As HR professionals and organizational leaders, we know that one-on-one meetings are fundamental to effective management. Yet despite their common place in corporate culture, many managers conduct these sessions in ways that serve their own needs rather than their employees' needs. This misalignment represents one of the most significant missed opportunities in talent management today.

One-on-ones can be a great leadership tool for engaging, aligning, and building commitment from your people. There's profound power in creating dedicated time to understand your team members' challenges and offer meaningful support.

A Common Pitfall

The fundamental mistake most managers make is approaching one-on-ones as monitoring sessions. They arrive with their own agenda, use the time to check on project status, and essentially conduct mini-performance reviews. While tracking work progress matters, transforming valuable one-on-one time into status updates completely misses the purpose of these meetings.

When managers dominate the conversation and drive the agenda, they send an unmistakable message: this meeting is about what I need, not about you. This approach erodes trust, diminishes engagement, and turns what should be a developmental opportunity into just another obligation on the calendar.

A Better Approach

Effective one-on-ones include an agenda that's driven by the employee, either independently or in partnership with the manager. Employees should come prepared with topics they want to discuss, or managers can pose broad, open-ended questions that allow employees to steer the conversation in meaningful directions.

The shift in ownership makes all the difference. When employees lead the discussion, you're consistently reinforcing that this time belongs to them. They might want to discuss career development, seek guidance on challenging situations, explore new ideas, or address concerns about team dynamics.

Consistency Over Duration

Consistency matters more than the actual length of meetings. Brief, regular check-ins outperform lengthy but sporadic conversations. Whether you schedule weekly 30-minute sessions or biweekly 45-minute meetings, establish a rhythm and stay consistent with it.

Frequent cancellations send a damaging signal about priorities and value. When managers repeatedly reschedule or cancel one-on-ones with direct reports, employees internalize that they're not important enough to warrant protected time. This erosion of trust is difficult to repair and directly impacts engagement and retention.

Make the Flip

Try shifting your mindset from "this is my meeting" to "this is their meeting, and I'm here to support them." Your employees will notice the difference immediately and hopefully you will too.

I hold regular 30-minute, one-on-one meetings with each of my direct reports. The frequency – whether weekly, biweekly, or monthly – is their choice, as is the agenda. While I occasionally add discussion points, these meetings are driven by their needs. I emphasize that this time belongs to them, and if there's nothing pressing to discuss, we can cancel that session.

How do you conduct interactive, employee-focused one-to-one meetings? Email me at mcorrado@aseonline.org.