Coaching Questions: 31 Questions for Managers, Sorted by the Move Each One Makes

By Andreas Pettersson, Founder, Leaders ADAPT

You run six one-on-ones a week. Everyone leaves feeling heard. And on Friday you still can't say what done looks like on half the work you discussed, because every meeting asked what are you doing and none asked how are you really.

That's a status update in a 1:1's calendar slot. The fix isn't more meetings. It's different coaching questions, the ones that hand the thinking back instead of collecting a status, chosen by the job each does.

In the 1:1 Protocol I teach, 40 percent of the meeting is their agenda, 40 percent your calibration, 20 percent alignment, and each part runs on two or three specific questions. Here are 31 of them, sorted by the move they make: open, dig, hand it back, calibrate, commit, career.

What is the difference between a coaching question and a status question?

A coaching question is a question that hands the thinking back to the person who owns the work, instead of collecting a status or supplying an answer.

A status question collects what you could have read in a report. "Where are we on the launch?" A coaching question changes what happens in their head after the meeting. The test is who talks next, and for how long.

The four helping roles make the line sharp. A coach listens and asks. An advisor listens a little, then tells you exactly what to do. A consultant is an advisor who does it with you, and a mentor is a hybrid.

Most managers think they're coaching when they're advising with a question mark on the end, the whole manager as coach problem in one sentence. "Have you thought about calling the client?" is an instruction with plausible deniability.

Closed questions have one job: "Are you fully committed to this?" Open to explore, closed to commit.

The 31, sorted by the move each one makes

Every list of powerful questions I've read sorts by GROW or by count. GROW, first published by John Whitmore in Coaching for Performance (1992), names the stage: Goal, Reality, Options, Will. Built for a coach with a client and an hour, it doesn't tell a manager with 30 minutes what to ask when the best engineer says "fine" for the fourth week. The move does.

Print it, then read the six moves. A good question at the wrong moment is a politer status update.

Open: the first ninety seconds decide what kind of meeting this is

"What's on your mind?" is the opener, and the 1:1 Protocol rules out three alternatives by name. "How are things?" is too vague. "Give me an update" makes it a status meeting. "How can I help?" assumes they need help.

Then "What else?", twice. There's always more, and the real topic usually shows up third.

Skip-levels open differently. Say it out loud: this isn't about your manager, I want to understand your experience directly. Then 3, 4 and 11, plus the skip-level meeting questions if time allows. Three skip-levels in a row calling their 1:1s status updates is a manager problem.

Dig: coaching questions that surface what an employee is not saying

Question 5 is the workhorse. Most people answer "nothing" the first time, which is why 6 exists. Questions 7 to 10 are four of the twelve Uncomfortable Questions in the protocol: one per 1:1, rotated, written down afterward. All four at once is an interrogation.

While they answer, listen for pronouns. A lot of I, and the person is carrying the team. A lot of they, and they've stopped owning the outcome. That's active listening with a purpose.

When the answer is vague, force one instance: which meeting, who was in the room, what was said. A topic isn't a decision.

Hand it back: what questions give the problem back to the employee instead of solving it?

Question 12 is the reverse delegation killer. Someone walks in with a problem you could solve in forty seconds. "What would you do if I weren't here?" makes them say the plan they already have. They wanted your blessing, not your brain.

Questions 13 and 14 belong inside the handoff. Silence means they don't get it and won't say so: ask what could go wrong. Ten dependencies before they start means excuses: ask what would need to be true for them to own it.

Question 15 comes right after you state the outcome. If they can't describe how they'd get there, you haven't delegated. You've announced. Question 17 is for senior people.

Calibrate: the number that gets past "fine"

The energy question is the single highest value question in the protocol. Below 7, follow with 19. "Fine" is a performance. A 5 isn't.

Track it. A series of 7, 6, 6, 5 over four weeks is someone sliding toward the exit, and no single conversation would have told you. Remote teams get 20 every time, cameras on. Questions 22 and 23 turn the lens on you.

Commit: the read-back that keeps the work from coming back

The alignment block is three sentences: here are your top three, do they match yours; what do you need from me; what are you committing to before we meet again. They state it, they own it.

Questions 26 to 28 are the verification step of the 3-Minute Delegation Conversation. A head nod isn't comprehension.

If 28 gets "I think I can do that," say the line: I need you to commit or tell me you can't. Which is it? Think means won't.

Career: what to ask an employee about their career, twice a year

Questions 29 to 31 are the career conversation most managers postpone until the resignation makes it moot, and the one that coaching employees well depends on most. Ask what would make you leave, not if. Knowing it six months early is the difference between a promotion inside the month and a counteroffer you lose.

How many of these fit in one 30 minute one-on-one?

Five to seven. The protocol runs 30 minutes weekly for anyone new, stretched, struggling, or below a 6 on energy; 45 minutes every two weeks for stable senior people; never less than 20 minutes every other week for anyone who reports to you.

Inside 30 minutes, on top of your one-on-one meeting agenda: one opener, "What else?" twice, one dig, the energy question, one Uncomfortable Question, the three alignment closes. Six questions and a lot of silence. Managers who ask fifteen aren't coaching harder. They're filling air so nobody sits with a hard one.

In a 1,259 respondent survey, organizations whose leaders coach their people rather than direct them were nearly four times more likely to make good decisions and outperform peers financially (McKinsey Quarterly, 2019). Our own one-on-one statistics page is below its 30 completion floor as of September 22, 2026, so no first party figure yet.

The question I loved being asked

At Arcules I hired more than 80 people myself, 30 in the first three months, and my week sat at 60 hours. Between thirty and seventy people, managers sat between me and the work, and my 1:1s became 1:1s about their 1:1s. The skip-level and hand-it-back items above come from that stretch.

But the question I remember best came up, not down. A manager asked me what keeps you up on a Friday night, and what's coming down the pipe that I can help attack before it turns urgent. One sentence told me this person cared about more than the tasks in front of them.

If you want your people to ask you that, ask them 5 and 18 first. Coaching questions travel both ways.

Coaching questions FAQ

What are the best coaching questions a manager can ask?

The strongest coaching questions for managers make the employee do the thinking: "What's on your mind?", "What else?", "What are you struggling with that you haven't told me about?", "What would you do if I weren't here?", "On a scale of 1 to 10, what's your energy level?" and "What are you committing to before our next 1:1?" Each belongs to a different moment in the meeting, so the best one depends on the move needed.

What are GROW model coaching questions?

GROW model coaching questions follow the four stages of the GROW framework, first published by John Whitmore in Coaching for Performance (1992): Goal (what do you want to achieve), Reality (what is happening now), Options (what could you do) and Will (what will you do, and by when). Built for coach and client sessions, it is usually supplemented by managers with an energy check and a commitment read-back.

What coaching questions work in a one-on-one?

In a 30 minute one-on-one, five to seven coaching questions are enough. Open with "What's on your mind?" and "What else?", ask one dig such as "What are you struggling with that you haven't told me about?", check energy on a 1 to 10 scale, rotate one deeper probe, then close with "What do you need from me?" and "What are you committing to before we meet again?"

How many questions should a manager ask in a coaching conversation?

A coaching conversation needs fewer questions than most managers expect. Five to seven in 30 minutes is typical: one opener, one or two follow-ups, one deeper probe, one calibration question, and two closing questions on needs and commitments. More than that usually means the manager is filling silence instead of letting the employee think.

Are leadership coaching questions for employees different from a coach's questions?

Yes. Professional coaching questions, such as those published by the International Coaching Federation, assume a neutral coach with no stake in the outcome and a full session. A manager asks leadership coaching questions inside a 30 minute one-on-one, with authority over the employee's priorities and review. Coaching questions for employees therefore add calibration and commitment to the exploration a coach uses.

Ask fewer, ask on purpose, then say what you see

The 31 coaching questions aren't a script. They're a menu sorted by what you're doing in the next ninety seconds. Open when the meeting starts. Dig when the answer is "fine." Hand it back when a problem crosses the desk toward you.

Calibrate with a number, not a feeling. Commit before anyone stands up. Go to career twice a year, before the letter. If you can't tell which of your one-on-one meetings are status updates in disguise, the free 1:1 assessment will, in five minutes.

One warning from someone who got this wrong at scale: asking is not agreeing. If you don't address reality as you see it from the leader's chair, their perception becomes the reality. Listen, let them speak, ask. When their read is far from the facts, say so.

Being one of Canon's youngest CEOs taught me that the coaching question and the correction are one job, done in that order.

Tomorrow morning, before your first 1:1, cross out your usual opener and write "What's on your mind?" at the top of the page. Ask it. Then ask what else. Twice.