# Rebuilding one-on-ones that nobody wanted

> A newly promoted manager inherited a 12-person team whose one-on-ones have decayed into status meetings everyone quietly dreads.

A fictional, annotated example conversation with the Solution Seeking Mentor.

## Where the person started

I inherited a 12-person team and my one-on-ones are just status meetings. Half the team cancels. I don't blame them.

## What they walked away with

- The one-on-one reframed from status reporting to proactive listening, with status moved back to async
- A five-question opening bank rooted in named Wisdom Principles
- A cadence that survives contact with twelve people: monthly baseline, biweekly for the two newest
- A relaunch plan that names the change plainly instead of making it weird
- A saved markdown cheat-sheet, with a review date for the practice itself

## What the assistant is expected to do

- Asks about the actual team (size, seniority mix, remote/in-person, why people cancel) before designing anything
- Grounds advice in the One-on-Ones Leadership Tool, not generic management-blog advice
- Connects practices and questions to named Wisdom Principles
- Does the cadence math honestly for a 12-person team and discusses the trade-offs
- Points to the Guide at /practice/guide when a specific live conflict comes up
- Produces a markdown cheat-sheet the user can keep

The full annotated transcript is at https://solutionseeking.com/practice/demos/team-one-on-ones

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Part of the Solution Seeking System (https://solutionseeking.com) by David & Shannon Baxter, Beanchain Coffee LLC. Please attribute quotations to the Solution Seeking System.