# Best one-on-one Questions for Impactful Manager-Employee Conversations

Quickly draft your 1:1s with our one-on-one questions generator to have more meaningful conversations, and build trust, ...

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- Kickoff
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- Connections
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- Looking Ahead
- Thought-Provoking

What's been the highlight of your week so far?

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## Meeting Notes

**Brian Q**  
Product Design Director, FlexOS  
With 7+ years of experience in innovation and technology, Quang brings a unique perspective to the world of work innovation.  
*October 22, 2023*

Gallup’s research on the world's best managers reveals their fourth habit is holding one meaningful conversation weekly with each team member. Regular one-on-one meetings provide the perfect opportunity for this valuable face-to-face time.

A manager can connect with their team members on a personal level and ask deeper questions in ways team meetings cannot. This helps managers gain a greater understanding of and empathy for their team members as individuals.

Yet Microsoft data indicates less than a third of managers use one-on-ones to provide clear guidance and feedback. Perhaps many fail to take full advantage of their potential. Effective managers make one-on-ones a portal for development, not just status check-ins.

Our comprehensive guide is here to help you conduct more meaningful and impactful one-on-one meetings. It includes **question banks** and tips on selecting the **right questions to ask in different scenarios**.

Timely and thoughtful questions unlock each team member's unique strengths and growth areas. Like [icebreaker questions](/content/tools/icebreaker-questions-for-work/index.html), good one-on-one questions build trust, empathy, and good connections with your team. With this foundation, performance is sure to follow!

### Jump to the section you're looking for:

**1:1 Meeting Question Bank**

#### Questions to break the ice and set the tone

- How was your weekend? Do anything fun?  
- What's your favorite way to spend a day off?  
- What's something quirky or surprising about you that most people don't know?  
- What's something that made you laugh recently?  
- What's the best book you've read or show you've watched recently?  
- What's your favorite motivational quote?  
- What's your favorite way to treat yourself when you need a pick-me-up?  
- What song always puts you in a good mood?  
- What are you most looking forward to in the coming months?  
- What's one small thing that made you happy this week?  
- What food do you crave most often?  
- What is one personal goal you have for yourself?  
- What's on your bucket list for this year?  
- What hobby or activity have you always wanted to try but haven't yet?  
- What is the best gift you’ve ever received?  
- What’s your favorite thing about working with me?  
- What is one thing you felt grateful for this week?  
- If you didn't have to sleep, what would you do with the extra time?  
- If you could learn any new skill, what would it be?  
- If you could time travel, where/when would you go first? Why?  
- If you won the lottery tomorrow, what would be the first thing you would do?  
- If you could live anywhere in the world, where would your dream home be?

#### Questions to build rapport and trust

- What do you value most about our working relationship?  
- Do you feel comfortable voicing concerns, asking questions, or giving me feedback?  
- How do you prefer to receive coaching and feedback from me?  
- What motivates you at work?  
- What makes you feel demotivated or frustrated at work sometimes? How can I help with that?  
- What makes you feel empowered and engaged at work? How could I encourage more of that?  
- What expectations do you have for me as your manager?  
- Where do you feel less confident or need more support? How can I assist?  
- What is something unique about you that I likely don’t know yet?  
- What is your favorite thing about working with our team?  
- What advice do you have for me on how to best support you right now?

#### Questions to understand the current workload and progress

- What projects are you currently working on? How are they going?  
- What progress have you made this week toward your goals?  
- What's the biggest priority for you this week?  
- Do you feel you have the right workload right now? Too much or too little?  
- Is there any part of your role you want more or less focus on?  
- What responsibilities or tasks demand the most time/energy from you? How can we optimize this?  
- Are you facing any obstacles in meeting deadlines? How can I remove those?  
- How satisfied are you with your productivity and efficiency lately?  
- What tools or resources would improve your productivity?  
- How satisfied are you with the balance and prioritization of your work lately?  
- What support from other teams do you need more of? How can I facilitate that?  
- How much time do you spend in meetings compared to focused work time?  
- What else can I do to check in on and monitor your workload and progress?

#### Questions to align goals and expectations

- How would you prioritize your current goals?  
- Do you have the resources needed to achieve your goals? If not, what is missing?  
- Are you clear about your scope of work and expectations?  
- Do you have a clear timeline in mind for achieving these goals?  
- What strategies or approaches do you plan to use to achieve these goals?  
- Where is the biggest gap between my expectations and yours? How can we get better aligned?  
- Should we re-evaluate any team or company goals?  
- How could we better align your goals with team goals?  
- Do you ever feel exhausted between competing priorities? How can I help with that?  
- How satisfied are you with the goals we’ve set together? What could improve that?  
- What goal are you most excited about accomplishing in the months ahead?

#### Questions to address challenges and roadblocks

- What is your biggest challenge or roadblock at work right now? How can I help remove it?  
- Do you feel you have the necessary resources and tools to overcome challenges effectively?  
- What obstacles could hinder your upcoming projects or goals? How can we get ahead of them?  
- Are you waiting on anything from others to move forward? How can I help speed that up?  
- Do you feel supported by your colleagues and the team when facing challenges?  
- Are there any communication gaps that contribute to misunderstandings or inefficiencies? How can we improve communication channels?  
- When you get stuck, what goes through your mind? How do you get unstuck?  
- What is your biggest time-waster right now? How can we eliminate it?  
- Do you feel overloaded with meetings? What meetings or obligations take time away from your core work?  
- What work feels like "grunt work" to you? Can we automate or delegate it?  
- What could I do to help you feel less burnt out?  
- What are you working around that you shouldn't have to? How can I remove those obstacles?

#### Questions to understand your employee's needs

- If you could change one thing about your job to make it better, what would it be?  
- How could I make your work more fulfilling?  
- What problems, if solved, would make your job easier?  
- If I could take any annoyance off your plate, what would it be?  
- What is at the top of your wish list to help improve your performance?  
- What data or metrics would help you prioritize and make decisions?  
- What are your top questions or concerns I can help address?  
- Do you feel your current workload is manageable? What projects or tasks would you delegate if you had an assistant or intern?  
- What is one thing we could do to improve your ability to focus and be productive?  
- Are there any training programs, workshops, or conferences you believe would be beneficial for your professional development?

#### Questions to check on employees’ well-being and engagement

- How are you feeling both personally and professionally?  
- Are you getting enough rest and recharge time outside of work?  
- How do you manage stress and maintain your well-being outside of work?  
- Is there anything outside of work impacting your focus or productivity?  
- What parts of your job bring you satisfaction and joy day-to-day?  
- When did you last feel truly excited about your work?  
- What causes you stress or anxiety at work? How can we alleviate that?  
- Do you feel your role makes good use of your skills and strengths? If not, what could we change?  
- When did you last feel disengaged or bored at work? What was the cause?  
- How connected do you feel to the team values?  
- What keeps you motivated on low-energy days?  
- What causes you to lose motivation at work?  
- When do you have the most focus and energy?  
- What does high engagement look and feel like for you?  
- How can I know if your workload is nearing burnout levels?  
- What are your tricks to stay engaged throughout the workday?  
- What kind of activities or projects do you find the most energizing and engaging?

#### Questions to check on your team dynamics and collaboration

- How are communication and collaboration between you and your teammates?  
- Are there any interpersonal issues or conflicts I should know about?  
- Who would you like to collaborate more with and why?  
- Do you feel there are clear roles, responsibilities, and ownership on the team?  
- Who do you most enjoy collaborating with? Why?  
- Whose work style is most different from yours? How do you bridge that gap?  
- What does your ideal team culture look like? How close are we to that now?  
- Are there unnecessary meetings eating into collaborative work time?  
- What is your preferred method of communication and how can we ensure effective communication within the team?  
- Are you satisfied with the frequency and quality of team meetings? How could we improve them?  
- Are we recognizing team achievements regularly enough?  
- If you could change one thing about the team culture, what would it be?  
- How do you feel about the level of collaboration within the team? Is there room for improvement?

#### Questions to understand personal development and growth goals

- How can we align your skill development with both your personal aspirations and the team's needs?  
- Are there any external training programs or workshops you believe could accelerate your growth?  
- What new skills and knowledge would you like to develop?  
- How do you envision your role evolving over the next year? What new responsibilities interest you?  
- What long-term aspirations do you have that we can start building toward?  
- What part of your job needs more development and coaching?  
- What new areas or responsibilities would you like to explore or take on?  
- What career goals could I help you set to stretch your skills and experience?  
- What projects could I assign to build your capabilities for future roles?  
- How satisfied are you with opportunities for promotion and advancement here?  
- What department or team would you choose to shadow or learn more about?  
- Who inspires you most when it comes to career success? Why?  
- What new things do you want to learn outside your current role?  
- If you could trade roles with someone in a different department for a day, whose role would you choose and why?  
- How can I best support you in setting and achieving these personal development goals?

#### Questions to offer feedback and coaching

- How can I better tailor my feedback and coaching to match your individual learning style and preferences?  
- Are there specific areas or tasks where you feel more feedback would be beneficial for your growth?  
- What aspects do you want to ask for my feedback on?  
- What's the most impactful change you've made based on feedback or coaching received from me?  
- Do you feel our feedback and coaching sessions are frequent enough to support your continuous growth?  
- How have my coaching methods been helpful so far? What other approaches could I try?  
- How do you prefer to receive feedback and coaching from me?  
- Do you feel comfortable discussing mistakes or failures with me? How can I make you more at ease?  
- What is a recent situation you learned from? How will it influence your future work or decisions?  
- What specific feedback from me has been most useful and constructive for you? Why?  
- Are there times you wanted more feedback from me but did not get it? When specifically?  
- What feedback delivery methods work best for you - written, verbal, passive, active, etc.?  
- What recent feedback has been most meaningful in improving your performance? How so?  
- When something goes wrong, how do you prefer to discuss it with me?

#### Questions to get feedback to improve your leadership

- What feedback do you have for me? Are there aspects of my managerial style that could be improved?  
- What areas or situations would you like to see me handle differently? Are there any instances where you felt I could have provided better guidance or direction?  
- Do you feel that I effectively communicate the team's goals, expectations, and priorities? If not, how could I improve?  
- Am I providing you with enough opportunities for professional growth and development? If not, how could I better support you in this area?  
- Do you feel comfortable sharing your concerns or challenges with me? Is there anything I can do to create a more open environment for feedback?  
- Do I strike the right balance between providing guidance and giving you autonomy in your work? If not, how could I improve?  
- Do you feel that I listen to your ideas and suggestions? Is there anything I can do to encourage more open discussions?  
- If you were in my position, what's one change you would make to improve the team's overall experience and performance?  
- How do you think my leadership style impacts team morale and motivation? Is there anything I could do differently to enhance it?  
- When have I made a decision you disagreed with? How could I have handled that better?  
- What more can I do to make you feel supported, heard, and valued?  
- How could I do a better job of explaining my decisions and reasoning to you?  
- What could I do to make you feel more comfortable approaching me with questions and concerns?

#### Questions to spark creative thinking

- If you could redesign your role from scratch, what would it look like?  
- Imagine you're a consultant advising us from the outside. What recommendations would you give to improve our processes?  
- If you had unlimited resources, what kind of project or idea would you pursue right now?  
- If you could solve any problem in our industry, what would it be and how would you approach it?  
- What's the most unconventional solution you can think of for the challenge we're currently facing?  
- What should we stop doing to become more efficient, effective, or innovative?  
- What trends or technologies outside our industry could we adapt to improve our products/services?  
- If you were to design a marketing campaign that stands out, what creative elements would you include?  
- What's a new way we could engage with our customers that we haven't tried before?  
- If you had to completely reinvent our product/service, what features or elements would you introduce?  
- What's a feature or aspect of our current offering that you think could be enhanced to surprise our customers?  
- How could we change our approach to solving a problem if we considered it from the customer's perspective?  
- What's something you've learned from a different field that you believe could be applied to our work?  
- What seems impossible but is actually feasible if we change our thinking?  
- If budget and resources were no concern, what initiatives would you want to implement?

#### Questions to check on your remote work culture

- What challenges are you facing working remotely? How could we improve?  
- Do you feel connected with your teammates while working remotely?  
- How often do you interact with your team members and colleagues virtually? Are there communication channels or tools that you find particularly effective or lacking?  
- What remote collaboration policies or guidelines do you think have been working well for our team? Are there any adjustments you'd recommend?  
- What strategies or routines have you developed to stay productive and focused while working from home?  
- How comfortable do you feel reaching out to your team members and colleagues for help or support when working remotely? Are there any barriers you've experienced?  
- Do you have all the necessary tools and resources to carry out your tasks effectively? Is there a better software, technology, or tool we could use to collaborate remotely?  
- Do you feel you have the autonomy and trust to manage your work effectively while remote? Are there any areas where you feel more or less empowered?  
- Are there times when you feel disconnected or isolated from the team's culture while working remotely? If so, what do you think could help alleviate that feeling?  
- How do you think our team could enhance its remote communication practices to ensure everyone stays engaged and informed?  
- Which ways do you use to build relationships and collaborate with our team members while remote? Are there any challenges in maintaining effective communication?  
- How engaged and focused are you able to be working from home? What causes distractions?  
- Have you encountered any remote work-related obstacles that you feel the team could address collectively?  
- Do you feel informed on updates and included in team decisions when working remotely?  
- What best practices have you discovered that help you stay productive in a remote environment?  
- Are there opportunities for virtual team-building activities or social interactions that you believe would benefit the team's cohesion?  
- Have you been able to maintain a healthy work-life balance while working remotely?  
- What measures could we put in place to ensure that remote work doesn't lead to feelings of burnout or overwork?  
- How often would you ideally like to meet in person as a team?

#### Questions to explore personal motivation and encourage autonomy

- What aspects of your role make you feel that you're making a meaningful impact on the team's success?  
- What current project or responsibility gets you most excited to work on?  
- If you could choose one project to take the lead on, what would it be and why?  
- Do you feel you have enough autonomy in how you do your daily work?  
- What are your thoughts on the level of decision-making authority you currently have? Is there anything you'd like to change?  
- Are there areas where you think you could contribute more, given the opportunity?  
- What factors positively influence your job satisfaction and engagement?  
- How could we structure your role to give you more flexibility and ownership?  
- What gives you a sense of purpose in your daily work?  
- If you could change anything about your current role, what would it be?  
- What daily frustrations could be removed to increase your motivation?  
- What gives you a feeling of accomplishment at the end of the day?  
- Do you feel supported in trying new initiatives?  
- What would you say is your proudest achievement or contribution since you joined the team?  
- Are there areas within your current role where you feel you have more to offer but haven't had the opportunity to showcase them?

#### Questions to ask before closing your 1:1

- What's your biggest takeaway from our discussion today?  
- Is there anything else on your mind I should know about?  
- What topic or issue should we make sure to discuss at our next one-on-one?  
- How would you assess our meeting today - are we making good use of our time together?  
- Is there any way I can improve these discussions to be more valuable for you?  
- Now that we're wrapping up, what's top of mind for you heading into next week?  
- Knowing what we just discussed, what's one thing you will focus on this week?  
- Do you feel like you have what you need from me to go out and excel after our discussion today?  
- I enjoyed our conversation. Moving forward, what's the most important thing I can do to support you?  
- Now that we're done, do you feel this was a good use of your time today?  
- What's one insight or takeaway you have from our discussion today that you will reflect on going forward?