Enhancing 1-on-1 Meetings: A Manager's Guide to Meaningful Conversations

One-on-one meetings are essential for building strong relationships between managers and their team members.

They provide an opportunity for open communication, personalized feedback, and a platform to address concerns and celebrate successes. To ensure these meetings are productive and meaningful, it's crucial to ask the right questions. This article outlines a set of questions designed to enhance engagement, happiness, opportunities for improvement, and key customer metrics - while the questions are focused on customer support manager/reps, you can adjust them for your operations.

Let's dive into those question broken into different sections. Remember, you do not have to cover all of those questions - matter a fact, sometimes, it is better to cover 1 -2 questions, and cover those topics deep.

Here is my list for you all to share and use.

Manager Support Questions:

• What would you want me to stop doing as your manager?
• How can I provide you more autonomy at work?
• What did your past managers do for you that you'd like me to continue doing?
• What would you want me to continue doing as your manager?
• What can I do to encourage more creativity & innovation in our team?
• Is there anything I can do to improve the performance of our team?
• What can I do to bring down stress levels in our team?
• What changes can I bring in to our 1-on-1 meetings to make them better?
• What can I do to prepare you for success?
• Is the team hesitating to share or discuss anything with me?
• What aspects of your work would you like me to direct you more in?

Goals & Alignment

• What one goal, if accomplished, will have the greatest impact on your life
• How would it impact?
• On an individual level, is there any goal you feel you might have difficulty achieving?
• Would you like a mentor to help you achieve your long term goals?
• Do you feel like you’re growing in your role?
• What makes you say that?
• Which of your current work is most in line with your future goals?
• Do you think any of our team goals are unrealistic and unachievable?
• What are your top priorities right now?
• What are some of the goals you would like to achieve in the next quarter?

Work Satisfaction

• What do you enjoy the most in your current role?
• What's the best part about working here?
• What were your big or small wins in the past month?
• What aspect of your work is extremely exhausting and demanding?
• What did you have fun doing in the past, but haven’t got the chance to do it recently?

Tools & Resources

• Do you have the necessary tools and resources to perform your job?
• What tools or resources would help you increase your productivity at work
• Is there any new technology we can adopt to help you and the team?
• Do you have all the information needed to carry out your tasks?

Roadblocks

• Is there something that stressed you out recently at work?
• How can I help?
• Is there something that stressed you out recently outside of work? How can I help?
• What are the biggest time wasters for you each week?
• How are you progressing on the challenge(s) you were facing last time we spoke?
• What roadblocks are preventing you from completing your tasks/projects on time?
• What do you find most frustrating at work?
• What can I do to help you with it?
• What is the one thing that's holding the team back from performing at its best?

Career Growth & Development

• What new skills would you like to develop to meet your career goals?
• Whom would you like to have as your mentor?
• What specific training & development opportunities will help you in your career growth?
• What professional goals would you like to accomplish in the coming year
• What kind of career growth do you value more? (new responsibilities, leading a team, promotion, learning a new skill, etc.)
• How else can your strengths benefit our team and the company?
• What is the next step you see in your career?

Team Work & Collaboration

• Do you face difficulty in getting along with anyone in our team?
• What's one thing our team needs to start doing?
• What would you do differently if you were managing the team?

Recognition

• What form of recognition would you prefer the most: public or private, new responsibilities, awards, promotion, cash, etc?
• Do you feel recognized for your efforts and contributions?
• What is that one thing I can do to make you feel more recognized at work?
• What has been your biggest accomplishment recently that you are proud of?

Meaningful one-on-one meetings can significantly impact employee engagement, satisfaction, and productivity. By asking thoughtful questions about engagement, happiness, opportunities for improvement, and customer metrics, managers can foster a supportive and productive work environment. Remember, the goal is to create a dialogue that not only addresses current issues but also inspires growth and development.

Feel free to use these questions as a guide to enhance your 1-on-1 meetings and build stronger, more effective teams.