I use “what’s on your mind?” I find it makes them think and talk about what’s really on their mind like celebration pieces, challenges and anything else they want to highlight.
also, “what else?” to make them think more.
I got these tips from a book. I’ll see if I can find the title of the book for you, chris.
There is a similar question from the employer and employee perspective. These periodic meetings are called one on ones or 1 on 1s. Here - What Do You Talk about in 1:1s? - #6 by raghu
IMO, looking at the employee’s perspective will also help you find out what they care about & what to discuss in your 1 on 1s.
In some of my 1/1 meetings, we reviewed work products. These might include a recent automation script, test strategy, or test design.
When I was a Test Lead on a project where I had a team of people (testers and test engineers), we might explore my observations on their work, or challenges with the team.