Most monthly meetings between manager and employee are about numbers: sales, lateness, errors. Numbers matter, but they do not say what the person needs.
What does the research say?
Gallup’s 2026 report puts global employee engagement at 20%, and says the fall in manager engagement explains most of the recent decline. Manager engagement fell from 27% to 22% between 2024 and 2025. In best-practice organisations, 79% of managers are engaged.
On the Iran page of the same report, employee engagement is 12%. That figure covers all employees, not only managers, and it does not say why.
A tool: the 15-minute conversation
Once a month, with each person, three fixed questions:
- 1What did you learn this month?
- 2Where did you progress?
- 3Where are you struggling?
Three rules: the manager listens more than they talk; takes two or three lines of notes; and solves one item from “where are you struggling” by next month. This conversation is not a place for disciplinary feedback.
A second tool is for the manager: define a number that shows these conversations took place, such as the number of one-to-one meetings in the month. What is not measured gets lost in a busy month.
Try it this week
Choose three people and put 15 minutes for each in the calendar. Ask only those three questions.
A manager who simply listens once a month hears what never makes it into the numbers meeting.
Once a month, hold a 15-minute conversation with each person, using three fixed questions.
