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For me at least, 1-on-1s are still valuable
But two things are clear:
If there are any that don’t provide value, just don’t do them.
No need to do them with every report.And if there are any you dread … make a change there. It’s a clear sign it’s beyond time.
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So 1-on-1 meetings with your team certainly seem to have gone out of fashion, at least on social media.
The great waste of time, many hard driven founders seem to be saying.
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Jensen Huang of Nvidia has 30+ direct reports and apparently no 1-on-1s. I get it.
But Nvidia was founded in 1993, is doing $140B in revenue a year, dominates its market, and has 29,600 employees.
See also, AirBnB.
When I first started off a first-time CEO, I had never really done 1-on-1s before when I was a VP and a Director before that. My CEOs did 1-on-1s … just not with me.
And I think I missed the point on why. Both of the CEOs I reported to didn’t need one with me.
As a first-time CEO, I started off doing 1-on-1s with all my VPs. Then about a year in as a first-time CEO I saw a pattern:
- 2 of my team members I met with almost every day anyway, and we didn’t benefit from a weekly 1-on-1 on top of that
- 2 of my team members, I sort of got nothing at all out of the 1-on-1s. So most of the time, we just cancelled. But I held the time on their calendar in case I needed it.
- But 1-on-1’s were great with my VPs of Sales, Product and Customer Success. It gave us a chance to just make sure each week, we talked where they needed, or even just gave them a chance to complain a bit ;). To blow off some steam.
Fast forward to today, I’ve found this still works for me at least. My advice: try 1-on-1’s with all your direct reports when they start.
If they work, keep doing them. If they don’t, it’s OK to stop doing them.
When they do work, though, they can be great. And they often are more to help backfill your top VPs than anything else. You aren’t Nvidia or Airbnb yet. Your VPs are often first-timers and stretch VPs. They don’t need much help — where they are great. But they do need help in areas that are new to them. At least some.
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And also remember, Nvidia and Airbnb aren’t on their first management teams. That’s a whole different phase and time. When you have 30 direct reports, and $1B or $10B of revenue to manage, that’s … different. At least try them with your first management teams.
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And over the years I’ve learned one nuance: there are 2 reasons you stop doing 1-on-1’s with a report. One reason is they just don’t add value for that working relationship, so be it. But the other reason can be … dread. That you really just don’t want to do the 1-on-1.
I’ve learned that 9 times out of 10, that’s a sign it’s time to hire someone new for the role. Maybe 9.5 times out of 10.
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- Source: https://www.saastr.com/should-we-still-do-1-on-1s-in-2025/