Will be doing my first talent discussion prep soon. Wanted to ask, is the people lead supposed to be 'MIA' until the prep and then guessing they'll continue doing their own stuff until next prep 6 months later?

What happens during the discussion/prep and what are you supposed to do leading up to the results at mid-year / end-of-year or the next discussion/prep?

From what I recall of orientation, it sounded like they were suppose to be like your career counsellor in the company, asking how you're adapting, any issues you find hard to bring up to your superiors/boss and help you figure out where you might want to go and specialize in. Instead, they seem completely non-existent and knew nothing about us, our background, current project, superiors, etc.