I'm a senior director and most of my reports are middle managers, but hopefully some of this will still be relevant or useful, i meet with my direct reports qui

I'm a senior director and most of my reports are middle managers, but hopefully some of this will still be relevant or useful, i meet with my direct reports quite often, like sometimes multiple times a day, but these aren't 1x1's, they're project related, i'm typically trying to get a pulse on the team and projects. For actual 1x1's, i try to schedule once a month, i have 7 direct reports, each 1x1 is scheduled for 30m, if there are a lot of topics, we can extend if time permits, or schedule a follow up. Most of the folks have been with me for a long time (6+ years) so the trust level is quite high, that way we cut straight through the crap and speak candidly. My direct reports typically have a list of topics prepared, they don't share these topics with me in advance, which i think is beneficial because then i'm more so in listening mode, topics range from people, career development, to work politics, etc. I try hard not to prepare responses in my head while they're talking. i think for most of my managers, career path is pretty evident, they want to manage more people, larger orgs, and more responsibility, i have gone through career planning with them at some point, so we're talking about specific goals that we've outlined together, and their progress along those lines. I rarely get status updates on projects. Typically discussions are more exploratory, for example, I don't like direct reports bringing problems to me unless they have a set of possible solutions with pros/cons well articulated, my job is not to solve their problems, my job is to prepare them so that they can resolve their own problems. My skip level 1x1's i try to schedule a 1-2 per week, i have over 80 people, so this rate gets me through most of the team by the end of the year. It's good to get a pulse on the team through this manner instead of just hearing it from the managers, and it lets you get to know the people in your organization more intimately, i'm sure at some point this doesn't scale, but i'd like to keep it up, maybe as the org grows larger to sample folks instead of trying to get to know everyone. I'm in learning mode mostly here, trying to figure out what makes them tick, what's frustrating them, i also try to recognize their work if applicable and get a good grasp of their potential. Sometimes i'll get into their project details, because a) it helps to relax them to talk about technical things b) it helps me to gauge their potential and then i get a better sense of how to coach their careers. Again, listening is key here. Skip levels are also 30m. Recognition for their work is important, great to hear from your manager, but also great to hear from your manager's manager. Typically the skip level engineers don't have a list of topics, so it's more me getting to know the individual better i typically ask about their background, what they're working on, i like digging into the technical details, whiteboarding is wonderful. In terms of career discussions, i most likely don't have all the specifics about their skill set, so for that, i expect the managers to sort through. But obviously if they have career questions, i'm happy to give them my perspective.