Should We Still Do 1-on-1s in 2025? 93% of You Say “Yes”
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.
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:
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.
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.
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.
A related post here:
How Yoti built 100+ integrations in one year
Read how Yoti made its integration process 4x faster and saved 95% of its integration engineering time.
Fractional CRO | 5X Exits | $1B+ Revenue Growth Contribution | Enterprise Growth Expert | Ex-Meta
2wI had to do 1:1 with a manager where the relationship was strained and these meetings were a nightmare and waste of time. Only do them if there is mutual respect and both parties feel they are necessary.
Helping B2B SaaS companies drive qualified pipeline | Founder @ dvc | 2X Head of Marketing
2wDo 1-on-1s but do them right — if one of the two folks is waiting 10 mins for it to start, and the other ending it early with nothing valuable in it. They are extremely pointless. It's also not a catch-up session, it needs to productive.
GTM Leader | 4X VP of Marketing | Messaging & Positioning Alchemist | Architect of Great Remote Teams | SaaS Since 2010 | Tech Nerd & Early Adopter | Demandgen Unifier | ABM Since 2015 | AI & Cybersecurity | Podcast Host
2wI find that bad managers often tout their 1:1s, but they're often just a bandaid for a department who doesn't collaborate with their leader. They aren't needed if the team is actively engaging their manager to talk about project hurdles, fresh ideas, and their own professional growth. I'm not saying do away with them completely, but a weekly booked calendar event without a specific topic is stress inducing for the employee, and wasted time for the leader. Instead of focusing on the 1:1 we should ask the larger question of whether of not your team is truly leveraging your expertise to level up themselves and their work. If they're reaching out with topics multiple times a week you've already replaced the 1:1, and if not you'll need more than a weekly recurring mtg with them to get back on track.
I transform Go-To-Market results for B2B companies by optimizing and scaling 'Profitable Efficient Growth' / Startup through Growth Stage / 🚀 Leading B2B companies into the top 0.01% 🚀
2w1 on 1's are still essential. If you're not deepening personal relationships, you will be replaced by someone who will.
Founder & CEO at Refound | Author of Good Authority | Host of the Jonathan Raymond Show
2wJason, you can experiment with something I'm recommending to clients these days - a monthly growth connect instead of trying to fit personal/meaningful conversations inside the 1:1. Doesn't mean ditching the 1:1s but keeping them for what they inevitably end up being anyway (projects/blockers/decisions that need some discussion, etc.) and potentially doing fewer of those to make space for a truly different type of meeting. Every situation is different (company norms vary, etc.) but the monthly cadence could look like this: Growth Convo: 1x month 30 minutes per direct (focused purely only on development); a true growth conversation could last hours and sometimes that's warranted too. Regular 1:1: 1-2x month 30 minutes per direct ... and yes, we have an AI tool to help managers have those growth conversations that almost nobody knows how to do :)