What questions should you ask during your one-on-ones with your cross-functional teams during your first month at the company?

During your one-on-ones with your cross-functional teams, you want to get a solid understanding of who to go to for what. I also recommend getting to know folks on an individual level - you are going to be spending a lot of time together!

Here are 7 example questions that will vary depending on the audience, but will help you get started:

1. What is the biggest challenge you currently face that I can help with in my role?
2. What feedback do you consistently hear from customers that we have not been able to address yet as an org?
3. What is the biggest untapped opportunity that you see to help grow the business and better serve our customers?
4. How would you like to see us work together?
5. What does partnership between our roles look like for you?
6. What metrics and reporting do you pay close attention to and why?
7. What question am I not asking that I should ask?

Try to tailor your questions based on the partnership you will have. Seek out answers on how you can best work together. How can you accelerate growth together in partnership, faster? You’ll find your questions will be met with open arms when approached from the perspective of, how can I help you in your role?

Scheduling one-on-ones with your new colleagues is one of the first steps to tackle in your 30/60/90 day plan. In fact, those conversations should influence what makes it into your final draft. You should lean on the team that has seen it firsthand versus thinking you have all the answers.

When I first join a company, I make sure that I schedule meetings with at least one representative from sales, customer success, finance, business intelligence, product, and engineering. I also ask these very same questions to every single direct report. Finally, I make sure to interview the longest-tenured employee at the company. 

1. What is the best thing that the demand generation team is doing right now?
2. What is something that the demand generation team is not currently doing that you think we should be?
3.  Are there any challenges currently facing the organization that the demand generation team should know about?
4. If you had to choose three thought leaders in our industry, who would you choose and why?
5. What are the top three publications/websites in our industry that are frequently read by our target audience?
6. What are the three most common problems customers are trying to solve with our product?
7. What are the three most common objections we face when selling to prospects?
8. Who do you think I should talk to next at this company and why?

The first question that immediately comes to mind is: "What is the best way we can work together?" Dependent on the team member's role, you may be working with this person regularly and you will need to align on how you both work, but also how you both can make an impact to the business together. 

Identifying their OKRs and goals will help you learn how you can support them and become a trusted business advisor.

This is a key part of your discovery process and can also work to improve collaboration, identify near-term wins, and demonstrate both humility but also servant-minded leadership as you step into your role. It takes the emphasis off of you having to come in and fix everything and seeks the insights (whether you ultimately agree or not) with those who have been there and will be working alongside of on a regular basis.

What do you believe are the top priorities we're focused on right now?

Do you agree with these priorities?

What do you believe are our (broader collective team) top challenges?

What is holding us back from growth and why?

What do you think we should be doing that we aren't, and why are we not doing it?

How could I / my team make your job easier?

What has been working with my team?

What do you see are the top opportunities for my team / myself?

If you were just hired into my role, what would you be initially focused on?

Some of the questions you can ask your stakeholders can be structured around these:

• What can I do to make you successful? Or What do you need from me?

• What has been working so far?

• What is broken?

• What can we do better?

• Where are the gaps?

• Where do you want to be in 6 months/1 year?

• What are customers saying about us? Or Can we get customers to become references?

• What is your biggest pain point?

Meeting with cross-functional partners when joining a new company is so important, especially if you're working remote. It helps to build general rapport and understand where each person fits into the organization and how you'll be working with them. It also can help you further identify what initial projects might be - what are the main pain points for these people?

Questions will vary depending on the role of the person you're meeting with, but there are some that are universal. I'll ask everyone how they're working with marketing today, what their recommendations for improvement are, and what their current challenges are. If the person is in a sales role, I'll dive deeper into understanding the sales process, personas, pitches that resonate, and if they feel confident in meeting their quotas for the current period. If the person is in leadership, I'll ask them about their long-term vision for the company, their teams, and how marketing fits into that. If the person is in Operations, I'll ask them about how our systems connect today and what key reports are.

Regardless of who you're meeting with, tailor your questions to understand their role. You never know what you might learn. And make sure you actually understand what they're saying! Don't be afraid to follow-up with more questions or ask them to clarify further or repeat something.