's your meeting. It shouldn't be.
- **No ambush.** Serious performance conversations get their own meeting. The 1:1 is
  where trust accumulates; spend from that account elsewhere.

## Prompts when a block goes quiet

- Numbers: "Which of the three would you bet moves next month, and which way?"
- Stuck list: "What did you work around this week instead of fixing?"
- People: "If [best employee] quit tomorrow, what would we wish we'd done this week?"
- Development: "What do I still do that you could do 80% as well today?"

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*From the team behind [Fran Wallet](https://franwallet.com). The three numbers in block
one are already on your wallet's screen every Monday: sales from your books, labor from
payroll, cash from the bank.*