What about the boss who has too much time for you? What if your boss wants to talk, talk, talk with you, but NOT about your work? Sometimes I'm amazed by the stories people tell me: There are bosses who want to spend a bunch of time just shooting the breeze. There are bosses who want to be their employees' best friend, therapist, or mentor. Sometimes the boss will try to turn you into his/her mentor, therapist or best friend. What do you do in one of these cases? Here's what you do:
(One) Talk about the work.
(Two) When anything other than the work is being discussed, don't talk.
(Three) When there is a break in the talking, go back to talking about the work.
(Four) Start taking notes every time that boss starts talking to you.
(Five) After a while of practicing steps one through four, if the problem persists, try adding these words, "Golly, I'm really pressed for time right now. I need to keep focusing on my work."

What if your boss is great about meeting with you one-on-one, but the meetings go on forever? You need to have a natural way of getting your one-on-ones focused quickly on exactly what you have done since the last one-on-one and exactly what you are planning to do until the next one-on-one. An agenda for the meeting should help you move it along quickly. Providing the agenda in advance might help too. Finally, you need a good way of ending your one-on-ones. Try this: Show your notes to the boss and say, "So this is what I'm planning to do next." Then try to agree on a next time and venue for your next one-on-one meeting.

Finally, what if you have a boss who wants to meet too often? Well then you need to develop a relationship of trust and confidence with that boss by quickly building a track record of fulfilled commitments. At first, meet too often with that boss just as he or she wants. And then in each meeting, spell out a set of very clearly defined goals that you will promise to deliver at the next one-on-one meeting. And deliver! Keep close track of your goals in writing. Monitor and measure and document your deliverables as you deliver. Keep planning goals and deadlines with that manager in every meeting. Start expanding on the process and make longer-term work-plans with schedules of goals and deadlines. Establish clear performance benchmarks every step of the way. Report on your progress in writing regularly to this manager. The strong likelihood is that it will become increasingly obvious to the boss that you can meet less frequently. What you need to do in that case is demonstrate mastery and you will get more autonomy. Give the boss more confidence and you will get more trust.