Questions and resources to make your 1 on 1s more effective.

Connect

Questions to promote personal connection and build trust.

• How's life outside of work going?
• How is your family?
• How are your kids doing? Are they liking [school/break/activity]?
• How was your weekend?
• Have you started any new hobbies lately?
• Have any plans for [Holiday]?
• Have anything fun planned for this weekend?
• How was your time off?
• What's on your mind lately?
• How did last week go? Any highlights or low points?
• What do you like to do for fun?
• Who's someone you greatly admire?
• Have you read any interesting books lately?
• Are there any books you've read that you think I should check out?
• What's your favorite movie/music group?
• Have you watched any good streaming series lately?
• Do you like traveling? If so, what's your favorite trip you've taken?

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Grow

Questions to influence growth and personal development through trusted feedback.

• Is there any training course or event you'd like to attend to grow your skillset?
• Where do you see yourself in 1, 3, or 5 years?
• What aspects of your job do you enjoy the most? Which aren't as fun?
• Are there any projects you'd really like to work on?
• Do you feel like you're learning and growing in your current role? Why or why not?
• What are your current goals? Do you feel like you're making progress on them?
• Are we helping you advance your career at a pace you'd like?
• Do you have what you need to reach your goals?
• Do you feel you're valued here?
• What can I do to support your growth?
• When you think about your goals, what steps can you take in the next week to start making progress on those?
• How do you feel about your performance the past few months?
• Do you feel your current work is helping or hurting your career progression?
• If you were to create your ideal position, what would that look like? How would it differ from your current role?
• Who do you need help from to reach your current goals?
• What's standing in your way from achieving your current objectives?
• What tools or training would make achieving your objectives easier?
• What work from the past year are you most proud of?
• Are there other roles here that you would like to explore in the future?
• What's blocking you from being able to grow further?
• Do you have career or education goals, outside of your current role, that I can help support?
• What are your biggest dreams for your life?

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Retain

Questions to ensure people are happy with their role, their work, the team, and company.

• Do you like your current role? What do you like or not like about it?
• Do you feel like your workload is too much, too little or about right?
• Do you think the company values align with your own? If not, what's out of alignment?
• Do you feel the company vision and direction are clear and make sense? If not, how could that be improved?
• Do you think the leadership here has your best interests in mind? Why or why not?
• Does the leadership team effectively communicate information? If not, how can they improve?
• Do you feel you get enough direction from all levels of leadership? Why or why not?
• On a scale of 1 - 10, how would you rate your happiness with your current role? What would make that better?
• What is your least favorite job duty right now? How can we make it better?
• What's the worst thing about the company? What can we do to improve it?
• Do you feel respected and trusted by your teammates?
• Is there anyone on the team who you feel doesn't get enough credit for their work?
• Are there any issues you see with our current team?
• What kinds of process changes would make things easier or more efficient?
• If you were the CEO, what's the first thing you'd do? Why?
• What changes do you think our team needs to make over the next 6-12 months to become a better team?
• What worries you the most?
• What are you most excited about?
• If you could change anything you want about your job or the company, what would that be?
• What do you see as the biggest challenges we need to overcome in the next year?
• How do you feel about our team culture? How can we make it better?
• What's something we're not doing here that's worked well for you in the past?
• How's your meeting load? Are you in too many or too few meetings?

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Improve

Questions to create feedback for leaders.

• What can I do to better support you?
• Are there any tasks you do that you don't feel I acknowledge?
• What would you like me to stop, start or keep doing?
• Do you feel like you're getting enough feedback? How can I improve that?
• Have I set any goals for you that feel unrealistic?
• Have I set any goals for you that feel overwhelming?
• How can I improve my communication with you?
• Do you feel I check in with you enough or too much? How should I improve?
• What's one thing I could change to help make your job easier?
• What would you like us to cover during our 1 on 1s?
• If you were in my shoes, what changes would you make?
• What aspect of your current role would benefit from coaching from myself?
• What can I do to make your work easier?
• What can I do to make your work more enjoyable?
• Do you prefer mostly meetings or text based communication from me?
• Are you getting enough direction from me? What can I do to improve that?
• What are some recent situations where I could have done more to help?
• What would you like to know about me?
• What's your favorite thing I do that you'd like to make sure I keep doing?
• What's the biggest challenge you're facing at the moment? How can I help with that?

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Balance

Questions to provide better work / life balance.

• How do you feel about your work/life balance?
• What are some things I could do to reduce your stress at work?
• Are there any adjustments we could make to your schedule or priorities at work to help better balance your life?
• Do you like working around people or in silence?
• Do you listen to music or have TV on when you work or do you prefer things be quiet?
• Are there hobbies or things you want to pursue outside of work that I can help with?
• What helps you manage stress from work? How can I help make that better?
• Do you have enough time in your day for activities that help you live a healthy life?
• What does your ideal day look like?
• Does your current work schedule align with your life outside of work schedule? Are there ways we could improve that?
• When is your next time off? When was your last time off?
• Have you taken enough time off work this year? Do you have enough scheduled?
• Are you feeling burned out? What can I do to help?
• Do you feel you have enough time to focus at work or are there too many interruptions? What can we do to remove some of those interruptions?