I do weekly half-hour 1:1’s with all my direct reports. Each one is pre-scheduled for the same time every week. I almost never cancel, although I do reschedule

I do weekly half-hour 1:1’s with all my direct reports. Each one is pre-scheduled for the same time every week. I almost never cancel, although I do reschedule sometimes. The first half is for whatever they want to talk about (work status, planning, career guidance, personal stuff, anything they want). The second half is for my list: usually tactical work stuff, but I step back and ask about their overall feelings and professional goals about once per month. It’s a useful tool for coordinating work, and it has the nice side effect of redicing interruptions because most things can wait a few days until our 1:1. But the primary reason I do them so often is to build stronger relationships. I know my people very well, and they know me. Spending so much time together builds a lot of trust, which is extremely valuable.