Explore the direction
- What work have you done recently that you’d want more of?
- What skill would make the biggest difference to you right now?
- Where do you feel you’re growing — and where do you feel stuck?
1:1 questions
1:1 questions that turn career talk into a real plan
Career conversations stall when they stay abstract. These questions help a report name what they want next and turn it into steps you can support — then keep that plan alive across your regular 1:1s.
Copyable template
Use this manually, or let EvalSuite capture it automatically from real meetings.
Turn it into a step
- What is one concrete thing we could set up this quarter?
- What project on the horizon could double as a growth opportunity?
- How will we check progress in our regular 1:1s?
Make growth concrete, not aspirational
Big-picture questions feel motivating in the room and vanish by the next week. Anchor the conversation in the next realistic step so it produces something the person can actually start.
- What skill do you most want to build over the next few months?
- What kind of work do you want more of — and less of?
- What would a realistic next step look like this quarter?
Connect growth to real work
The best development happens inside the job, not beside it. Look for projects, stretch assignments, or responsibilities already on the horizon that match where the person wants to grow.
Keep the plan alive between reviews
Growth plans die in the gap between performance reviews. When the next steps from a career 1:1 are captured and revisited, progress shows up as real evidence at review time instead of a forgotten good intention.
Workflow example
Instead of "where do you see yourself in five years?", a manager asks "what skill do you want to build this quarter, and what project could we use to build it?" — then tracks that step into the next few 1:1s.
Example output
The visible output should be concrete enough to inspect.
- A specific skill or direction the person wants
- A concrete next step for this quarter
- A real project matched to the growth goal
- Progress that carries into the next review
Related and canonical pages
This page links to related acquisition pages and canonical docs instead of duplicating support content.
- /solutions/employee-growth-plan-tracker
- /solutions/performance-review-evidence
- /resources/templates/employee-growth-plan-template
- /resources/one-on-one-questions/new-managers
- /demo
- /solutions/one-on-one-meeting-tracker
- /help/faq
Use this manually, or keep the loop in EvalSuite
EvalSuite adds the durable layer: capture, follow-through, history, and review-ready context.