An one-on-one meeting is a great occasion to have intimate discussions with your employees. Here are ten questions you should ask in the meeting to keep the conversations going and get your employees to feel more comfortable.
In a digital world where emails and IM have gradually replaced direct communications, a one-on-one meeting is not only a performance catch up with your employees but a rare opportunity to reconnect and create a healthy two-way relationship. In the last post, we discussed the critical of one-on-one meetings to business; this time, we list ten crucial questions you should ask in a one-on-one meeting with your employees.
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1. What is the main bottleneck in your current project?
A one-on-one meeting is made for keeping track of the current project (Photo Credits: Hubspot)
A one-on-one is a great change to be aligned with the team's progress and helps you have a better understanding about the chemistry between team members. Thus asking a specific question is essential to get the answer you need. Don't spout out questions like "How are you doing?" or "How is your project going?". Ask open-ended questions to evoke critical thinkings from your employees.
2. What do you like working on this project?
Find out what motivates your employees and encourage it (Photo Credits: iStock)
Everyone needs motivations to keep the fire burning. It's part of your job to understand what drive your employees to work, how they like the chemistry between team members, or whether the current project helps their personal growth. Once you're in one-on-ones, you need to elaborate your employee's comments by asking further questions. Think of it as you are creating a bridge between what she has said and what else you want to learn.
3. Are you happy working in the company?
A happy employee is a good employee. Make sure that they are content with the work environment ( Photo Credits: Hubspot)
Ever heard the saying "Find a job you like and you never work a day"? Well, turn out it's true. The working environment can make a significant impact on the employee's wellbeing and their satisfaction. Research shows that working in a cut-throat and high-pressure environment increases healthcare expenditures, widens disengagement, and decreases loyalty.
For these reasons, a lot of companies are now attempting to engage the employees by offering more concreate benefits in the office. For example, Google offers lavish perks in their headquarter such as massages, free gourmet lunches, ping pong tables, childcare facilities.
However, as this study has found out, employees prefer workplace wellbeing to material benefits. And wellbeing can only come from a positive culture. As the manager, you have a huge impact on what the employees feel so you should go out of your way and offer as much help as possible. Chances are you have a remained loyal to that person to this day.
4. Where do you get your inspiration at work?
Inspiration can come from different sources (Credit: Hubspot)
As a worker, it's important to know that your tasks have some meanings. A study by Pyschologists Todd M. Thrash and Andrew J. Elliot has shown that having a sense of purpose on what you are doing increases your concentration, creativity, and resilience to finish. A source of inspiration comes from everywhere and everyone. It may be from the canteen lady who is always nice to people, or a team leader who believes the work they've done is improving people's lives. Find the inspirational sources, or better, be the inspirational person you will help other find their motivations to come to work.
5. Who do you have difficulty to work with and Why?
Conflicts in workplace must be resolved as soon as possible (Credits: Hubspot)
In a better world, everyone working on the same project finds the same motivation and works in harmony from the beginning to the end. Alas, in real life, it is not always the case, especially in a multicultural team. Most of the time, people are reluctant to explicit the problem they have with another member and will try to avoid talking about it. In an one-on-one discussion, you must act the role of both the manager and the therapist. Listen to what they say, and offer helps if asked. You must ensure a friendly and civil environment, and do not turn the meeting into an occasion for whistleblowing.
6. Can you share with me three achievements you have last week?
"Sharing a win" is the best way to reward your employees for their great work (Credits: Hubspot)
One way to show your appreciation to your employee's work is through acknowledging their accomplishments. In fact, by "sharing a win", you increase the wellbeing of your employees. A research conducted by Joyce E. Bono and Theresa M. Glomb found that sharing positive experiences help you reduce stress, including physical symptoms such as headaches or muscle tension. The simple practice of sharing three achievements in the one-on-one meeting can change the way people perceive their work lives. The study also shows that by sharing positive events together, you create a strong bond with the employees, which leads to a better mood.
Big tech companies are now integrating this technique into their weekly meetings. Take Facebook as an example. In the weekly meeting, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg would highlight "a fix of the week", honouring some fixes or accomplishments that are not well-known to people. Mark understands the impact of positive events on people and knows how to emphasise it in his meeting. The result is the unquestionable loyalty of all Facebook employees. One former employee said "People come to work at Facebook because they want to work for Zuckerberg. No one else has a Mark."
7. What have you learnt during the current project?
Learning should happen constantly at work (Credits: Hubspot)
A productive employee is a learning employee. And people only take the time to improve themselves for what they love doing. At least once a week, you should take the time to keep tracks with all team members to find out if they take learning and development the same way as you do, and detect as soon as possible whether they see the workload is hindering their personal learning process.
8. What are your personal goals in the next 3 year?
Ask your employees about their goals and how they plan to achieve them (Credits: Hubspot)
Most people might find it difficult to share their personal goals to other. And an one-on-one meeting is the best opportunity to ask that question and help your employees be thoughtful about their careers. According to this article from Havard Business Review, for personal talks, reflection is the key. You must give the employees the time to think about what they want to express and once you are in the meeting, ask direct but open-ended questions about their goals.
9. What is something I can do better to support you and your team?
Offering support and listen to feedback wholeheartedly in all one-on-one meetings with your employees (Credits: Hubspot)
This one can be intimidating - I know, as it could open the can of worms and destroy the image you thought you have. But it is also a very powerful tool to let your employees get their concerns out of the chests and see you as a role model.
The key is to send a signal to your employees that they are allowed to speak up. Unless they see the green light, it's unlikely that your employees will volunteer to admit the information. They may dislike the way you constantly interrupt their works, or that you try to micro-manage everything they do. The longer the resentment lingers, the less motivated they'll be over time.
Being authentic and genuinely curious might take practices and some understandings. You must accept the idea that you have something your employees don't like, and it's okay. It's the learning opportunity for you to be a better manager.
10. Is there anything troubling you lately?
Show emphathy to the employee's personal burden and you'll create a healthy working environment (Credits: Hubspot)
Even the happiest person has the bad day. And a bad day is all it needs to demotivate a good employee. As a boss and a coach, the key for asking personal matters from your employees is sincerity. People can tell if you are just asking a question because it's what you're "supposed" to do, or even worse, exploiting the occasion for whistleblowing. Being authentic and sincere takes practices and courage, but the benefits you reap is immense: you build trust among your employees and create a positive business culture for everyone to thrive.
Over To You
There you have it, the ten burning questions that all managers should ask in one-on-one meetings to get the most out of it and leave your employees in a great mood. One thing you must remember, the key for succesful one-on-one meetings is sincerity and authenticity.
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