One to one meetings are a great way to check progress, identify areas for improvement, identify any issues and make an action plan. Sometimes to get to the useful information you need requires you to ask the right questions. Here are some ideas for open questions to use in a one to one meeting.
- How do you feel everything is going?
- What do you like/dislike about working here?
- What are you most excited/worried about?
- What would make your days more fulfilling?
- What can I/we be doing better to help you in your role?
- What would enable you to perform your role even more effectively?
- What would make you never want to leave?
- What would you like to learn more about this month/year?
Being able to identify, phrase and deliver questions to get the desired response (whether you’re looking for an open honest answer or a weighted closed question) is a useful skill. I’ve included some brief points below to help with this.
Aim & Focus
It’s good know the aim of the conversation and to be aware of the goal of each question, what are you looking to learn/find out or what are you trying to get the other party to realise. This will help stay focused and direct the conversation. If the other party drifts off from the focus, let them and then either bring the conversation back to the focus or explore the tangent further by asking follow up questions.
Listen, really well
One of the most important aspects to asking questions is listening, gauging/reading the other party, and then reacting and responding accordingly.
Empathy
Empathy can be key to more deeply understanding a situation/response and helps you to know how best to respond.
Tone and Body Language
Be aware of your tone and body language, as these can greatly change the openness and content of a conversation.
I hope this is helpful.
