15 Questions To Ask Your Manager During Your 1:1 | Tips From An HR Professional
Summary
TLDRIn this insightful video, Janelle, a compensation professional, emphasizes the importance of one-on-one meetings with managers for career growth and work efficiency. She outlines 15 strategic questions to ask during these sessions, covering daily tasks, career development, and miscellaneous topics. These questions help clarify priorities, seek guidance, and align with managerial expectations, fostering a proactive and collaborative work environment. Janelle also discusses the frequency and initiation of one-on-ones, highlighting their role in maintaining a positive work-life balance and ensuring continuous professional development.
Takeaways
- 🗓️ One-on-one meetings with managers are essential for work efficiency and career growth.
- ❓ Understand the purpose of one-on-ones: dedicated time for discussing work, projects, and career growth.
- 📅 Frequency of one-on-ones depends on individual needs, but a minimum of once a week for 30 minutes is recommended.
- 📝 Be proactive in scheduling one-on-ones if your manager hasn't initiated them.
- 📋 Prioritize tasks and projects by asking your manager for clarification on the most important ones.
- 🚀 Seek advice from your manager on how to handle obstacles and manage workload effectively.
- 🤝 Understand your manager's preferred communication style for seeking input and support.
- 🎯 Regularly discuss career development and growth with your manager to ensure alignment of goals.
- 📈 Ask for opportunities to work on projects that align with your career interests and development.
- 📚 Explore company resources for skill development and ask for support in attending courses or conferences.
- 🔄 Conduct mid-year goal check-ins to adjust and ensure goals remain relevant and achievable.
- 🔄 Regularly check in on whether you're meeting your manager's expectations and seek feedback.
Q & A
What is the purpose of a one-on-one meeting with a manager?
-A one-on-one is a dedicated time set aside for discussions about pending items, upcoming projects, career growth, or any other topics that the employee and manager wish to address. It helps in building a relationship and ensuring a positive work experience.
How often should one-on-one meetings be held?
-The frequency of one-on-ones depends on the preferences of the employee and manager. However, it is recommended to have at least one 30-minute meeting per week as a minimum.
How do you initiate a one-on-one meeting with your manager?
-If your manager hasn't scheduled one-on-one time, you can proactively put time on their calendar or send them a message suggesting a designated weekly time for discussions about projects and duties.
What should you focus on during one-on-one meetings?
-During one-on-ones, focus on understanding your manager's expectations for tasks and projects, prioritizing your workload, and seeking advice on managing your responsibilities effectively.
How can you ask for assistance from your manager?
-Ask your manager about the best way to get their input or support when you need assistance. This could involve clarifying their preferred communication style, such as email, Slack, phone calls, or calendar invites.
What should you discuss during one-on-one meetings to aid career development?
-Discuss your interest in specific projects, your goals, and the skills you need to master for career growth. Also, inquire about resources like courses and conferences that the company might sponsor to facilitate your development.
How can you ensure you're meeting your manager's expectations?
-Ask your manager directly if you are meeting their expectations and seek clarification on areas where you might improve. Regularly checking in on your performance helps align your efforts with their expectations.
What is the importance of discussing communication levels with your manager?
-Discussing communication levels ensures that both you and your manager are comfortable with the frequency and method of communication. This helps in maintaining a healthy professional relationship and ensures that expectations are met.
How can you offer to take on additional responsibilities during one-on-ones?
-Ask your manager if there is anything else you can assist with or take off their plate. This shows your willingness to support your manager and take on more work if it aligns with your capacity and workload.
Why is it important to have open conversations with your manager?
-Open conversations with your manager help in aligning your work with their expectations, understanding your performance, and discussing any necessary adjustments to your goals or workload. It also fosters a positive work-life balance and supports your career growth.
Outlines
📅 The Importance of One-on-Ones
This paragraph discusses the significance of one-on-one meetings between employees and managers. It highlights how these meetings are crucial not only for task completion but also for career growth. The speaker, Janelle, emphasizes that the value derived from these sessions depends on the employee's engagement. She introduces the video's focus on questions to ask during one-on-ones to improve work and understand the bigger picture of their role.
📝 Daily Duties and Project Priorities
Janelle provides guidance on questions to ask about daily tasks and upcoming projects. She suggests inquiries about current focus areas, prioritization when overwhelmed, and seeking advice on managing workload. She also recommends asking about the best way to get managerial input or support and encourages employees to be proactive in understanding their manager's expectations and priorities.
🚀 Career Development and Growth
This section focuses on questions related to career development and growth. Janelle advises on how to communicate career aspirations and goals with managers, how to express interest in specific projects, and how to seek out learning opportunities within the company. She also discusses the importance of asking about necessary skills for promotion and whether the company can support skill development through courses or conferences.
📊 Miscellaneous Questions for One-on-Ones
Janelle presents a miscellaneous category of questions that can be asked during one-on-ones. These include checking in on mid-year goals, discussing whether expectations are being met, ensuring comfortable communication levels, and offering additional assistance. She also touches on the importance of giving feedback to managers and checking in on their perception of the employee's performance.
🤝 Building a Relationship with Your Manager
In the concluding paragraph, Janelle reiterates the importance of consistent and open communication with managers. She suggests having one-on-one meetings at least once a week and emphasizes the manager's role as an advocate for the employee. She encourages viewers to engage in these conversations to ensure alignment with their manager's expectations and to foster a positive work-life balance, ultimately leading to career success.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡One-on-One
💡Career Growth
💡Manager Expectations
💡Communication
💡Performance Conversations
💡Prioritization
💡Goal Setting
💡Feedback
💡Proactivity
💡Workload Management
💡Professional Development
Highlights
Employee-manager one-on-ones are essential for work efficiency and career growth.
The outcome of one-on-ones depends on the effort you put into them.
A one-on-one is a dedicated time for discussing pending items, projects, and career growth with your manager.
The frequency of one-on-ones depends on individual preferences but at least once a week is recommended.
If your manager hasn't scheduled a one-on-one, take the initiative to propose it.
One-on-ones help resolve project issues early, increasing efficiency.
Regular one-on-ones ensure you and your manager are on the same page.
Ask your manager about their expectations for your tasks and projects.
Seek clarification on priorities when feeling overwhelmed.
Inquire about the best way to get your manager's input or support.
Discuss any additional tasks you can take on to help your manager.
Have regular performance conversations for career development.
Express interest in future projects and ask for opportunities to develop.
Ask who would be the best person to learn from for career growth.
Inquire about skills needed for promotion and how to master them.
Ask if the company can sponsor your learning and development.
Check if you've been improving in the skills discussed with your manager.
Consider a mid-year check-in on your goals to adjust if necessary.
Ask if your manager is meeting your expectations and how you can improve.
Ensure your manager is comfortable with the level of communication.
Offer to assist with additional tasks to support your manager.
Transcripts
when i started my first full-time job
and my manager put a 101 on my calendar
i remember thinking what is this for and
what are we even going to talk about if
we needed to have a conversation about
something specifically wouldn't we just
put a meeting on the calendar for that
item specifically i soon learned the
answer was no over the years i've
learned that employee manager
one-on-ones are essential not only to
getting your work done but also are
detrimental to career growth that said
how much you get out of your one-on-ones
is going to depend solely on what you
put into them in this video i want to
specifically talk about the questions
that you should consider asking your
manager during your one-on-one time with
them these questions will not only help
you get your work done like i mentioned
before but they'll also help you
understand the bigger picture and the
why behind your work which is essential
to your career growth and development
before we get into it for anyone new
here hi what's up i'm janelle this is
janellenews money i'm a compensation
professional that's obsessed with
helping you get the job get paid and
then helping to figure out what to do
with that money hit the subscribe button
if this sounds interesting to you i come
out with new videos every single week
and we have a kitten
here okay
cnoby before we check questions i want
to do a little bit of an employee slash
manager 101 faq to get just some of
these standard questions and answers out
of the way if you're only here for the
questions i promise this won't take long
hang in there or you can just skip ahead
if you want to so the first question
that i want to clear up is what even is
a one-on-one a one-on-one is a dedicated
time on your calendar that is set aside
specifically for you and your manager to
have discussions about pending items
upcoming projects career growth or
anything else that you might want to
have a conversation about really they
just give you the time and the space to
connect with and create a relationship
with your manager so that you can have a
positive experience at work question
number two how often should you be
having a one-on-one with your manager
how often you have a one-on-one with
your manager is going to depend on you
and your manager's preferences that said
in my experience and what i would
recommend is having a one-on-one with
your manager at least once a week for 30
minutes at a time and that would just be
a bare minimum in some circumstances you
might want to have two a week for 30
minutes each or even one a week for 60
minutes again it's gonna depend on the
circumstances sometimes when you're
starting a new job you might want to
have more time set aside when you're
learning and you're growing and you're
trying to understand the full breadth of
your job duties whereas other times you
are further along in your career you
understand what you need to do you
understand your duties you don't have a
lot of questions so you might not need
to have those meetings quite as
frequently question number three if
you've never had a one-on-one with your
manager but it is something that you
would like to start doing where do you
start what do you do how do you ask so
if your manager hasn't put one-on-one
time on your calendar i would encourage
you to be proactive in putting time on
their calendar to have that one-on-one
time where you guys can have discussion
around project and duties that you're
currently working on if you're a little
bit nervous to do this what i would
recommend is sending your manager either
an email you know a slack or a team's
message saying hey i'm thinking about
putting some designated time on our
calendars every week where you and i can
just have a conversation about where
we're at in projects what you need for
me and what your expectations are is
that okay with you if your manager is
kind of hesitant and is giving pause to
putting that time on their calendar i
would recommend letting them know the
benefits of being able to put that time
on their calendar for example you could
let them know that having a one-on-one
will allow us to resolve any issues or
obstacles that we're having in projects
early on which will then increase the
efficiency of the project so that things
can move along more quickly you can also
let them know that you want to do this
so that you and your manager can touch
base on your goals regularly so that you
can make sure that you're meeting their
expectations and that the goals that you
set at the beginning of the year are
still appropriate later on in the year
and you guys can see if there are any
shifts or changes you need to make to
your goals to make sure that you are
still developing and improving as an
employee so these are just the basics
that i wanted to cover about one-on-ones
if you have any other questions about
one-on-ones or specifically how to have
conversations with your managers about
one-on-ones leave a comment below and i
will get back to you all right now let's
move on to the good part we're going to
talk about the 15 questions that you can
ask your manager during your one-on-one
note that i've organized these questions
that we're going to talk about into
different categories there are three of
them the first group of questions that
we're going to talk about have to do
with your daily duties and upcoming
projects the second category we're going
to talk about questions that you can ask
about your career development and your
career growth and then that third
category is just some additional
questions that i think are important to
ask your manager but didn't fit into
either one of those first two categories
so it's just kind of a miscellaneous
category if you will so first up let's
talk about those questions that you will
ask about daily activities daily tasks
duties whatever you want to call them as
well as upcoming projects i typically
ask these questions to get a better idea
and understanding of my manager's
expectations for the tasks and the
projects that i'm working on they also
help me understand what i should be
prioritizing managers like to know that
you're on the same page as them and will
see you as a high performer and a team
player if you focus on the things that
move everybody forward together all
right so for question number one that i
would recommend asking i would say
something like this right now i'm
focusing on x y and z would you like me
to continue to focus my time here or can
i take on other tasks that would also
help you this next question is one that
i like to ask when i'm feeling a little
bit overwhelmed and like i'm being
pulled in a million different directions
and i'm having a hard time prioritizing
a it tells my manager that a lot is
going on right now i have a lot on my
plate and then it also asks for advice
in terms of how to prioritize those
things so it goes like this i feel like
we have a lot going on right now and i'm
being pulled in a million different
directions would you be able to further
clarify for me what our biggest
priorities are right now so that i can
focus my time there again this just
helps pull priorities back into place so
that your manager can then further
assist you and then support you in the
ways that you need as you're moving
through a time that's kind of
overwhelming question number three is
another question just asking for advice
from your manager and helping you manage
the things that are going on when it
comes to your workload so it goes like
this i'm finding that i'm consistently
getting stuck on x what would you
recommend that i do in these
circumstances again this lets your
manager give you some direction in terms
of where to go so that you have this
overarching umbrella of understanding
what you can do in some of these
circumstances so that you don't need to
check in with them every time and so you
have a sense of direction moving forward
when you're dealing with x type of
obstacle which is a great segue to
question number four something that i
like to ask my manager is if i need
assistance with something what is the
best way to get your input or support if
there's anything that i've learned from
working with different bosses at
different jobs is that each person has
their own personal style one manager
would prefer that you send everything
the email another person wants it via
teams or slack another person wants a
phone call another person wants a
calendar invite every time they want to
have a conversation about something so
it's always good to get that clarity up
front from your manager to better
understand how you can get their input
and their support and what is going to
work best for them as well as for you
question number five is something that i
ask towards the end of our one-on-ones
almost every single time it's is there
anything top of mind for you that you'd
like to talk about that we haven't
discussed yet again this allows your
manager to give input and any other
areas that they might need some
assistance in that you can then step up
and provide that assistance for them
moving into the second category of
questions for career development and
growth one of the biggest mistakes that
i see with folks in their careers is
that they're being more passive in the
way that they're dealing with their
career development and their career
growth it's essential that you're having
regular performance conversations with
your manager in order to move your
career forward your manager cannot read
your mind it's up to you to tell them
what kind of projects you want to work
on what your goals are what your dreams
are for your career and once you tell
them that information it is then up to
them to help you and assist you in being
your best advocate being in someone who
clears pathways for you so that you can
grow and develop in your career but if
you don't tell them and you don't let it
be known what you're interested in where
you want to go and what you want in your
career they can't help you so make sure
that you are asking questions and having
these performance conversations with
your manager regularly so that you can
move forward in your career so here's my
first question within the career and
development section during our last team
meeting you mentioned a project that our
team will be working on in the future
i'm incredibly interested in working on
that project would it be possible for me
to work on x as a part of my development
i'd be more than happy to assist in any
ways that you felt where appropriate
again this is you being proactive you
saw a project somebody mentioned a
project that you're interested in at the
company and you're specifically asking
to be on that project so that you can
further develop i have never met a
manager that would say no to something
like this they're going to be excited
that you're excited about learning and
that you're excited about developing
which segways us to the next question
which is i'd love to learn more about x
who would be the best person for me to
connect with to have a conversation
about and learn about x would you be
able to make an introduction for me to
that person so that i can have further
learning and development when it comes
to acts again this is you taking control
of your learning and your development
and asking specifically to have
conversations with people across the
organization so that you can better
understand and learn a specific topic
never ever overlook the people as
resources within your company to further
your learning and development next
question is i enjoy working here and
want to better understand how i can
continue to grow in my career what
skills do you think i need to continue
to master in order to get promoted some
folks might see this question a little
iffy because they'd be nervous
specifically to ask about getting
promoted but again your manager doesn't
know what you want they don't know if
you want to get promoted or if you want
to stay in the role unless you ask so
always ask it's never going to hurt to
ask this next one is about asking about
different resources that the company
might be able to provide you in order to
help you facilitate your growth it goes
like this in our last one-on-one we
talked about the skills that i could
further develop in order to get promoted
i did some research and found that there
are some different courses and
conferences that i could go to that
would help me further develop that skill
and learn more about how to implement it
at work would the business happen to
have a budget to help me with some of
the costs that might be associated with
that again don't be afraid to ask for
your company to sponsor you in some of
these endeavors especially for skills
that you're building in order to make
the company better in order to better do
your role so that the company can become
more efficient they can gain more
revenue et cetera it's only going to
benefit them if you're engaged in your
work and you're engaged and excited
about learning additional skills so that
you can be better at your job and
perhaps they might not have the budget
within the year that you're asking but
if you let your manager know this they
can then plan for money in the budget
for some education for you for the next
year again if you never ask you don't
know okay last question within the
career development and growth section
and our 10th question overall so far
it's since we last chatted about the
skills that i could develop do you see
that i've been improving and if not
could you give me a little bit of extra
clarification around what your
expectations are for me delivering on
this skill again it's just a way for you
to check in on how your manager thinks
that you're performing so that when you
come to the end of the year when you
come to performance review season you're
prepared to have conversations about
your performance and you've been taking
it seriously throughout the year so
you've been consistently doing better
month over month in improving the skills
and experiences that you have okay so
we're down to our last five questions
within the miscellaneous section these
are questions that i typically ask my
manager during one-on-ones but didn't
necessarily fit into the other two
sections but wanted to provide them to
you as a resource because i thought that
they might be helpful okay so this first
question does go a little bit with
career development but it's would it be
possible to do a mid-year check-in on my
goals i want to make sure that i'm on
track and confirm whether or not we need
to make any adjustment to the goals
because of unforeseen circumstances we
might set goals at the beginning of the
year and they might not necessarily be
the goals that we still want to have for
the end of the year you know we go into
a year thinking we will get all of these
things done and then because sometimes
have unforeseen circumstances that you
couldn't have predicted or your manager
could have predicted we need to shift
those goals so it's important to have
those mid-year conversations with your
manager so that you can understand
whether or not some goals need to fall
off your list and you need to add some
for the last six months of the year or
if you need to shift in some other way
that makes sense so that you can achieve
your goals because the whole point of
having goals is that they are achievable
so that you can be successful and if
things are shifting constantly
throughout the year we want to make sure
you're going back to those and resetting
them for the future okay this second
question that i like to ask my manager
regularly is am i meeting your
expectations and if not can you relay to
me what expectations i'm not meeting and
give me some more information about how
i could be better meeting those in the
future again still within a performance
realm but i find that is always really
helpful in a work environment in a
professional environment is too right be
professional but at the same time still
be straightforward if you want an answer
to a question about whether or not
you're meeting expectations you're doing
a good job i would just recommend you
ask your manager they will tell you
they'll give you an honest answer and if
they don't then that's a whole other set
of problems that we can talk about later
but definitely just be straightforward
and ask them how they think you're doing
this third question that i like to ask
is are you happy with our level of
communication this is an important
question to ask especially if you have a
boss that is potentially a micromanager
you want to make sure that they're
feeling comfortable with the level of
communication that you're providing them
that they're providing you and this
gives you a chance to further clarify
what that looks like some bosses might
want you to do an end of the week
summary that says these are all the
things that like have accomplished over
the week maybe they want you to have a
check in on a daily basis really is
going to depend on the person but you're
not going to know what they feel
comfortable and what they need unless
you ask them so make sure that you ask
whether or not they're comfortable with
the level of communication you guys
currently have or if there are any
adjustments that you can make for the
future so number four is something
that's important when you're coaching up
and i think sometimes we need to give
feedback to the people that are managing
us so that they can also meet your
expectations and this is something
that's hard to do because it doesn't
always come well received so i find that
it typically is a little bit more well
received if you ask first if you can
give some feedback so how i would do
this is saying something like this would
you be open to receiving some feedback
on x so this way that they also know
it's not just broad feedback it's
feedback on a specific project or a
specific task or duty or maybe some
additional support that you need
typically people will say yes and by
saying yes they're almost consenting and
allowing you to give them feedback which
sometimes will make people feel more
comfortable with receiving it okay
question number five this is something i
ask at the end of a one-on-one every
single time no matter what without fail
similar to kind of what we talked about
before what i say is is there anything
else that i can assist with another way
that you can say this is is there
anything else i can take off of your
plate right now
i think it's important for managers to
know that we're there and we're open and
we're willing to take some additional
things on if it's going to make their
lives easier and again only of course if
you have that capacity within your
workload and what on your plate in order
to take some additional things on i'm
not encouraging you to take on so many
things that you're working so many hours
but always consider asking your manager
this a lot of times my manager says no
but i do think it is just a thoughtful
question to ask at the end to let them
know that you're here and you're a team
player and you're open and willing to
take on some more things if they need
some assistance so now that we made it
to the end of this video what i really
hope you got out of this is that it is
incredibly important to have consistent
open conversations with your managers
regularly every manager is going to have
a different preference for one-on-ones
but again what i would recommend is
doing it at least once a week for 30
minutes at a time just so that you can
make sure that you and your manager are
on the same page it's never gonna hurt
to have those additional conversations
so that you can continue to build your
relationship with your manager because
at the end of the day they are your best
advocate they are the person that is
going to go to bat for you and so it's
going to be important to try to build
and create a sustainable relationship
with them when it comes to your work you
want them to have the perception that
you are here and you are open and you
are willing to do whatever it takes to
get your job done in a timely and
efficient manner and this also gives you
the opportunity to have that two-way
conversation about other things that
might be going on so maybe it's perhaps
not that you can take on these
additional things but maybe perhaps you
need to have a conversation with your
manager about the fact that your
workload is too heavy so these
conversations are so essential to you
also having a positive work-life balance
and you having a positive experience at
work while also being able to you know
then grow in your career and better
understand what your manager's
expectations are i think so much of
being successful at work is being able
to have those open communications with
managers and other people around you
that clearly communicate expectations so
that everybody is on the same page thank
you for making it this far in the video
if you like this content make sure to
hit the thumbs up and subscribe so that
i know to make more content like this i
come out with new videos every week if
you have any requests or questions leave
them in the comments below and i will
make sure to get back to you thank you
so much bye
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