1.Firstly, the simplest and most powerful questions of all.

These are 3 questions (I’ve grouped together) that will extract everything you need to know about your general performance from your manager.

They are really powerful because you’re asking specific questions about your behaviors that your reviewer understands to effective, ineffective and non-existent. These are questions that are very difficult for your manager to fudge the answers on! I always ask these questions in my reviews, and I always get the most value from these questions alone.:

1. “What should I continue to do?”
2. “What should I stop doing?”
3. “What should I start to do?”

Ask yourself these questions. What do they make you think? Because of their directness, depth and coverage, it is these 3 questions that form the basis of most 360-degree feedback methods.

2. “What can I do to deliver the most value to our organization?”

This question is very powerful as it links goal-setting to company value. It demonstrates your interest in the commercial success of your organization and emphasizes goals that you take personal accountability for.

3. If you’re in a technical role then ask…

“I’d like to investigate [technology X] to achieve [outcome Y], because I think it could be great for our organization. Is that OK?”

Or if you fulfil a supervisory/management role,

“I’d like to investigate [management practice X] which I think could result in [outcome Y] and report back on its potential value to our organization. Is that OK?”

Or adapt the question to suit your specific role. It requires some research and preparation. The power of this question is you are offering to open new opportunities to your organization by linking innovation and new thinking to organizational value and to produce a summary of your findings in business terms.

4. “What criteria should I satisfy to move onto the next level in this organization?”

is a question which asks your reviewer to be explicit about the behaviors, skills or qualifications you will need to demonstrate to progress in your career; this might be grade, position, pay, or whatever. Don’t be afraid to ask this question – many people are, actually. If you don’t know what you have to achieve to be ready for promotion, then you are burying your head in the sand and hoping for the best.

5. Ask your boss “What can I do to make you more successful?”

This is a very powerful question. Why? It works on two levels: Once again, you’re requesting goals to be set and demonstrating your willingness to be measured (“..I do..” and “..more successful..” ), and secondly, you are creating an opportunity to be delegated to, i.e. take a responsibility off your boss. Managers need to delegate to be successful, so create a situation where your manager can offer this to you.

6. And finally, the question “How will my role align to company direction in the future?”

tackles two points. First, you’re asking to know more about the future direction your company is taking, and secondly you’re asking how your role will fit into that future.