Executives at all levels are busy. From emails to meetings to visiting sites, the calendar is jam-packed. One thing that often gets shoved to the side is time to grow and develop your direct reports. But your company and your direct reports need these people to grow and develop into the leaders of tomorrow for your company and others..

If you have direct reports, when was the last time you developed them? When was the last time your boss spent time developing you?

If the answer to either of those questions is “quite awhile,” try this idea. There is never going to be a perfect time or enough time to develop your direct reports. But, a way to grow and develop your team that really works is to do a small bit each month.

So, print off this blog post and put it near your phone/computer. The first one-on-one of the month you have with a direct report, use the question to start the conversation.

Monthly Questions to Grow and Develop Your Team

• January — What are your professional goals you want to accomplish this year? Why?

• February — What does success look like for you at our company? Why?

• March — Who’s someone in the company that you’d like to learn more from? Why?

• April — What projects would you like to work on or be more involved in? Why?

• May — Is your job what you expected when you accepted it? If not, where has it differed?

• June — What’s one thing you’d like to do more of, outside of work this coming month? Why?

• July — What’s something you’re itching to try that you haven’t had the time or resources to do?

• August — Which one of your team would you have take over your job tomorrow? If they aren’t ready, what do they need to get ready?

• September — What other roles at our company do you find interesting? What skills do those roles require that you would like to work on?

• October — What else can I be doing to help progress your career?

• November — What initiative did the company pursue this year that got you really excited? Why?

• December — What are your work and non-work highlights of the past year? Why?

• Wild card — Who is the best person you hired this year? Why? Did you recognize it during the hiring process? Who is the worst person you hired this year? Why? What did you miss in the hiring process?

Of course, you have to take notes on the conversation and do some of the follow-up. Don’t wait until January to start. Use the October question next month. Using these 12 questions to drive your one-on-ones is a sure way to develop your junior leaders over the course of a year.

Kharkiv Counterattack Update — Russian Losses

In the last two week, according to the Oryx Website, Russian forces have lost:

• 128x T-72/80/90s Tanks Destroyed, Captured, or Abandoned

• 215x BMPs/BTRs/BMDs (Armored Personnel Carriers) Destroyed, Captured, or Abandoned

• 19x Engineer Vehicles Destroyed, Captured, or Abandoned

• 76x Indirect Fire Systems (Mortars, Howitzers, and Multiple Rocket Launcher Systems) Destroyed, Captured, or Abandoned

• 10x Air Defense Weapon Systems Destroyed, Captured, or Abandoned

• 55x MT-LBs (Command and Control) Destroyed, Captured, or Abandoned

This is the equivalent to the Russians having 7x BTGs completely destroyed during the Kharkiv counterattack.

Conclusion

Want even more help developing yourself or a leader in your team? Reach out to me me here for six months of executive coaching to elevate your performance.

I published a book last summer on how to develop your perseverance and accomplish your goals — Grow Your Grit, available for sale at Amazon.

Use these ideas for better one-on-ones to go on the offense and develop the next group of leaders at your company.