Questions to Ask Your Manager: 1-on-1s, Feedback, Growth

Talking to your manager shouldn't feel like an exam.

The good manager conversations are straightforward ones: you know what's expected, you know where you could improve, you're comfortable raising a problem, and there's room to talk about where your career is going.

What usually happens instead is that someone walks into a one-on-one, hears "anything you want to discuss?", answers "nothing from me," and the half hour goes to a status update nobody needed. Knowing what to ask changes that — it clarifies priorities, gets you usable feedback, surfaces workload problems before they become crises, and makes the working relationship function better for both people.

Below you'll find 76 questions organized by situation, plus how to prepare, how to make a request, how to disagree professionally, and what not to ask.

Table of Contents

Why These Conversations Matter
Where to Start
Questions About Priorities
Questions About Feedback
Questions About Career Growth
Questions About Workload
Questions About Teamwork
Questions for a New Manager
Questions During Organizational Change
Questions About Leadership
Lighter Questions
How to Prepare for a One-on-One
How to Ask for Something
How to Disagree Professionally
How to Raise a Difficult Subject
What Not to Ask
Frequently Asked Questions

Why These Conversations Matter

A manager influences your priorities, your feedback, your project assignments, your development opportunities, your access to resources, your recognition and your progression. That's most of your working life, decided partly in meetings that often get treated as a formality.

A useful one-on-one isn't a weekly status report where you list what you finished. It's where you find out whether you're working on the right things, what you should improve, where you could take more ownership, whether your workload is realistic, what to develop next, and whether there's an expectation you've misread.

The better those conversations get, the less guessing you do.

Where to Start

If you don't know where to begin, start with questions that produce an action rather than an opinion.

What should be my highest priority right now?
Is there anything I should be approaching differently?
What's one thing I'm doing particularly well?
What's one thing you think I should improve?
Is anything currently causing concern about my work?
Where could I take more ownership?
What skill would make the biggest difference in my role?
Are there upcoming projects where I could contribute?
What does excellent performance in my role look like to you?
Is there anything I could do to make working with me easier?

You don't need all ten in one meeting. One good question produces a better conversation than ten rushed ones.

Questions About Priorities

When everything feels urgent, getting your manager to rank it saves work you'd otherwise waste.

Of everything I'm working on, what should be my highest priority?
Have any of our priorities changed since we last spoke?
What outcome would make you consider this project successful?
Is there anything I'm spending more time on than you think I should?
Are there areas where you'd like me to make decisions without waiting for approval?
I have A, B and C due this week. If I can't do all three properly, which takes priority?

That last one is the most useful question on this page. It's more productive than silently attempting all three and delivering three mediocre versions, and it moves the decision to the person who owns it.

Questions About Feedback

"Any feedback for me?" is easy to answer with "no, all good." Specific questions are harder to deflect.

What's one thing I'm doing well that you'd like me to keep doing?
What's one thing I could change that would make me more effective?
Looking back at the last project, what did I handle well and what should I do differently?
Is there anything I could change about how I communicate updates, problems or decisions to you?
Where do you think I've improved most over the last six months?

Question 19 works particularly well because feedback is easier to give about a specific recent thing than about a person in general.

Questions About Career Growth

Don't wait until you want a promotion to start these. They work better spread over months than compressed into one conversation.

What skills or experience would I need before being ready for the next level?
What do you think I need to improve before taking on more responsibility?
Are there upcoming projects that would help me build those skills?
Based on what you've seen, where do you think I have the strongest potential?
Is there someone here you think I could learn from or work more closely with?
What would you need to see from me consistently before we could have a serious conversation about progression?

Question 27 is the version worth using. "When can I get promoted?" invites a vague answer. Asking what you'd need to demonstrate turns it into a checklist.

Questions About Workload

Workload conversations work when you bring the problem rather than the feeling. "I'm busy" is hard to act on.

Could we review my responsibilities and decide what can be deprioritized?
If the deadline can't move, is there anything we can reduce in the scope?
Is there someone who could take part of this project?
Are there tools, templates or resources that would make this easier?
I'm blocked by this. I see two options — how would you approach it?
Can we confirm the deadline and the level of completion you expect by then?

Question 33 is worth asking more often than people do. A lot of deadline problems are actually expectation problems, and they resolve in one sentence.

Questions About Teamwork

Managers see patterns across a team that individuals can't.

How could I collaborate more effectively with the rest of the team?
Is there another department I should be talking to more often?
Where do you see our handoffs breaking down?
What could I do to make collaboration easier?
How can I better support newer team members?
What's one thing our team does particularly well?
What's one thing you think the team should improve?
Are there situations where I should involve other people earlier?

Questions for a New Manager

When you start working with someone new, find out how they operate rather than assuming they'll work like the last one.

How would you prefer me to keep you updated — email, chat, a shared doc, or our one-on-one?
How often should we meet?
What would you like me to bring to our one-on-ones?
If something is starting to go wrong, how early would you like to hear about it?
How do you usually prefer to give feedback?
What are your priorities for the team?
What does success look like in my role, from where you sit?

Question 45 is the one that prevents the most trouble. Managers vary enormously on this, and getting it wrong in either direction causes friction that looks like a performance problem.

Questions During Organizational Change

Changes in leadership, strategy, tools or structure create a vacuum that speculation fills. Good questions separate what's decided from what isn't.

What does this change mean for our team?
Will my responsibilities change?
What should I prioritize during the transition?
What decisions have already been made?
What's still being decided?
When should we expect another update?
Is there anything I should start preparing for now?
Where should people direct questions?
How will success be measured after the change?
Is anything likely to change about our current projects?

If your manager doesn't know yet, that's still useful. "Not decided" and "decided and not announced" are different situations, and knowing which one you're in is worth the question.

Questions About Leadership

Occasional one-on-ones are a reasonable place to learn from someone who's further along.

What was one of the hardest lessons you learned as a manager?
Which leadership skill took you longest to develop?
How do you manage conflicting priorities?
How do you make decisions without complete information?
What do you wish you'd known before becoming a manager?
What qualities do you value most in the people you work with?
How has your leadership style changed over time?
What career advice has helped you most?
What do you think separates good employees from exceptional ones?
What do people commonly misunderstand about leadership?

Lighter Questions

Not every conversation needs to be about performance. These build rapport where the relationship and the culture support it.

What was your first job?
What's the best career advice you've ever been given?
What book or podcast has changed how you work?
If you could instantly master one professional skill, what would it be?
What would you probably be doing if you'd taken a completely different path?
What's your favorite part of managing a team?
What professional skill do you think everyone should learn?
What career mistake taught you the most?

Keep them respectful. Your manager is entitled to boundaries too, and a question that would be fine between friends isn't automatically fine here.

How to Prepare for a One-on-One

Ten minutes is enough. Five steps.

Review your recent work. Important progress, achievements, problems, changes and decisions you need. Not a task-by-task report — that's what makes one-on-ones feel pointless.

Choose two or three topics. Feedback on something specific, a workload problem, a career question. More than three and nothing gets properly discussed.

Keep a running list between meetings. A simple note you add to during the week beats trying to remember everything five minutes before. It also stops the recurring experience of thinking of the important thing on the way out.

Bring context to problems. Not "the project is going badly," but "we're waiting on three approvals, which puts Friday at risk, and I see two options."

End with clear next steps. Confirm the decisions, the actions, the owners and the deadlines before you leave. A conversation only counts as productive if both people leave with the same understanding of what happens next.

How to Ask for Something

Time off, training, equipment, resources, a schedule change, a project opportunity, a career discussion. Four steps, and no apology required before any of them.

Give brief context. Only what's relevant.

Make the ask clearly. Say what you want, in one sentence.

Explain the logistics or the benefit. Enough for them to evaluate it.

Suggest a next step. Make it easy to continue.

Time off: I'd like to request next Friday off. I can finish the client report by Thursday and make sure anything urgent is covered. Does that work with the team schedule?

Training: I'd like to take the advanced analytics course next month. It covers several things we're starting to use in our reporting. Could we discuss whether there's budget for it?

More responsibility: I'd like to build experience in project leadership. If something suitable comes up, could I take ownership of a smaller project, or one part of a larger one?

A deadline change: The requirements added this week mean Friday isn't realistic at the quality you're expecting. Could we move it to Tuesday, or reduce the scope?

How to Disagree Professionally

Disagreeing with your manager doesn't make you difficult. Sometimes you have information they need. The trick is keeping it about the issue. Five steps.

Acknowledge their position first. "I understand why you prefer option A, especially since it worked last time."

State your concern. "My worry is that the timeline is much shorter here."

Bring evidence. "That process added two days on each of the last three projects."

Offer an alternative. "Would you be open to testing option B with one group first?"

Accept that you might not win. A professional disagreement doesn't guarantee the outcome you wanted. If the final decision is reasonable, supporting it after raising your concern is part of the job — and doing that well is what makes the next disagreement easier to raise.

How to Raise a Difficult Subject

Workload, unclear responsibilities, repeated communication problems, compensation, conflict, unfair treatment. Four things make these go better.

Ask for proper time. Don't open it while they're walking into another meeting. "Could we set aside some time to talk about my workload and priorities?"

Use specific examples. Not "you never communicate clearly," but "last week the priority changed three times and I got the final version on Friday, which meant redoing several hours of work."

Explain the impact. Help them see why it matters rather than only that it annoyed you.

Ask for a specific change. "Could we confirm major priority changes in writing so I know which version is current?" A concrete request is far easier to agree to than general frustration.

What Not to Ask

No universal forbidden list, but five approaches that rarely help.

Things you could find out yourself. Check the brief or the calendar before asking when something is due. Managers answer questions more willingly when the easy ones have already been handled.

Confidential information about colleagues. Salaries, disciplinary matters, private performance conversations, health, HR cases. Asking puts your manager in an awkward position even when they'd like to tell you.

Gossip. A one-on-one isn't a channel for rumors about colleagues or leadership, and using it that way changes how you're seen faster than most things.

Hidden requests. Don't hint with "do you think anyone on the team might get promoted at some point?" Ask directly: "I'd like to understand what I need to demonstrate to be considered for progression." The indirect version usually gets an indirect answer.

Overly personal questions. A manager can be approachable without their private life being on the table.

Frequently Asked Questions About Talking to Your Manager

What are the best questions to ask your manager?

Ones that clarify priorities, feedback, growth or support. "What should I prioritize right now?" "What's one thing I could improve?" "Where could I take more ownership?" "What does excellent performance look like to you?"

What should I ask during a one-on-one?

Priorities, feedback, workload, blockers, development, team issues, decisions or career goals — two or three of those per meeting rather than all of them.

How do I ask my manager for feedback?

Ask something specific. "What's one thing I did well on the last project, and one thing I should approach differently?" is much harder to answer with "all good" than "any feedback?"

What career questions should I ask?

What skills do I need for the next level, what gaps should I work on, which projects would build the right experience, where do you see my strongest potential, and what would you need to see before discussing progression.

What should I ask a new manager?

Communication preferences, expectations, priorities, feedback style, one-on-one structure, and how they define success in your role. Ask in the first few weeks rather than discovering it through friction.

How do I talk to my manager about workload?

Bring the specifics and ask for a ranking. "I have three high-priority projects due this week. I can do two well. Which should take priority?"

How do I ask my boss for something politely?

Context, the request, the relevant logistics, a next step. You don't need to apologize for making a reasonable request, and starting with an apology tends to make it sound less reasonable than it is.

How do I disagree with my manager?

Acknowledge their perspective, state your concern, support it with something concrete, suggest an alternative, and keep it about the work.

What are good lighter questions to ask a manager?

What was your first job, what career advice helped you most, what book changed how you work, what skill would you instantly learn, what surprised you about becoming a manager.

How often should I have a one-on-one?

Weekly or biweekly is common, and the right cadence depends on the role, your experience, the pace of the work and how much support you need. Often enough that small problems get discussed before they turn into large ones.

Better Conversations Start With Better Questions

You don't need a script for your next one-on-one.

Bring one question that matters. One problem worth solving. One piece of feedback worth asking for. One career thing worth raising.

Good communication with a manager isn't about saying the perfect thing. It's about making the conversations that matter clear enough to be useful — and that's mostly a function of what you decide to ask before you walk in.

One last thing worth saying: recognition doesn't only travel downward. If your manager gave you feedback that changed how you work, backed you when it would have been easier not to, or created an opportunity that mattered, they almost certainly don't know it landed. A thank you card that names the specific thing is worth more than a passing thanks, and managers get them far less often than they give them.

76 Questions to Ask Your Manager in a One-on-One