Related: What is the purpose of 1-on-1 meetings with your direct leader/boss?
On a weekly or sometimes just bi-weekly basis I have a 1-on-1 with my manager. However once a month I have a 1-on-1 with my manager's manager.
At first I thought the topics I could bring up with my manager's manager would be somewhat similar in the 1-on-1's I have with my current boss, but that doesn't seem to be the case:
- When I bring up career planning, he says that's something I need to work with my manager on.
- When I bring up higher level company goals he more or less tells me the same thing my boss tells me.
- When I try to get more sense of prioritization of certain projects he tells me my boss is in the same meetings as him so there isn't much more insight he can give me.
- He doesn't and can't really give me feedback on what I am doing because he doesn't see any of the work I do directly.
I guess I'm just confused as to what conversations I should be having with him? If it's about my current boss well that seems a little trivial and I have found questions that recommend not doing that i.e. My boss is blocking my growth, should I bring it up in my 1-on-1 with his boss? so I'm just having trouble what I should bring up.
I don't want my 1-on-1's to feel like a waste of time to him and the past few have somewhat felt that way.