 10, 10, 10 10 you, 10 me, 10 share

 One on one’s collaboratively set

 Email in advance to choose topics
 Share a win
 Problem solve
 Ask questions about career plans
 Send in advance things that require reflection or thought
 What challenges are you facing
 Check in – how are you feeling, Find out about the employee’s current level of morale, stress,
etc.
 Update on employee objectives (action items from previous on eon one) – track goals
 Discuss Challenges
 Recognize wins, what did I see as successful what did they see?
 Follow up

What do you find challenging about my management style

 What aspect of my work do you think I can do a better job?
 Do you think I’ve been a little micromanaging with how I’ve been following up on projects?
 Have I not been as cognizant of reasonable timelines, like I should have?
 Would you like more or less direction from me? Why/why not?
 What’s a recent situation you wish you handled differently? What would you change?
 When have you been annoyed, peeved, or bothered by me and something I’ve done?
 Could I be doing a better job outlining the vision and direction for where we’re headed?
 Am I giving you enough information to do your job well?
 Work habits and employee performance
 Which time of day do you feel most productive?
 What changes could be made so you can optimize your day?
 What are your biggest time wasters right now?
 Are you encountering any roadblocks and if so, what are they?
2. Team collaboration
 Who inspires you in the team? Why?
 Would you like to receive more feedback from other team members?
 Do you feel comfortable giving feedback to others?
 Do you have any suggestions for improvement in the way we work together?
3. Levels of engagement
 What in particular do you enjoy about working here?
 What do you least prefer doing and why?
 What keeps you engaged and inspired at work?
 Do you have any concerns when it comes to your role or career opportunities?
4. Short & long-term performance goals
 How are you progressing on your goals? Do you need any help?
 Are you facing any bottlenecks? What might help remove them?
 How have you determined your longer term goals?
 Which part of your job do you feel is the most relevant to your long-term goals?
5. Professional development goals and plan
 How do you like to learn?
  What are some skills you would like to develop?
 What are some experiences you would like to gain?
 What do you enjoy most and least about your job?
 What projects have you enjoyed working on recently, and why?
 Would you benefit from more coaching?
6. Manager improvement
 How can I better support you in your job?
 Do you find my communication clear and easy to understand, or is there something I can do to
improve?
 Do I clearly communicate our company’s vision and mission to you?
 Are our team vision and goals clear to you?
 Do you feel empowered in your role?
 Do you feel supported in your career development?
 How to wrap-up the 1-on-1

 Tell me about your week – what’s it been like?

 Tell me about what you’ve been working on.
 Where do you think I can be most helpful?
 Are you on track to meet the deadline?
 What areas are ahead of schedule?
 What questions do you have about this area of responsibility, or project?
 How are you going to approach this?
 What have you learned about this area of responsibility, or project?
 What didn’t go as you had hoped? Why?
 What can you/we do differently next time?
 What suggestions do you have?

General check-in questions: Start each one-on-one meeting with a personal check-in. Knowing the
mental state of your team is valuable context for how to proceed in the rest of the meeting. These
questions are important to ask every time, so you can understand how people are doing as far as work-
life balance, wellbeing, and personal life. If something has come up for the individual, allow space to
discuss it further. This is where flexibility is key – if you are too focused on getting through a rigid agenda
then you might miss cues when your direct reports need support or guidance.
 How is everything going today? Tell me about this last week?
 What’s on your mind this week?
 Last time we spoke you said X was a challenge for you, how is that going?
 What are your plans and priorities this week?

Alignment questions
 This is where you want to discuss company confidence, and how connected or aligned an
individual feels to the organization. These are particularly important following an engagement
survey, or any big change in your organization.
 Do you have any questions about the recent change involving X? (e.g. announcement from CEO,
merger, teams).
 How confident do you feel with where the company is going?
 How aligned do you feel with where the company is going?
Progress questions: It’s important to understand how people feel they are progressing and where they
are experiencing growth. This can relate to what they’re learning on the job and whether they are
feeling a sense of achievement or momentum.
 What has energized you in your role [over a period of time]?
 What has challenged you [over a period of time]?
 What has gone well/not so well for you [over a period of time]?
 What’s one thing (or a few) you learned this week?
 Do you feel confident in how you/your team are progressing?
 How are you/your team progressing towards established goals?

Relationship-based questions: Interpersonal interactions are often a missed topic when it comes to one-
on-ones, but they can have a huge impact on someone’s experience at work. Managers have a great
opportunity to coach their team members when it comes to relationships at work. You can also take
this opportunity to ask for feedback on you as a manager and how your relationship is tracking.
 How is everything going with people you work with/on your team?
 Any interactions you’d like to discuss?
 What feedback do you have for me?

Career aspiration questions: Often career conversations are reserved for once a year when a review of
some sort is done, or completely ignored if a manager doesn’t feel confident in leading the
conversation. Career aspirations and goals are important to discuss much more frequently – you can
even check-in weekly (i.e. what progress have you made on your career goals this week?).
 When you think about yourself in two years time, what comes to mind?
 What are two or three new skills you’d like to learn on the job?
 How are you progressing towards your bigger career and life goals?
 Is there someone at the company (or outside) that you’d like to learn from?
 What progress have you made on your career goals this week?
Questions to close your one-on-one: Ending your one-on-one meeting on an actionable question keeps
the loop of feedback open.
 What are you committing to between now and the next time we meet?
 What can I help you with between now and the next time we meet?
 Is there anything we didn’t cover that you’d like to discuss next time?