Diego Alvarado

“Trust turned the 1:1 into the conversation that really mattered.”

Honorary Member of Pasos de Bienestar

Direct report of Marco Matouk in the Strategic Transformation Unit (UET), CMI Alimentos, and later part of his extended team

Guatemala City, Guatemala

“The best way to have a 1:1

Instead of feeling the typical ‘nervousness’ of having a 1:1 with your boss, the Pasos de Bienestar spaces became a safe place; a moment that, in fact, I looked forward to every month.

There was no need for a rigid structure or an agenda full of points to cover. The PowerPoint was unnecessary. What really mattered was the quality of the conversation and the chance to go deeper into whatever needed attention at that moment.

Even when Marco was no longer my direct manager, I kept seeking out these spaces fairly often. By then, I had found in him something that went beyond the boss-employee relationship: a mentor and a sounding board with whom I could bounce ideas around, question them and, many times, simply put them in order.

Even when we were kilometres apart, the walks with Marco always felt close. The conversations flowed so naturally that an hour rarely seemed enough.

Perhaps that is one of the best lessons those spaces left me: the best 1:1s are not necessarily the ones with the best agenda, but the ones where there is the trust to have the conversation that really matters.”