I spoke to someone at a conference recently and when I asked what their relationship was like with their boss, they simply replied that it felt ‘…like they were going through the motions every time they met me.’
In other words, they were treating their weekly interactions as a chore. Something that needs to be done to free up time for more important stuff.
Doing your chores is a necessary part of work, however if you can’t approach them with energy and interest then expect the other person to notice, probably before you do.
A weekly one-to-one is an example of one of the few regular moments when someone gets your undivided attention. If you treat it as a tick-box exercise then the other person will respond in kind, usually with a polite nod and a short update. The real conversation will then happen elsewhere, usually with somebody else who has shared a similar experience.
If a meeting feels like a chore, ask what would make it worth having. Let the other person set the agenda, or cancel it and then only meet when there is something to talk about.
If you’re asking someone to turn up, then you should too.
