4 Questions to Ask in Your 1:1s
If your one-on-ones are starting to feel a little stale, you’re not alone.
In this quick tip video, I’m sharing four go-to questions that can breathe new life into your conversations—helping you connect more meaningfully, uncover what really matters, and show your team you genuinely care. Try one out this week and see what shifts.
P.S. Want more 1:1 tips? Download my free 1:1 Cheat Sheet, including a fillable planning template you can share with your team. Let's make 1:1s easy and effective.
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Most of you know that I'm a huge fan of holding regular one-on-ones with your employees.
It can feel challenging though to bring some new life to these conversations. And while I absolutely believe the employee should own the meeting, they get to determine the agenda, they run the meeting. You as the leader can certainly add to the conversation. You don't just sit there. If you can come with a thoughtful question or two, it will certainly help bring life to the conversation and show that you care.
And so today I want to give you four of my favorite questions to ask in a one-on-one. Maybe you can try one on in the next week or so.
The first thing is a very simple question about really connecting with how they're doing personally and not just the work. And that's very simple: “Before we dive into updates today, I want to hear how you are really doing.” Okay. So that's question number one.
The second question is helping the employee think through, Ooh, how do we really best utilize this time today? What do we really need to cover? And so the question is, “What feels most important to cover today? Or what do you want to make sure we cover by the end of this meeting today?” So you're helping them prioritize their agenda.
The next question is pretty simple, and yet it helps us think of new things that maybe we wouldn't have thought of otherwise. And that is you ask the employee, “If you had a magic wand and you could wave it to fix anything right now, what would you use it for? If you had a magic wand to change or fix anything right now, how would you use it?”
And then the last question can help you tap into what might be stressing them out, what's really weighing on them lately? And that question is, “What's taking up the most mental space for you right now? What's taking up the most mental capacity for you right now?” And they'll think about it and share what really is running through their mind, both at work and outside of work.
So those are four simple questions. Don't throw all of them at them at once, but pick one or two to play around with and let me know how it goes.