Keep the 1:1 slot, delete the recurring invite

Your calendar has a recurring 1:1 with every direct report. You accepted it before reading the title, and now it runs for a year. The question is what the meeting is for.

When the slot only keeps the time, it is calendar debt. The invite is a promise you made before you thought about it. The fix is the Open-Block 1:1 rule: keep the time, delete the standing invite, and make the access rule explicit.

The recurring invite is calendar debt

Recurring invites survive because nobody reviews them. The calendar treats them as fixed, so you do not ask whether the person needs direction, whether the relationship is stable, or whether the time would be better spent on a real decision. A recurring 1:1 is a meeting hour you pay before deciding whether the person needs you.

Roland Busch, chief executive of Siemens, does not schedule recurring one-on-one meetings with direct reports and tells them to come to him when needed. He receives roughly 200 emails daily and tries to keep his unread inbox under 100. He began his Siemens career in 1994 and later became the company's chief executive in 2021.

Jensen Huang, chief executive of Nvidia, said in 2024 that he avoids holding one-on-one meetings with his direct reports. He has about 60 direct-report leaders, compared with a standard five to seven. A wider span changes what access looks like and what a manager can absorb without a standing meeting.

The risk is real. Dr. Elena Voss, a professor at London Business School, says the no-recurring-meeting model can create anxiety and blind spots for teams that need direction or developmental feedback. That is the part most managers fear: looking uncaring, or losing the feedback that would have surfaced in a weekly slot.

An open block replaces the default meeting

Replace the recurring 1:1 with a standing open block. Keep the time on your calendar, define when the team should use it, and remove the invite that forces a meeting.

• Block the time. Put a recurring open block on your calendar, labeled open access or office hours. The end state is a visible slot, not a meeting with an agenda. It should be long enough to hold a few short conversations, not so long that it becomes another meeting.
• Write the escalation trigger. Tell the team what counts as urgent: a decision that blocks work, a people issue, a deadline at risk, or a conflict that will not resolve itself. The result is a sentence they can repeat, not a vague come-see-me-if-needed rule.
• Delete the recurring invite. Cancel the standing 1:1 with a short note that you are moving to open access and that they should book a short slot when they need you. You are done when no future recurring 1:1 remains on the calendar and no one is left guessing how to reach you.
• Reserve structured feedback for teams that need it. Keep a recurring developmental 1:1 for junior reports, new hires, or anyone in a high-risk role. You should see a smaller recurring list, not a blank calendar.

The deletion step is the trust test. Without a clear path, you have not cut calendar debt; you have created a trust problem. The open block must be real, visible, and protected.

A written rule makes access work

An open block only works if the team knows what to bring. Encourage short asks: a decision, a blocker, a draft, a conflict. Routine asks can be answered in the slot or in a short reply. Developmental asks belong in a structured conversation.

Busch's one-word email replies are intended for 90% of decisions where he has full confidence in the presenters. The boundary is useful. A manager can say yes, no, or ask for the draft without a meeting. The meeting is for the hard part that needs judgment, not for the habit of checking in.

Do not treat open access as another inbox. When the same person keeps booking the same kind of slot, the pattern is telling you something. Either the escalation trigger is too broad, or the person needs more structure. Adjust the rule, not the calendar.

The team gets access without the default meeting, and the calendar reflects the work instead of the fear of looking unavailable.