You want your 1-1s to go deeper than status updates

A standing meeting fills with whatever takes the least effort, and status takes the least. Left alone, every recurring 1-1 slides there. The fix is not a new meeting or a longer one. It is one standing question that does development work, in the slot you already have. Not a fresh idea every week. A rotation.

Before the 1-1, open the person's own results. Rotate across three parts of them: The Five Types of Work, Discovering Your Strengths, and Uncovering Your Blind Spots. One question, one lens, one meeting; next time, the next lens.

This is a bank, not a script. Pull the question that fits where the person is, ask it, and follow where it goes.

Their work types. Open The Five Types of Work.

• Which type of work has your week had too little of lately?
• Of your primary and complement, which got squeezed out this month?
• If we moved one recurring task toward work that gives you energy, what would you pick?

Their strengths. Open Discovering Your Strengths.

• Which of your top strengths has had nowhere to show up this month?
• Which are you leaning on so hard it is starting to cost you?
• Is there a problem on our plate one of your strengths is built for?

Their blind spots. Open Uncovering Your Blind Spots.

• Each is the shadow of a real strength. Which one has been live for you lately?
• Where did a strength, turned up high, land differently than you meant this week?
• What small guard could we agree on, so it costs you less next time?

Before your next 1-1, do one thing. Open that person's The Five Types of Work, pick one question above, and put it at the top of the agenda. Ask it before you touch the list.

For the meeting after, move to their strengths; the one after that, their blind spots. Three 1-1s in, the slot is doing development again, and you added nothing to your week.