Great one on one meeting questions can really help to really extract value from your team discussions. The best one on one meetings are those that are 90% focused on the employee.

The best way for any manager to focus on the employee is to actively listen.

And the best way to be an active listener is to get good at asking great questions.

For some people, asking good questions comes naturally. For the rest of us, a little one on one prep work is best.

Hence, “The List” of great one on one meeting questions.

What follows is a list of questions we either: 1) personally use here at Jell during one-on-one meetings, 2) plan to use soon, 3) heard worked really well at companies we admire, or 4) have seen and thought: “Damn. That’d make for a really great question to ask at next week’s one-on-one.”

Some of these will work well for pre-meeting questionnaires. Others are best saved for the actual meeting. And there are a few that you’ll likely want to keep in your back pocket for the right moment.

If you want an easy way to improve the effectiveness of your one-on-one meetings, I highly encourage you to bookmark this page so you can use it as a quick-reference sheet from week to week.

Culture questions

Ask these questions to keep your finger on the pulse of actual team dynamics and company culture from your employees’ perspectives.

1. Are you happy working here?

2. Who do you admire within the company and why?

3. Who has really been kicking ass lately?

4. What do you like about working here? What’s not fun about working here?

5. If we could improve in any way, how would we do it?

6. What’s the number one problem within our organization? Why?

7. If you were me, what changes would you make?

8. What’s the biggest opportunity we’re missing out on?

9. What are we not doing that we should be doing?

10. Is there anything that’s slowing you down from getting your work done?

Personal productivity questions

These questions can be great for encouraging employees to speak up about some of the tougher issues that may need to be addressed for more productive day-to-day collaboration.

11. What are your long-term goals?

12. How can I make your days more fulfilling?

13. What can I be doing better to help you in your job?

14. Are there any obstacles I can remove for you?

15. What do you like most about your job today?

16. What do you like the least?

17. Where do you see your career in the next (2/5/10) years?

18. What work are you doing here that you feel is most in line with your long-term goals?

19. What’s one thing about your job that, if we fixed, would make you never want to leave?

20. What would you like to learn more about this year?

21. What are you most excited about?

22. What are you most worried about?

Work-life questions

Sprinkling in a few casual, personalized questions can help spur important discussions around the topic of how work fits into your employees’ overall lives—and what you can do to ensure it’s a welcomed, enjoyable part of each week.

23. How is your family?

24. How was your weekend?

25. How are you planning to balance work and personal life this year?

26. What are you doing for yourself outside of work?

27. Is there anything you’d like to be doing on your own time to relieve stress that you’re not getting to? How can I help you achieve those personal goals?

28. What does your ideal weekday look like?

Print this list by hitting Ctrl + P on your computer.

Further, add some of these one on one meeting questions to your Jell check-ins, either in the App or Online and you won’t have to remember them for future meetings. You’ll also be able to keep track of the answers and be prepared for upcoming one-on-one meetings.

If you don’t have a Jell account, sign up today and see how daily standups help align your team, improve communication, and avoid conflict.

Sources: Andreessen Horowitz, Lynda, Asana, Groove



Make the most of your 1-on-1 meetings by downloading our One-on-One eBook.

Inside you’ll learn how these important calls help you build a successful employee-manager relationship, and prevent workplace conflict (that we all want to avoid).

We’ve even included a few quotes from managers with years of experience. Get more from your one-on-one’s, grab a copy of our guide today.