Employees Can Ace Their First One-on-One With These Questions and Answers
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Are you nervous about your upcoming one-on-one with your manager? Not sure what questions they’ll ask? How will you answer? The solution: Go prepared. Being prepared will not only help you feel confident going into the meeting; you’ll notice there will be long-term benefits, too.
Get comfortable with talking because you will be doing the majority of it.
One-on-one meetings are not meant for managers to obtain a status update on your current projects. This time is allocated for:
You and your manager to develop the relationship by getting to know one another
You to share your thoughts about how to become the optimal team
You to communicate your goals and your manager to help you reach those goals however they can
This meeting is about you. Take advantage of this opportunity by figuring out what you want to gain out of it: it could be about current working conditions or long-term career goals. Then come up with talking points to ensure you address those wants. You have control of the conversation, if you prepare well. We’ve provided a few steps to take to set you up for a productive one-on-one meeting with your manager.
First, let's complete an exercise.
This exercise is to help you understand what is the ideal situation for you to be in in order to perform at your peak. Think of the time you were most successful at your work. Define successful as having high productivity, as well as high satisfaction with the results you produced. Now ask yourself: what attributed to your success? To help answer that question, here are related questions to think about:
How were instructions and expectations delivered?
For example, in email form or verbal? Ambiguous or clear?
How much direction did you receive from your manager? What about from your team?
What was the schedule like?
What time did you get the most work done?
Did you have a flexible schedule or set schedule?
How much autonomy did you have to make decisions?
How did you solve problems?
If it was a team project, what were the team dynamics?
What motivated you?
Second: write down your long-term and short-term goals.
Your manager can be a great resource for professional development. He/she has connections to people outside your network. They may be able to connect you to a person with experience in your dream job. He/she, more often than not, will have a toolbox full of useful apps, books, and other resources to share. They might know the perfect website for study guides to a skills exam. The point is, your manager is a free resource. Take advantage of it. To do so, you must know what your goals are first. Ask yourself the following:
Is there a specific role, whether within the company or outside of the company, I aspire to be in?
What new skills would I like to develop?
What can I work on?
What are my weaknesses?
What is the big picture?
After you’ve answered the questions above, plan out how you’ll achieve the end goal or long-term goal by setting short-term goals.
Finally, prepare how you’ll answer potential questions.
Look over this one-on-one agenda manager's commonly use. Use your answers from the sections above to answer these popular questions you’ll hear from your manager:
What are your goals?
What can I do to help you do your best?
Do you need more or less feedback?
What would you like further training on?
What challenges or roadblocks have you run into, if any?
How’s everything going with the team?
What suggestions do you have to improve how we operate as a team?
How well do you think your time is being used?
Is there anything you would like me to know about you?
One last note: be honest and share your thoughts. This meeting is a chance for you to take charge of your career and improve your work environment. It won’t be beneficial to you if your manager doesn’t know how to help you.
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