Let the report own the agenda

It’s their meeting — they bring what matters to them, and you adapt to it.

Why it works

When the report sets the agenda, the conversation centers on what’s actually live for them, which surfaces real concerns a manager-driven status check would miss. Ownership also satisfies autonomy and signals that the time is genuinely for them, which raises candor and engagement compared with a meeting they merely attend.

How to do it

1. Ask them to bring the topics; default to their list before yours.
2. Use a shared running doc so both of you add items between meetings.
3. Hold your own items for the back half, after theirs.

Evidence

Employee voice and autonomy are linked to engagement and to problems being raised earlier; participative formats elicit more candid input than top-down ones. Detert and Burris show that whether a leader’s door is genuinely "open" — not just declared open — is what predicts whether reports actually speak up, which is exactly what agenda ownership operationalizes. (observational)

Associational; agenda ownership helps only if you actually act on what they raise, otherwise it teaches them not to bother.

Sources

• Detert & Burris (2007), leadership and employee voice, Academy of Management Journal
• Detert, J. R., & Burris, E. R. (2007). Leadership behavior and employee voice: Is the door really open? Academy of Management Journal, 50(4), 869–884.
• Flinchum, J. R., Kreamer, L. M., Rogelberg, S. G., & Gooty, J. (2023). One-on-one meetings between managers and direct reports: A new opportunity for meeting science. Organizational Psychology Review, 13(4), 478–505.

Common mistake

Hijacking the meeting with your status questions, turning their hour into your project review — the most common way one-on-ones die.