↗️ 5 Questions every Manager needs to ask their direct reports

This edition is a little experiment. I got inspired by this HBR article (“5 Questions every Manager needs to ask their direct reports). In this newsletter, I discuss the exact same questions, but add my own commentary, as I don’t agree with everything mentioned there. Enjoy!

This is a powerful question. AND it is a scary one that Leaders dance around and may never ask. Why? Many Leaders expect they will get the dreaded ‘I want a promotion and salary raise. Thanks for finally asking!’. But by never asking, we (1) build up tension and we (2) risk retention. We also assume too much!

I do not like this question from the HBR article very much. It is closed and hard to answer in a productive way. Who would say ‘no’ to this anyway? Most direct reports know the ‘right’ answer and play along. There are other ways to find out what gives people meaning in their jobs. “Which of your responsibilities do you find most meaningful and which the least?” could be a great opener for a conversation.

This is a great question. In my experience, the biggest challenge is not asking it, but preparing yourself to respond in a productive and non-judgmental way to whatever the direct report says. You may agree. You may disagree. You may be surprised. Stay curious in this moment: “Can you tell me more about how this will help?”

This is a variation of (3) on company level. It is also a variation from the familiar ‘What should I start/stop/continue?’ questions. Insecure direct reports may have a hard time coming up with an answer. It can be safer to ask: “What should the company do more of or less of to help you get your work done?”, again followed up by “Tell me more about what will make this work. I am curious!”

This is actually No 3 on Gallup’s famous list of 12 questions to measure employee engagement (see all 12 here). It’s a great closed question for an engagement survey. For a conversation, I recommend to ‘open’ it up to elicit more thinking: “What part of your work draws the most from your strengths? And which part the least?” This can open a fascinating dialogue!

I hope you found these questions stimulating!

If you have another killer question that you love to ask in your 1-1s with direct reports, shoot me a reply and I will be sharing it here!

All the best and wish you great conversations!