[balls187]

Back in the day when I was on the receiving end of a 1:1, I had an agenda, and I would send it to my manager prior.

I asked for feedback, and when I would hear a basic response like "keep doing what you're doing" I would shoot back and ask if that means I will receive a 5 on my annual performance review.

Bring up things like performance reviews, comp adjustments, promotions, etc.

But, caveat, there are a lot of really mediocre managers. If you put in work to make your 1:1's more effective, and they're not having the intended effect, it's a them-problem, and it's time to find a better team to join.

As a manager, I hate using 1:1's for status reports.