Reduce recurring 1-1s to enable better collaboration

Up: § A better way to work with direct reports than weekly 1-1s

There are many problems with hierarchy: Hierarchy is useful but has many downsides. One of the key ones is that Hierarchy can stop the right people meeting.

One key way I’ve found to improve this situation is to reduce recurring 1:1s. Rather than meeting weekly which is often the recommended cadence, I have found monthly to provide many benefits:

• the monthly 1:1 has more weight to it, can benefit from real structure and goals
• meeting only once a month would be very ineffective, so having only a monthly meeting scheduled forces more ad-hoc meetings: Ad-hoc meetings allow you to capture the best energy of a topic.