[jevanish]

That's really unfortunate. They can be incredible meetings to fix problems, work on your career, grow skills, give and receive feedback, and a lot more.

Unfortunately though a lot of managers don't know what to do as you suggest, but some of them can be shown a better way.

Putting some things you want on the agenda is a great way to make that change. Then you can take the temperature to what they will be open to.

Working backwards though, this is why you should interview your future manager really hard before signing on to the job...to make sure you have one of those 25% that are good (based on your number)

[dangus]

I definitely agree with everything you said. I have had some productive 1:1s where they led to interesting changes to my work.

But those enlightened managers are rare.

And then the flaw with interviewing your manager is that you often can’t control your manager once you’re hired. I’m currently on manager number four, just one year in to my current role. The other ones all quit or were interim managers.

So for me, it just seems so much more likely to fail than succeed that it’s hard not to take it as a probable waste of time. I wish I could just say no thanks, I don’t want to have 1:1s.

[syndacks]

Sounds like you're not in the greatest work environment if so many managers have quit. Curious why you think that is? Also, if you have such strong feelings about management, maybe try it out? Based on what you're saying, managers are dropping like flies and it might be helpful to promote from within.