During my time as a manager, I went for frequent talks with my managees, sometimes informal, sometimes with specific objectives. My first goal is always to establish a trust-based relationship by explaining my role and how it can be useful for them. And as a UX designer with various job experiences, being empathetic never proved too hard. 

Depending on the profile of the managee and the topics needed to be discussed, I set 1 to 1 between once and twice a month, lasting between 15 and 45 minutes. 

I had the oppurtunity to manage designers which I worked with directly, and designers with which I didn't. I observed that trust was often more solid and informations passed more easily with those I worked with directly.