As a protector of doers (i.e. manager/exec), one of my tasks is to allow my doers to talk to me. I do that with one-to-one.

one line definition

A one-to-one (i.e. 121, 1to1) is a meeting where the manager listens and the doer talks.

Advices from experience

• The manager needs to Listen, with a capital l. No responding to email.
• The doer should have an idea about what he/she wants to talk about
• The manager should have some standard questions that are part of the agenda of each one-to-one
  • What brough you joy at work last week?
  • What bother you at work last week?
  • What do you want me, the manager to do less?
  • What do you want me, the manager to do more?
• The manager should not interrupt (I’m not great at that) and wait for the doer to ask.