Here’s a gross oversimplification of my experience with one-to-ones in agencies. Once a year, I’d have my performance review. (And when I say once a year, that year could be 14 months long.) At that annual-ish review, my boss would sit me down, tell me some things that I was doing well, and some things that I was not doing so well. Those things could have happened at any time over the last 12 (or 14, or 18) months. I could have addressed them long ago, or they could be recent. There was no discussion of how to build on the positive feedback and grow my career, or put together a plan to learn and grow from the negative. To finish off the conversation, my boss would say thank you and give me some more money for the coming year. Or, if the list of things I wasn’t doing so well was longer than that other list, my boss would say thank you and not give me some more money. And if that list was significantly longer, my boss might say thank you and show me the door.