15 questions for an ultra-efficient monthly one-to-one interview framework

What questions should I ask at the monthly employee interview?

As a manager, you know what a special time this is. It's a golden opportunity to take stock of your staff's objectives, to show appreciation for the work they've done and to discuss any problems they've encountered.

But if you want to conduct this meeting effectively, you need to use a well-structured format that includes operational questions, performance reviews and feedback.

Look no further! This article provides you with an example of a monthly performance review format, plus 7 clever tips on how to make it a success.

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What is a monthly performance review?

Definition and objective of the monthly one-to-one employee review

The monthly personal appraisal is a regular meeting between a manager and an employee to review the past month and prepare for the next.

The main aim? To take a close look at the work carried out by the employee, with a view to detecting any difficulties at an early stage and adjusting objectives where necessary.

But it's also (and above all!) a time for sharing feedback, which is essential for keeping the employee motivated.

In short, the monthly one-to-one interview is a major contributor to well-being in the workplace.

What are the differences with the annual appraisal interview?

These two human resources management practices serve different purposes and take place at different intervals.

More specifically, the individual annual appraisal is a more global assessment that takes place once a year. It therefore places greater emphasis on the employee's long-term ambitions.

☝️ It is also an opportune time to identify the employee's training and development needs, and even to raise the question of remuneration.

Example of 15 questions to ask at the monthly personal interview

Having said that, let's turn our attention to the template for the monthly performance review, with an example of 15 questions to inspire you.

You can, of course, adapt them to suit your needs and the specific characteristics of your organisation.

Question 1: How have you felt at work this month?

It's important to start this interview by talking about how you feel at work. There's a good reason for this: an employee's potential "unhappiness" inevitably has an impact on the way they carry out their duties.

There are a number of aspects that can be considered, and don't hesitate to dig into them during your discussions:

• the general atmosphere within the team and the company as a whole,
• the satisfactions and difficulties encountered during the past month,
• the size of the workload, etc.

💡 O ur advice: if necessary, assess the employee's stress level by asking them to rate themselves on a scale of 1 to 10.

Question 2: What are your successes?

By identifying the employee's successes, you value the work done and reinforce their sense of achievement.

There are several ways of approaching this point:

• Concrete achievements: What projects or tasks have you completed this month? Did you manage to solve any specific problems or achieve any set objectives?
  
  
• Progress and development: How have you progressed in your work this month? Have you developed new skills or improved existing ones?
  
  
• Positive contributions: How have your actions had a positive impact on your team or the company in general?

☝️ Don't forget to ask the employee about the factors that contributed to these successes. This will provide valuable information for the company's performance.

Question 3: What were your objectives for last month and how did you achieve them?

While this question is similar to the previous one, it focuses more on analysing the objectives set last month.

To go into more detail, you can ask the employee:

• What were your main objectives for the past month? This will give you a clearer idea of the tasks or projects on which they focused.
  
  
• How do you measure your progress towards these objectives? This question will help you identify the performance indicators used.
  
  
• Have you achieved these objectives? Why or why not? By understanding the reasons why certain objectives were achieved, you can capitalise more on the success factors.

💡 O ur advice: focus on continuous improvement rather than simply on whether or not objectives have been achieved. The company will have more to gain by valuing the efforts of the employee, who will then feel more of a desire to excel 💪.

Question 4: What has prevented you from achieving your objectives?

Sometimes, despite an employee's best efforts, certain obstacles stand in the way of their path to success, whether these are:

• Internal obstacles: lack of confidence, difficulties with time management or organisation, insufficient skills or knowledge, etc.
• external obstacles: problems linked to the work environment, such as a lack of resources, excessive workload or time constraints.

Finally, don't forget that a lack of communication or conflict within a team can slow down employees' progress.

Question 5: How have your actions over the last month contributed to the company's overall strategy?

A company is a single entity, where each element must contribute in its own way to its long-term vision.

We therefore recommend that you support your employees in this reflection, encouraging them to ask themselves how their actions are aligned in concrete terms with the overall strategy. And of course, ask them for concrete examples to illustrate what they are saying.

☝️ The employee's contribution goes beyond achieving operational objectives! For example, certain individuals, through their behaviour and initiatives, strengthen team cohesion... to the benefit of the corporate culture!

Question 6: How heavy is your workload?

One of your goals as a manager is to ensure that your teams don't feel overworked or, on the contrary, underloaded.

To help your interviewee express his or her views on the subject, ask the following questions, for example:

• Have you felt under constant pressure to complete your tasks?
• Do you feel you have too much free time?

The information gathered will enable you to adjust the allocation of tasks in such a way as to maintain employee productivity... while preventing them from exploding in mid-air!

Question 7: Have you identified any skills that you would like to develop further?

Why wait until the annual performance review to talk about training and skills, especially in a context where the market is constantly changing?

As part of the employee's ongoing professional development, and to maintain the company's competitiveness, it's relevant to raise these issues regularly.

💡 O ur advice: don't hesitate to talk about training related to soft skills, increasingly valued in the world of work: time management, interpersonal communication, leadership, etc.

Question 8: What are your long-term professional development aspirations?

Unlike the previous question, here we need to look at the employee's professional development in a broader sense, from a long-term perspective.

Basically, help them to look 5-10 years ahead to understand their wider ambitions:

• How do you see your career developing within the company?
• What role or position would you like to hold in five years' time?
• What qualifications do you need to achieve this?

☝️ These aspirations are likely to change over time. It is therefore important to reassess them regularly.

Question 9: Have you identified any projects to which you would like to contribute?

Having pinpointed the employee's career aspirations, the next step is to define the projects to which they would like to contribute, whether these relate to their current role or to areas in which they plan to develop.

Encourage initiative too:

• by welcoming employees' ideas for new projects;
• by working with them to determine how they fit in with the company's wider objectives.

Question 10: How would you rate communication and collaboration within your team?

It can't be said often enough, but communication and collaboration are the pillars on which the smooth running of a team is based.

That's why it's vital that you assess these two aspects, so that you can highlight potential areas for improvement.

✅ Sample questions:

Communication:

• How did you feel when interacting with your colleagues?
• Did you find it difficult to share your ideas or concerns?
• Did you receive constructive feedback from your team?

Collaboration:

• Have you had the opportunity to work as part of a team on projects?
• How would you rate your contribution to the department?
• Do you feel that you get on well with your colleagues?

Question 11: Do you have any comments or concerns about the department?

It's time to get your interviewee's feedback on the company's management, whether strategic, operational or relational:

• Do you understand and support the company's objectives and values?
• How would you rate management's communication and transparency?
• Do you have any suggestions for improving the leadership approach? And so on.

After all, nobody is infallible, not even the highest levels of the organisation. Yet how can we improve if we're not aware of what employees really think?

💡 O ur advice: out of fear, some employees remain skittish about sharing their feelings about their "bosses". This is why HR and managers sometimes prefer to operate via anonymous questionnaires.

Question 12: Do you have any comments or suggestions for your manager?

Now it's your turn to receive feedback from your team 😬.

While this is never an easy process, bear in mind that it ultimately reinforces good understanding within the team.

What's more, it allows you to adjust your management style to better conform to the needs of each employee, who, let's not forget, is unique!

Question 13: Do you have any ideas for improving the company's processes or working methods?

Saying what's going wrong is fine. But working together to find ways of improving is even better! Remember, we were talking about continuous improvement earlier 😉.

So invite the person you're talking to to share their thoughts with you:

• Do you have any ideas for improving processes?
• Do you think there are redundant steps we could eliminate?
• Are there any operational obstacles that you would like to see resolved?
• Do you have any suggestions for making our working methods more agile? Etc.

☝️ Showing employees that their opinion counts also strengthens their commitment!

Question 14: What are your objectives and priorities for the month ahead?

The monthly individual interview is also used to plan the next month.

As a result, you need to ask the employee about their priorities for the future, and even support them in defining their objectives if you feel they are struggling.

💡 O ur advice: always set SMART objectives (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound). Otherwise, you run the risk of the employee becoming discouraged.

Question 15: How can we support your success over the next month?

To conclude the discussion, we recommend that you ask the employee how you can help them achieve success, using questions such as:

• What specific support do you need from me?
• Do you have any specific needs in terms of resources, training or tools?
• Have you already identified any obstacles that we can try to remove? Etc.

At the end of the day, you're demonstrating that you're willing to provide personalised help to your employees, and that you're listening to them. All of which will boost their confidence in you!

How do you prepare and conduct your monthly one-to-one interviews? Our 7 tips

#1 Prepare your monthly individual interview outline in advance

To make a success of this exercise and maintain fluid communication between you and your employee, we recommend that you plan ahead as much as possible.

But how can you prepare for your individual interview properly 🤔?

Quite simply by taking the time to revisit the notes taken during previous discussions and to remind yourself of the objectives set, so as to construct a truly appropriate framework.

In other words, avoid ready-made, non-personalised questions that will give the employee the impression that you're not focusing on their specific needs.

#2 Base your discussions on existing data

Discussions during the interview should be based on observable data.

In other words, use performance indicators and other factual information to discuss subjects such as productivity or the achievement of objectives. If you remain vague on these subjects, it will be impossible to help the employee to assess his or her own situation, and therefore to make progress.

#3 Establish an environment of trust

As we've seen, the monthly one-to-one interview is sometimes an opportunity to talk openly about sensitive issues such as management. That's why it's so important to create an environment that's conducive to open discussion !

To do this, we advise you to choose a place that preserves confidentiality, where sensitive discussions can be held in complete discretion (avoid the break room!).

And of course, by your attitude, show the person you're talking to that they can share their concerns without fear: show kindness and don't judge what they say.

#4 Start with the employee's successes

A positive approach is to start the interview by highlighting the employee's successes and achievements, and not by addressing outright what's not going well.

This "softer" start makes it easier to move on to more sensitive subjects.

#5 Listen actively

Active listening makes a major contribution to the success of the monthly one-to-one meeting.

This is a real skill to develop, and involves :

• concentrating fully on what the employee is saying ;
• asking clarifying questions accordingly
• showing that you are attentive to their concerns.

By doing so, you will more easily understand the employee's needs and show them that you value what they have to say.

#6 Conclude with an action plan

We suggest that, at the end of the discussion, you summarise the main points raised and then conclude with a clear action plan.

Similar to a roadmap, it should include :

• the stages to be followed
• clearly defined responsibilities
• deadlines for the month ahead.

In short, it will serve as a guide for the employee, to keep him or her moving in the right direction.

#7 Use specialised software

To make the process more efficient, some HR people and managers choose to use specialist software that can automate a large part of the process.

Take Skeely, for example:

• Skeely, a solution designed to optimise the preparation and conduct of all types of interview, including monthly ones. For example, it provides templates, designed by HR experts, that can be customised to suit your specific needs. It also centralises all the data from previous discussions, which is useful for tracking employee progress. Finally, on the big day, you can pool your preparations and make the interview run more smoothly.
  
  

• Zest by ZestMeUp, a platform dedicated to improving employee performance and commitment. So it's only natural that it should include tools for regularly gathering feedback from employees, with the aim of identifying slumps in performance, but also the levers of motivation. In particular, you can draw on models developed by experts in psychometrics and work psychology to easily create relevant interview templates.
  

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Monthly personal interview form: what to remember?

The monthly personal interview is a key element in human resources management. And with good reason: how can you help your employees to progress and achieve their objectives if you only take the time to have an in-depth discussion with them once a year?

However, if this meeting is to be a success, it needs to be rigorously prepared, with a framework of questions drawn up in advance to focus on the employee's achievements, but also to gather feedback.

After all, these meetings are not just a means of assessing performance: they also serve the employee's professional development. In other words, the format of your monthly personal interview can influence employee commitment, and the company has everything to gain by surrounding itself with ultra-motivated teams, ready to reach new heights 🚀.