Encourage collaboration and teamwork with a recognition program that is effective and enjoyable!
Book a demo now to take advantage of some incredible offers!
Discover the questions that will take your 1-2-1s with your boss from casual catch-ups to the most valuable hour on your calendar
.webp)
Ask your manager the right questions at the right time during your one-to-ones and you can transform them into the most valuable meetings you have all month.
Read on for our pick of simple questions you can use to get on the same page as your boss, make sure you're doing your best work, and get on the right track to grow your career.
Regular one-on-ones are your ticket to career success.And any manager worth their salt knows one-on-one meetings are their secret weapon and will make sure you’ve got a regular facetime set in stone on the calendar.
But maybe you’ve got a new manager who hasn’t got around to setting up a regular meeting time yet. Or things got busy and your one-to-one meetings got dropped and haven’t been picked back up again.
Whatever the reason you don’t have regular meetings in the diary with your boss, here’s a simple email script you can use to set them up:
Hey,
I’d love the chance to meet with you regularly to make sure we’re on the same page about how I should be spending my time (and to find ways I could be making your job easier for you).
Could we set up a regular half-hour check-in every few weeks?
Happy to meet at a time that suits you, so let me know when would best work for you.
Thanks
What manager wouldn’t want to receive an email like that? That simple script should get you a regular one-to-one in the calendar in no time.
You’ve got a regular one-to-one meeting with your boss on the calendar.
But what do you talk about?
Well, this face-to-face time with your boss is the perfect opportunity to:
You might not want to cover all of these bases in every one-to-one. But regularly touching on these four areas will help you manage your relationship with your manager as effectively as possible.
You're wasting a huge opportunity if you don’t use your facetime with your manager to make sure you’re both on the same page – and that you’re doing what you need to be doing to land a pay rise or a promotion.
Ask these constructive questions during your one-to-ones to make sure you’re on track to fulfill your career ambitions:
The most important part of any one-to-one is making sure you’re not spending your time barking up the wrong tree. Fail to ask the questions that would have got you on the right track and you could seriously set your career aspirations back – or even risk being out of the job.
Make sure you’re walking away from every one-to-one knowing exactly what you should be spending your time on by asking questions like:
Having your manager in your corner will open all kinds of doors for you to grow your skills, take on more responsibility, and climb the corporate ladder.
Ask these questions in your one-to-ones to show your manager you’re ready to take on opportunities when they show up:
Some bosses like to receive regular updates on what you’ve been up to while others aren’t interested in the day-to-day as long as deadlines are getting hit. Some would prefer you ask for sign-off on your ideas, others that you just let them know how they went. Some prefer to speak over the phone, others over email.
Ask these questions during your one-to-ones to get to grips with how your manager like to communicate:
The people who tend to go the furthest in their careers are the ones who are most open to receiving feedback.
Your manager has been around the block a fair few times more than you. They’ve more than likely been there, seen it, and got the T-shirt when it comes to any problem you’re facing.
Ask them these questions during your one-to-one meetings and you’re bound to get better at what you do as fast as possible:
Here’s the flow of a good one-to-one.
You should always start a one-to-one by getting your manager up to speed on everything you’ve been working on, what’s next on your to-do list, and any blockers holding you back from being able to get your work done.
To make sure this part of your one-on-ones are successful, keep a running list of everything you need to update your manager on in a one-to-one template. Then you can simply pull this up and run through it with your boss in your next meeting.
A simple way to become invaluable to your manager is to take a moment to ask them how you can help make their lives easier.
This isn’t complicated, but it’s rarely done. The easier you can make your boss's life, the more responsibility they’re likely to give you. And the more responsibility you have, the more likely you are to land a pay rise or promotion.
You’ll seriously set yourself apart from most of your colleagues by taking a moment in your one-to-ones to ask your manager questions like:
Last but not least, it’s time to ask any questions you have for your manager. You probably don’t want to touch on every base in every one-to-one. But regularly asking about your career growth, how you can communicate better, and whether you can be doing things better will help you grow your career as quickly as possible.
Finishing up your one-to-ones with the questions we've listed out here is a simple but incredibly effective way of pouring rocket fuel on your career growth.
Stick to these tips – as well as preparing properly for your one-to-ones and keeping the one-to-one do’s and don’ts front of mind – will help you make sure you’re always having effective one-to-one meetings with your boss.
Get the foundational knowledge on creating an employee recognition program that boosts employee engagement and helps them feel valued.
Explore Guide
Yes, at Assembly, security is a top priority. Each quarter, we have ongoing security work that is everyone’s responsibility. While we maintain a strong security posture, it was important for us to prove to our customers that we do everything we claim to do. This led us to pursue a SOC 2 Type II report that would provide evidence of our compliance with industry gold-standard security practice.
There is study after study showing that employee recognition leads to increased engagement. This in return creates an environment where employees are happier and more motivated which increase productivity and reduces voluntary turnover significantly. In order to filled critical roles, companies tend to spend nearly twice the value of an annual salary. Assembly is an investment in your employees that supports your bottom line.
Yes, we will offer contracts for companies with longer-term agreements to help larger customers have more certainty around future costs.
The minimum agreement term is a 12-month subscription.
We do and for FREE! Any new customer needing further support to get started with Assembly to ensure you're set up for success can request custom onboarding support. Improving your employee experience is about much more than just using our amazing software; it’s about transforming your business to create a workplace that people love. That’s much easier to do with the personal support and advice from our passionate people experts.
Yes. We offer a completely free plan for up to 50 team members. This plan is intended for teams or organizations that are looking to get started with an employee engagement tool. Keep in mind, this plan is limited in features.
All customers can open an Assembly account for free and get started without a credit card. Then you can change plans as necessary.
At the time of redemption (when your employees exchange their points for a paid reward) you'll pay face value. If a reward is a $10 Amazon gift card, your cost will be $10. All paid rewards are billed for on a monthly basis.
The good news is that you don't have to pay for rewards upfront because we only charge you when points are redeemed, not when they're earned.
We offer discounts or educational or charitable organizations. In order to secure a discount, you'll first need to book a demo with a customer support specialist.
For all other organizations, we are willing to consider longer-term agreements in exchange for discounts. To set up annual plans or longer, you will need to book a demo with a customer support specialist.
If you're on a month to month plan, you can go here and cancel anytime. If you're having concerns or need help setting up your account for success, you can always book a demo with a customer support specialist.
If you're on a longer-term custom plan, you'll need to reach out to your customer support specialist to cancel your account or email us at support@joinassembly.com.
Great question! You can customize your core values to match your organization's to boost and track alignment. You can change your currency from the 🏆 emoji (our default) to any emoji of your choice. You can swap our logo for your own. You can also set up company culture rewards such as, "Lunch with the CEO," "Buy a book on us," and so much more!
While we recommend a peer to peer set up where anyone in your organization can give or receive recognition, you can set up Assembly however you want. If you need to limit the people who can give or receive recognition, that's perfectly fine and can be done from your Admin, here.
Assembly connects to the tools your employees use every day to offer an easy, seamless experience with minimal change management.
Assembly has integrations with HCM/HRIS systems like ADP, Google, Office 365, and Slack. We also integrate with communication tools like Slack and Teams so you and your employees can access Assembly wherever they work now.
That depends on the company's permissions set up. That said, over 90% of the employees on Assembly's platform are recognized on a monthly basis. That means nearly every employee across all of our customers are receiving regular recognition from their peers, managers, or leadership. We're extremely proud of this.
They are not required. You can use Assembly without having rewards set up. However, we don't recommend it if you intend to have a high adoption and usage rate. You can always keep the costs down by offering internal culture rewards that are fulfilled by you internally.
No, you can remove allowances from anyone or everyone. It's up to you but we do recommend using points whether they're worth a real dollar value or not. Companies that use points have a much higher engagement rate even if those points don't exchange for real dollars.
Please schedule time with an expert and we will help you to get all your questions answered
