To have no idea what to say in my 1:1s with my line manager?

[ialreadybecome]

I have a 30 minute weekly catch-up with my line manager. Sometimes with two line managers.

I never have any idea what to say as my job is quite consistent - I work in different projects but the skills and working relationships aspect is pretty consistent.

I usually start by saying the week has pretty good/ok, workload manageable, project X has finished and went well etc. Sometimes I will say if the week has been particularly stressful/busy, but my manager and I then discuss that sometimes there'll be one-off weeks like that, and as long as it's not a long-term thing it's ok. When I first started I usually asked for advice - for example, I'd ask how they kept on top of their different projects and whether they had any advice. But now I've been there a while I feel pretty happy with my routine.

I have no idea what to say during these. I try and prepare but I still always run out of things to say in the first 5-10 minutes.

What happens when you run out of work things to talk about? Could you suggest that you change to fortnightly meetings now that you are established in the role?

Are your managers OK with this or do they push for more info from you?
Might be that they have to allocate everyone 30mins but if you don't need all of the time and they haven't said you need to bring more to the meeting, then I'm sure all is well

My catch ups are all about things I need his views on in order to do my job - that plus a heads up on any things I see potentially going wrong in the future. I also try to mention any difficult things I'm doing which he might otherwise be unaware of, basically a bit of self promotion. Aren't there any things you need your manager to give you a steer on, or things you are unsure of, or things uou need to escalate? Do you make all decisions yourself with no input from your boss?

What are your yearly objectives? You could use these as a way to structure your 1:1s and discuss your progress against each and any evidence to show what you have achieved and what you can do to improve on them. Talk about your career goals and the steps you can take to work towards them. Talk about any training you would like to do and make steps to getting it set up etc.

I have monthly one to one's and honestly some of them have lasted 5 minutes as I have no issues to discuss and it seems a waste of mine and my managers time to just try and fill the time. Other times I have cases or issues I need to discuss and they can be 30 minutes or more. What would happen if you said everything was fine since the last meeting and you currently have no issues to discuss?

I agree with everything @Strathyre said. Also, if you're interested in progression then steer the conversation towards what your manager has been doing since the last 1:1 as well and find out what more you can do to support them in their own objectives.

I wouldn't waste them on status updates, use it to build the working relationship and to progress your medium/long term objectives.

about.gitlab.com/handbook/leadership/1-1/

getlighthouse.com/blog/one-on-one-meetings-template-great-leaders/#why

I work pretty closely with my manager on a day-to-day basis anyway, i.e. all my work gets reviewed by them and I receive feedback on it, so it's hard to think of anything new to say...

I like the idea of talking about more long-term things, I'll made some progress on one of my main focusses I talked about in my mid-year review so I'll bring that up

I had weekly 121s with my line manager for the first couple of months, then when I was more settled in the role we moved them to fortnightly. Could you request this with the reasoning being that now you're settled in your role you don't need as much support?

Put it back on them - 1 to 1s are totally meant to be a 2 way thing, not just you talking and them just listening! They are meant to be ensuring they pass down strategy messages and that you understand everything etc

Ask them, is there anything they would like to raise, do they have any feedback for you, is there anything they think you should be doing differently or be adding to your development plan for the future, how would they grade you if you were doing your annual review now, what would you have to do to move up a level etc

If they don't have much to add then I'd say you've really valued the meetings especially when you felt like you were new to the role and learning a lot but now things are going very consistently, and you don't have loads of questions day to day, do they think the meetings should be once a fortnight or month with ad hoc meetings in between if needed

I use mine to push for new projects in new areas. Admittedly I've had 3 weekly meetings in the last 4 months. Boss is constantly off/ill/catching up so too busy.

I usually end up talking about biking/skiing/kids with mine 😂. I work for an outdoor equipment company so it’s pretty chilled. He has kids older than mine so half the time we end up talking about what equipment is best for the ages or how to make skiing with littles more successful.

Mines pretty repetitive as well tbh. We just end up chatting about the weekend etc

Useful advice here, I'm going to take it on-board as I have a weekly, hourly meeting 😱and they're a massive waste of everyone's time.

Ask them what they want from the meetings.

This.

I tell my team I'll take my lead from them somewhat with 1-2-1's.

Some people thrive on a very structured weekly review. Some people perfer a very casual catch up, and for many since I work so closely with them on a daily basis, there's very little ground to cover, so it's really just an opportunity for me to check that they have everything they need to do their job successfully and if there is any support I can give them.

Ask for a pay rise and they’ll soon wrap the meeting up.