I’m enjoying the audiobook Trillion Dollar Coach about Bill Campbell, a football coach who pivoted mid-career into a business executive in Silicon Valley, as an executive at Apple, a CEO of Intuit, and an executive coach to Steve Jobs and other high profile leaders.  One of the great concepts early in the book is how to structure time on 1-on-1 with a direct report.  Some of the concepts including:

• Discuss job performance, ensuring that you can clearly articulate what success looks like (not just qualitative discussions about how you’re feeling)
• Discuss rapport with peers (while it’s important to monitor relationship/rapport/political capital with more senior leaders, the rapport with peers is critical to advancing initiatives (getting things done))
• Is this person (your direct report) coaching, guiding, inspiring, and holding account his or her people?
• Is this person continuously focused on identifying new ways to improve and mature?