Fewer One-on-Ones – Do This Instead
During a recent coaching conversation, a leader explained that he’s having 1:3s with senior leaders.
Senior leaders spend too much time in one-on-ones with their team. It’s unproductive, often distracting.
People leave the room half-informed. They don’t know who knows what. Or they wonder why others found out before they did.
5 Problems with Executive-Level One-On-Ones:
- Fragmented conversations.
- Functional silos.
- Misaligned decisions.
- Appearance secrecy.
- Unnecessary repetition.
See my 2017 post: Is it Time to Replace One-On-Ones with Three-On-Ones
See HBR 2025: Why Senior Leaders Should Stop Having So Many One-on-Ones
The Case for One-On-Threes
Don’t repeat the same thing to several senior leaders. Shrink silos. Reduce confusion. 1:3s focus on future-building.
Three-on-ones accelerate clarity.
How to Host Senior Leader 1:3s
- Pick a shared goal. Frame the meeting around a business capability like customer experience, operational excellence, or innovation.
- Bring intersecting roles together. Choose leaders whose work overlaps on the topic. Think seams, not silos.
- Stay focused. Don’t drift into status updates. Work on building the future or solving shared challenges.
- Rotate who speaks first. Avoid pecking orders by mixing up who sets the tone.
- Document agreements. Keep a simple shared summary to avoid confusion later.
Reserve individual meetings for relationship building and development.
Warning:
Don’t allow people to think 1:1s are for problem people. Make development part of team culture.
Leadership is a team sport. Have fewer one-on-ones
What problems do you see with senior-level 1:1s?
