Dashboard
Questions to ask your direct reports during your 1:1s
Arjun Rajkumar
November 30, 2024
As a manager, you will have many direct reports reporting to you - and here are a list of strategic macro level questions to ask to probe them to speak up, and to get more from your one on one's.
Questions related to building and maintaining direct relationships with your employees:
As a manager you need to have a good relationship with your direct reports, where they feel safe and invested in sharing any information with you.
- How is their week going?
- If they have a family, ask them how their spouse and kids are.
- If they are moving to a new house, ask them how the process is.
- If they have a family, ask them how their spouse and kids are.
- If they are moving to a new house, ask them how the process is.
The idea with these questions is not about friendship, but more about getting them to open up about important things in their life (kids, pregnancies) which could affect their work.
Questions related to identifying blockers at their work:
One of your main jobs as a manager is to help your employees be more productive, to get things done quickly. One way to do this is to identify problems/blockers, and find solutions for it.
- Are there any blockers/problems stopping you from doing your work?
- Are there any tools/things that will make your work faster?
Your main role as a manager is to help them do their work efficiently. So, removing blockers and adding enablers are crucial to this.
Questions related to work priorities, strategy etc:
These are questions that ensure that your direct reports are working on the right things. These should be shared with everyone when they join your company, and this is more of an opportunity for them to address any doubts etc regarding it.
Questions related to health and well-being:
- Are they satisfied with the work assigned to them?
- Is there too much on their plate?
Questions related to health and well-being:
- Are they satisfied with the work assigned to them?
- Is there too much on their plate?
- Are they getting burnt out?
- Are they too dependent on a co-worker to finish something?
- Are they getting along well with the rest of the team?
These questions are mainly to identify if they are getting stressed or burnt out - and to prevent it from happening.
- Are they too dependent on a co-worker to finish something?
- Are they getting along well with the rest of the team?
These questions are mainly to identify if they are getting stressed or burnt out - and to prevent it from happening.
Feedback related questions:
This set of questions should be included in every one-on-one agenda - where you can give your employees feedback about their work, performance, how they can improve etc.
Not all these sets of questions will be used in every one-on-one. Sometimes they may have been on a vacation, and may not have anything to add specific regarding work. Even then, it's good to have a quick 1:1, as it helps with relationship building between you and your direct reports.
You can do these 1:1 bi-weekly or monthly depending on the frequency you want. They can also be done asynchronously, so that no one is wasting time in meetings. But it is important to set them up and do it repeatedly at a consistent schedule.
Not all these sets of questions will be used in every one-on-one. Sometimes they may have been on a vacation, and may not have anything to add specific regarding work. Even then, it's good to have a quick 1:1, as it helps with relationship building between you and your direct reports.
You can do these 1:1 bi-weekly or monthly depending on the frequency you want. They can also be done asynchronously, so that no one is wasting time in meetings. But it is important to set them up and do it repeatedly at a consistent schedule.
Automate status reports
2-3 days a week, or maybe once a week, depending on the schedule you choose, everyone on your team shares their status updates and any problems without wasting unnecessary time in a meeting.
Your team members will appreciate starting their week seeing everyone else’s accomplishments and goals, and ending it with sharing their own - and everyone in your team starts to see the bigger picture of what's happening.