The Importance of Communication
If you manage employees, you need to talk to them. That’s a no-brainer, right? Yet, manager-employee conversations are more of a myth than a best practice in many organizations. Many of the managers we interview sheepishly acknowledge that they should have more regular sit-downs with their team members, but a variety of excuses (e.g., “Not enough time,” “Mired in my own work,” “Never get around to it”) stand in the way.
That’s too bad, because our research suggests that dialogue is at the heart of high engagement and sustainable performance.
Understanding the “Playing Field”
Talking about the weather or last night’s game won’t hurt, but as a manager, you need to focus your conversations on what we call the “playing field” of the employee’s job — where organizational and individual interests intersect. Our X Model of Employee Engagement illustrates how maximum job satisfaction and maximum job contribution relate to employee engagement.
Types of Employee Engagement Conversations
There are three types of employee engagement conversations that you can initiate using the X Model: performance reviews, career discussions, and engagement conversations. Each plays a specific role in driving employee engagement and business performance. Don’t wait for your organization to mandate them. Perfect timing and order are less important than actually talking. Start now.
Performance Reviews
This discussion is likely to be on your list already. Like many managers, the annual performance review may fill you with dread — but it doesn’t have to.
The performance review is primarily about what your employee needs to deliver to drive the organization’s success (and your own). It is an opportunity to review results, provide feedback, and confirm expectations. It is also the time to talk about the development needed to achieve even greater success in the employee’s current role and upcoming projects.
Although performance reviews focus on maximum contribution (the organization’s side of our X Model), remember that the greatest performance improvement results when an individual’s values and talents are taken into account. And although you’re on the hook to conduct one performance review every year with each employee, performance feedback should be immediate and year-round.
The Career Discussion
The career conversation is more about what your employee wants. Although it is heavily weighted toward the individual’s side of the engagement equation (maximum satisfaction), career development must happen in the context of the business. Your employee’s personal aspirations need to be fulfilled while addressing an organizational need. It’s not your job to develop free agents.
If you’re like many of the managers we’ve talked to, you may fear career conversations more than performance reviews and find yourself asking:
- What is your employee looking for?
- What jobs are actually available?
- What if you don’t have the answers?
- How will your team perform if this person takes another job down the hall?
Your goal as a manager in career discussions is to support, not control. Help employees clarify what they want, build on strengths, address career liabilities, and help them identify development opportunities for future roles, networking contacts within the organization, and other ways to take control of their career success.
The Engagement Conversation
The engagement conversation can shape and improve both performance reviews and career conversations. It is a factfinding approach focused on the employee’s drivers of satisfaction and contribution.
An engagement conversation is not a feedback or targeted coaching session. It is a time to discuss topics that will make you a more effective coach and help the employee better manage their own engagement.
Key Questions for Engagement Conversations
When initiating an engagement conversation, focus on asking questions related to key aspects of the employee’s relationship with their work and with you as their manager. Here are some ideas to get you started:
Satisfaction Questions:
- What type of assignment energizes you most?
- What do you like most about your job?
- What drags you down?
Contribution Questions:
- What questions do you have about how your job fits with the company’s current strategy?
- What questions do you have about where you should focus your time and effort?
- What challenges do you face?
Talent Utilization & Development Questions:
- What skills and knowledge would you like to use more?
- Where would you like to grow?
- Where do you think you need to grow to do your job better?
Collaboration Questions:
- What ideas do you have for increasing your satisfaction and contribution?
- What do you think you can start doing, stop doing, or continue doing?
- What would you like me to start doing, stop doing, or continue doing?
Final Reminders
In all three conversations, don’t forget to acknowledge the employee’s efforts and your partnership. What special quality or recent accomplishment can you recognize? What can you say to personalize your commitment to this employee’s success?
As tempting as it may be, don’t try to jam all three types of conversations into a one-time 60-minute time slot! If you’re not in the middle of organization-driven performance reviews and if your employees aren’t lined up outside your door requesting career coaching, schedule engagement conversations with your team members and start the dialogue today.
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